I have a love/hate relationship with my 5K iMac display

[Ryand123]

Actually..........maybe with iMacs in general because before this I had a 1080p 21 inch iMac and the same problem existed........

Graininess. Fuzziness. I can't think of a better way of describing it. It's not a lack of sharpness. My eyes love the 5K display and don't seem to get tired even after hours on it. But there's just an odd grainy/pixellated look despite its extremely high pixel density.

And it is the display itself because when I plug in my 32 inch 4K LG monitor, it's not really there. I notice less sharpness, but a clearer, smoother image. Like someone cleaned off my monitor.

What's causing this? Is it aggressive anti-glare coating? Is it the fact that the display is built into the machine and therefore graphics bandwidth has to be conserved?

This is a late 2015 iMac, BTW.

And will the new Studio Display likely have it too? I might almost think about upgrading to it if I thought it delivered the benefits of 5K without the slight fuzziness my iMac screen has.

Oh and I have not noticed this with Macbooks. So maybe there's just something about iMac displays?

Am I insane? Hallucinating? Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[Fishrrman]

Not sure if this works with iMacs:

How to Fix Blurry Fonts on macOS Mojave (With Subpixel Antialiasing)

Apple's macOS Mojave disables subpixel antialiasing, also known as font smoothing, by default.

www.howtogeek.com

Might be worth trying the terminal command settings documented in this article.
Try ALL FOUR settings.
And remember that you must LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN after changing a setting to actually see the results...

 

[wilberforce]

I think it is you, or your machine, or your settings.
Having had a 2014 and 2020 iMac I think the displays are perfection in terms of clarity, sharpness and smoothness.

Is your 2015 getting pink around the edges, btw?

 

[drewaz]

Actually..........maybe with iMacs in general because before this I had a 1080p 21 inch iMac and the same problem existed........

Graininess. Fuzziness. I can't think of a better way of describing it. It's not a lack of sharpness. My eyes love the 5K display and don't seem to get tired even after hours on it. But there's just an odd grainy/pixellated look despite its extremely high pixel density.

And it is the display itself because when I plug in my 32 inch 4K LG monitor, it's not really there. I notice less sharpness, but a clearer, smoother image. Like someone cleaned off my monitor.

What's causing this? Is it aggressive anti-glare coating? Is it the fact that the display is built into the machine and therefore graphics bandwidth has to be conserved?

This is a late 2015 iMac, BTW.

And will the new Studio Display likely have it too? I might almost think about upgrading to it if I thought it delivered the benefits of 5K without the slight fuzziness my iMac screen has.

Oh and I have not noticed this with Macbooks. So maybe there's just something about iMac displays?

Am I insane? Hallucinating? Has anyone else noticed this?

I noticed the same phenomenon after moving from Catalina to Monterey on a 2019 Retina iMac. Everything seemed fine while using Catalina and Monterey is great on my Air.

 

[Ryand123]

I think it is you, or your machine, or your settings.
Having had a 2014 and 2020 iMac I think the displays are perfection in terms of clarity, sharpness and smoothness.

Is your 2015 getting pink around the edges, btw?

Well I hadn't noticed it but...........yes it does have a pinkish hue around the edges. Great. Now I won't be able to unsee it!

 

[wilberforce]

Well I hadn't noticed it but...........yes it does have a pinkish hue around the edges. Great. Now I won't be able to unsee it!

Oops sorry, did not mean to just point out a fault. Reason for asking is that it may be another excuse for you to upgrade, as this has apparently been fixed in later 5k screens, and not to wait until it gets worse that it is not easily sold (if you intend to do so).

 

[California]

Oops sorry, did not mean to just point out a fault. Reason for asking is that it may be another excuse for you to upgrade, as this has apparently been fixed in later 5k screens, and not to wait until it gets worse that it is not easily sold (if you intend to do so).

Well I hadn't noticed it but...........yes it does have a pinkish hue around the edges. Great. Now I won't be able to unsee it!

I thought the pinkish hue was just dust getting under the glass that gets sucked into the machine through the vents. Are you saying it is actually a screen problem?

 

[iSuzan]

Not sure what you are talking about. My iMac 27" 2019 screen still looks perfect. Using the latest Monterey 12.3.1.

It is the best screen I've ever had therefore I am thinking to get an ASD.

 

[California]

Well I hadn't noticed it but...........yes it does have a pinkish hue around the edges. Great. Now I won't be able to unsee it!

I'm pretty sure the pinkish hue is dust getting caught inside the screen.

 

[orbital~debris]

Yesterday I noticed my 2019 iMac Retina 5K 27" has a pink tinge around the edges of the display (visible when an app with predominantly white background is in full screen mode).

@wilberforce you mentioned this might have been fixed in later models. Do you have any more details you can point to / know which models include the fix?

@California I've seen black/grey smoke-like patterns in the corner of a 21.5" iMac, from dust intake, but it didn't cause pink edges to border the whole display. Can you say why you think the pink hue is from dust?

 

[rpmurray]

I thought the pinkish hue was just dust getting under the glass that gets sucked into the machine through the vents. Are you saying it is actually a screen problem?

The pink hue is actually coming from the degrading of the adhesive that is used around the edges of the display to laminate the glass to the LCD.

 

[uller6]

Yesterday I noticed my 2019 iMac Retina 5K 27" has a pink tinge around the edges of the display (visible when an app with predominantly white background is in full screen mode).

@wilberforce you mentioned this might have been fixed in later models. Do you have any more details you can point to / know which models include the fix?

@California I've seen black/grey smoke-like patterns in the corner of a 21.5" iMac, from dust intake, but it didn't cause pink edges to border the whole display. Can you say why you think the pink hue is from dust?

My 2019 iMac also has pink around all 4 edges of the display.

 

[zarmanto]

Bah! Never mind the dust... I have a 2012 iMac (no longer my primary workstation) with an actual bug under the glass. As in, an insect. It was moving around in there for a week or two, and then... it just stopped moving. And hasn't moved since -- and it's been there for years now. My daughter refuses to use that computer, because it creeps her out.

But I mean... other than that, that old iMac still mostly works great. ?

(And no: I've never actually noticed any graininess/fuzziness, nor have I ever observed dust under the screen, of either that iMac nor my 2019 iMac. Perhaps I should check when I get home.)

 

[wilberforce]

My 2019 iMac also has pink around all 4 edges of the display.

Wow, sorry to hear that. The 2015 models are notorious for pink edges, but I thought it had been fixed by 2019. Maybe just takes several years to show up. Does not bode well for others with 2019 or 2020 iMacs. And maybe for those with the new Studio displays!!

 

[wilberforce]

The pink hue is actually coming from the degrading of the adhesive that is used around the edges of the display to laminate the glass to the LCD.

This is one theory, but I am not sure this has been proven. In (some?) cases the adhesive is pink, and there may have been just a presumption that this caused the pink edges. Maybe true, maybe not. Would like to know if someone was able to positively demonstrate this is the cause.

 

[rpmurray]

Bah! Never mind the dust... I have a 2012 iMac (no longer my primary workstation) with an actual bug under the glass. As in, an insect. It was moving around in there for a week or two, and then... it just stopped moving. And hasn't moved since -- and it's been there for years now. My daughter refuses to use that computer, because it creeps her out.

I've always wondered how a bug would manage to make it under the glass if it's supposedly laminated to the LCD. In some videos I've seen there is some silicon goop that is between the glass and the LCD but you would think that it would make it harder for a bug to travel around under there.

 

[California]

This is one theory, but I am not sure this has been proven. In (some?) cases the adhesive is pink, and there may have been just a presumption that this caused the pink edges. Maybe true, maybe not. Would like to know if someone was able to positively demonstrate this is the cause.

I'm starting to get the pink hue on my 27" iMac but i read it is dust coming in and accumulating. A bug could theoretically get in through the vents. I read somewhere that it just needs to be cleaned and no pink hue.

 

[TwoH]

I'm starting to get the pink hue on my 27" iMac but i read it is dust coming in and accumulating. A bug could theoretically get in through the vents. I read somewhere that it just needs to be cleaned and no pink hue.

Dust is not the cause for the pink hue. I've cleaned 100s of LCDs - including ones with pink hue, and it has made zero difference.

 

[jackstrummer]

Mine has the same pink tinge problem. Interestingly I added a slightly green filter. Go to Accessibility options: option + command + F5, then click 'Preferences', then 'Display', then choose the 'Colour Filters' tab, then check '
Enable Colour Filters', with a filter type of 'Colour Tint'. Then figure out the complementary colour to the particular hue affecting your screen (the complement is a light green in my case) and add that to the Colour square, and adjust the 'Intensity' bar to just one notch, or less. Not a fix, but slightly less irritating and works OK for me. Maybe I just have strange eyes, or brain...
BTW I'm only charging $500 for this fix, so a bargain really... and no need for Apple I-Don't-Care-Two-Figs stuff