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iMacfan · Sep 30, 2006, 06:59 PM

Hi,

I've had the 24" iMac for a couple of days, and it's great. However, the screen does seem to be concerning me a bit. Firstly, there are no dead pixels, which is a good start, but I think I can see a little banding in some situations.

The easiest one to see it in is the bottom half of the screen in Front row - horizontal bands, but maybe this is intentional. Also, in some clean artifical gradients on some pictures and monitor tests, there is a bit of banding - not the awful amount that was seen on some Dell displays with the same panel.

All in all, it's a very minor issue to me, especially as it isn't to be used for mission-critical graphics work, but I just wondered if it was normal, or how to optimise the display so as to get the best out of it. With no pixel defects, there's not a hope in hell of it going back!

David

Hobeaux · Sep 30, 2006, 07:21 PM

have you seen this banding in other machines? Could it be your Display preferences is set to a low number of colors? Check to see if it's set to millions or not.

iMacfan · Sep 30, 2006, 07:38 PM

Oh no, the display is much, much better than if it were only showing thousands of colours. I expect that it's probably normal, and that I am expecting too much or that others haven't even noticed.

richwig83 · Sep 30, 2006, 08:09 PM

Same slight banding can be seen on my macbook on front row too!!!

iMacfan · Oct 1, 2006, 05:25 AM

Originally Posted by richardwigley

Same slight banding can be seen on my macbook on front row too!!!

That may well be normal, then. I've done a bit more searching, and came up with the app LCDTest: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/23237

Looking at the gradients option, most seem fine, with only a slight amount seen in the blue/green transition area. This may just be a result of the gradients having to cover such a large number of pixels.

iMacfan · Oct 2, 2006, 05:23 AM

Final update:

Just in case anyone could be put off buying the 24" iMac from my thread, don't be. I've installed windows through bootcamp, and used the thorough freeware monitor test program, checkemon. I can categorically say that there is 100% no hardware display banding, vertical or horizontal. If I did see any at all, it must have been introduced by an application or OSX - which will either be solved by a software update, or psychiatric treatment for me!

David

Noscito · Oct 2, 2006, 04:13 PM

Thanks for that final note, reading these forums (sometimes) gets me more and more paranoid while waiting for my 24" to arrive

::maroma:: · Oct 2, 2006, 04:51 PM

Originally Posted by Noscito

Thanks for that final note, reading these forums (sometimes) gets me more and more paranoid while waiting for my 24" to arrive

Remember, only the ones with the problems post about them. Those who have flawless experiences don't post about that. Every once in a blue moon someone posts about how perfect their Mac is. But the only people that post here are the ones that have problems.

iMacfan · Oct 2, 2006, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by ::maroma::

Remember, only the ones with the problems post about them. Those who have flawless experiences don't post about that. Every once in a blue moon someone posts about how perfect their Mac is. But the only people that post here are the ones that have problems.

Yes, that's definitely also a case. Also, at least with me, if there are no big flaws to pick up on, I'll move to the more subtle ones. If every time I booted up the computer, it shot me in the face, I wouldn't be too bothered about a dead pixel!

The only thing remaining about my 24" that is concerning me is a noise coming from near the top of the unit. It's not quite a clicking noise, but it is irritating. I think it's either the HD (SMART status OK), or a fan rubbing very slightly. Anyhow, it goes away for most of the time, so I won't bother too much.

David