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hldan · Jun 26, 2005, 08:43 PM

I didn't mean to make this posting misleading but I purchased an Apple 23" display for my new G5 and after seeing how pink it was I took it back to the Apple store where I bought it and all of their 23" displays were pink so I opted not to get another. I went all out and paid for the 30" and although the screen had no color issues it had an issue where an enormous amount of shimmering and dancing pixels on the screen. I took that one back and the Apple store opened up 2 more 30" ACD's and tested them and they all had the shimmering pixel issue so I wasn't my G5. In fact their demo's had that issue as well.
Decided to get a refund and look at other manufacturer's LCD's. I hate the bezel on all of them so I went to CompUSA and bought another 23" and although no pink problems it has a yellow color casting down the left side of the screen. Exchanged this one and the same thing again. So now I have about 12 days left before my return policy ends and it's quite annoying to buy something so poorly designed.
Does anyone have these issues with the Apple screens and I heard that Apple may be making a big annoucnement next week so does anyone know if new displays are on the way? It's been over a year since these displays were released and they seem to have a lack of quality control. Any thoughts?
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jamil5454 · Jun 26, 2005, 09:29 PM

To me, the Cinema Displays look amazing. Of course, I'm no graphics artist or such, but compared to my decent 17" CRT, the picture quality is worlds apart. Almost makes me want to go and get the 20".

analogika · Jun 26, 2005, 10:19 PM

We haven't sold a 23" w/ the pink defect in ages.

Never seen the shimmer prob on the 30" either...

hldan · Jun 26, 2005, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by analogika

We haven't sold a 23" w/ the pink defect in ages.

Never seen the shimmer prob on the 30" either...

Do you work for Apple or a retail store that sells Apple products? I think I my first 23" was the last of the pink ones but the newer ones although not pink have a yellowish casting on the left side of the screen. If you work at a place that sells the 23" Apple screen take a look at it. It's mostly noticeable against a white background. The 30" issue does not seem too wide spread but I am concerned about my 23" model. I thought about keeping it and eventually having Apple repair it but I hate to buy good equipment that seems to have problems right out of the box.

analogika · Jun 27, 2005, 05:05 AM

retail.

All the 23"ers I've sold recently were unpacked and hooked up before the customers took them out, and they were flawless.

CatOne · Jun 27, 2005, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by hldan

Do you work for Apple or a retail store that sells Apple products? I think I my first 23" was the last of the pink ones but the newer ones although not pink have a yellowish casting on the left side of the screen. If you work at a place that sells the 23" Apple screen take a look at it. It's mostly noticeable against a white background. The 30" issue does not seem too wide spread but I am concerned about my 23" model. I thought about keeping it and eventually having Apple repair it but I hate to buy good equipment that seems to have problems right out of the box.

Do you use any color profiling/workflow software (i.e. Gretag Macbeth or Pantone calibrators), or are they pink straight out of the box, with a default profile?

I had heard rumblings that the pinkish cast was a lot more common in color-profiled workflows, which sounds odd.

Cadaver · Jun 29, 2005, 08:56 PM

On my 30" cinema display, I rarely get a few green shimmering pixels along the left edge of the screen. And I mean rarely. Like once every 4 weeks or something. Turning the display off and right back on again fixes the problem.

While I suppose its not "perfect" for $2700 (edu price), there are ZERO dead pixels, no backlight leakage and the color is as good (damn good) as LCD can be with current technology, so I put up with having to tap the power button once every 4 weeks (ok, twice... once off, once on).

trevorM · Jul 1, 2005, 02:38 AM

Originally Posted by Cadaver

On my 30" cinema display, I rarely get a few green shimmering pixels along the left edge of the screen. And I mean rarely. Like once every 4 weeks or something. Turning the display off and right back on again fixes the problem.

While I suppose its not "perfect" for $2700 (edu price), there are ZERO dead pixels, no backlight leakage and the color is as good (damn good) as LCD can be with current technology, so I put up with having to tap the power button once every 4 weeks (ok, twice... once off, once on).

I got the shimmering ALL THE TIME. And I am not talking mere shimmering here, it was overwhelming at times. My screen has recently been replaced.

Link · Jul 1, 2005, 03:56 AM

The irony behind apple's LCD problems is that it mostly plagues their cinema displays, I've seen nowhere near as many problems with imac/ibook/powerbook screens.

Having said that, I've gone through 4 22"ers and my mom's ADC 23"er, while nice, has a washed out bottom left (probably the backlight).. and its backlight flickers when coming on every now and then.

Honestly, I don't think I want to bother buying one from them again, since so far it's 0 for 2, or 5, however you want to put it, lol.

GSixZero · Jul 1, 2005, 12:39 PM

I was under the impression the shimmering was a video card problem. I've never seen it or fixed it myself, but that's what I've read.

SSharon · Jul 1, 2005, 06:10 PM

Its threads like these that made me get the Dell LCD I got a few weeks ago. As far as I know its the same samsung panel just this one is uglier and much cheaper. My 1905fp 19" w/ DVI was under $300 with no rebates or tax and free shipping.

If I were in your place I would return whatever you have from compusa and wait a week to see if anything new comes out. If yes, then buy if not, look for alternatives like the 20" widescreen dell.

trevorM · Jul 4, 2005, 02:29 AM

Originally Posted by SSharon

Its threads like these that made me get the Dell LCD I got a few weeks ago. As far as I know its the same samsung panel just this one is uglier and much cheaper. My 1905fp 19" w/ DVI was under $300 with no rebates or tax and free shipping.

If I were in your place I would return whatever you have from compusa and wait a week to see if anything new comes out. If yes, then buy if not, look for alternatives like the 20" widescreen dell.

But lets face it your 19" is still no 30". Problems or no problems, give me a 30" any day!

Link · Jul 4, 2005, 04:30 AM

Thing is that dell was pocket change in comparison to the price of a 30", and I know a few people here along with myself know what it feels like to blow well over 2 grand on a display, end up with problems, and apple being a pain in the butt to get them fixed.

Cadaver · Jul 4, 2005, 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by Link

Thing is that dell was pocket change in comparison to the price of a 30", and I know a few people here along with myself know what it feels like to blow well over 2 grand on a display, end up with problems, and apple being a pain in the butt to get them fixed.

You're right about that... if Apple F's me if (god forbid) I have any problems with my 30" display, they can kiss me goodbye as a future customer. For any $3000 product in today's economy, I expect good customer service. Hopefully, I never have to put that to the test.

im_noahselby · Jul 5, 2005, 02:55 AM

Originally Posted by Link

The irony behind apple's LCD problems is that it mostly plagues their cinema displays, I've seen nowhere near as many problems with imac/ibook/powerbook screens.

I went through four 12" PowerBooks with LCD problems (and I'm not just talking about dead pixels) before I settled on the fourth machine. Two of the machines had really odd display issues and ALL of them had more than one dead or stuck pixel.

Laptop # 4 has one stuck light blue/grey? pixel that I have rarely ever noticed. If you pretend for a second that the screen is divided into four squares, it is located in the center of the top left square. I have seen red and black dead pixels before and they are irritating and extremely noticeable.

Anyways, I have always said that Apple's LCD's are over-rated. Their 12" offerings are embarrassing. Their cinema displays are dressed in fancy aluminum shells, but once you look past this, I doubt you would have a difficult time finding a match, in terms of display quality elsewhere.

Noah

Scooterboy · Jul 5, 2005, 11:03 PM

Yes, Apple seems to have production quality issues with their LCD screens. I'm just waiting until I don't need my PowerBook for 2 weeks so I can get the screen replaced and not have to stare at that fscking white spot whenever I work on light background documents or web browse. Chinese factories, perhaps?

hedgehogfrenzy · Jul 6, 2005, 11:31 AM

I agree with SSharon, I ended up with 2 Dell 2005FPW (2nd Gen) without the backlight leakage. I color calibrated them and I can't find enough difference in them compard to the CinemaDisplays to warrant the extra cash. The fancy metal on the Cinemas is nice though....

gooffer · Jul 19, 2005, 09:09 AM

Just found this thread after someone posted a nice hint to look for the keywords "pixel shimmer", would have never guessed that is was called that.

Well my 30 inch did that the first day after about 3 h of use. My first thought was, POS apple I am gonna throw it out.

But after searching around, posting on a few boards and so on I am pretty certain that pixel shimmering is not something to with my LCD panel, but either with my 6800 DDL or with some sort of interfernce caused bye the way I routed the DVI cable from the back of the G5 to the display.

I have been seaching everywhere to find a posting what the most current driver should be for the Nvidia 6800 DDL, anyone know if it updates automatically with software update or is a manual thing.

Also interested in the effects of electro magnetic fields on the DVI cableing, when I get the shimmering on my display and simply drag a cut and paste box across the area effected, the pixels go back to normal until I let go of the mouse button, looks very much not like a display problem then.

What about wireless, 900 Mhz or 2.4 Ghz interference ? Could this somehow have an effect on the DVI ?

Lastly for those with Nvidia 6800 DDL cards anyone have some temp readings for the Processor chip.

Not ready to give up on the 30 inch display just yet. Shimmer pix for those intested.