[adamj575]

i just bought a refurbished imac and all is great, however, the bottom of the screen seems to be brighter that the top. if i drag a safari window i can really tell the grey safari toolbar get noticebly brighter. is this normal for imacs or do i have a problem?

[MichiganRich]

It's normal. It's not preferable, but with the new crop of aluminum iMacs, it is regrettably normal.

My 24" has a bright left side, the one that we bought for the freelance retoucher at work has a slightly brighter left side. They both even out slightly when they have been on for a while and have warmed up (about an hour or so)...

I try not to dwell on it, because otherwise I love the damn thing so much.

[fisher]

When i first got my iMac about two weeks ago, I noticed the same thing: slightly uneven illumination of the screen. Then i went back and looked at my old 17" PC LCD monitor and it was even worse! I guess because I only worked on photographs near the center of the screen I never noticed it. Of course with a 24" monitor it's even easier to work in in or near the center. but a few days ago an OSX update arrived and one thing I think it did was improve the evenness of the screen illumination. I'm only judging by eye but now the screen seems to be pretty much the same side to side and top to bottom.

[EdipisReks]

i received a refurb 20" 2.4 yesterday, and mine luckily has a very evenly illuminated screen. i've found that almost all CFL LCDs have some uneveness on the top and bottom, it's just a matter of degree. i'm very happy with mine (and i love the machine!!!). the CCFLs used in laptops are even worse, in this regard, which is one of the reasons LEDs are so much better. hopefully LED backlight LCDs become mainstream on desktop displays, soon.