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RayK · Oct 7, 2005, 12:19 PM

Ok, so I'm on my 2nd 23" Apple Cinema Display in 4 days. The one before had white splotches and drove me crazy watching DVD's. This new one is almost perfect. I just got it 20 minutes ago. Plugged it up, went to a black screen and saw very faint white spots on it. They almost didn't take the other back due to the fact that they didn't see them in store. The manager referred to it as the Apple forcefield. He said it would be no problem, and swapped it out for me. Very nice of him considering that in the past Apple Support hasn't always been so supportive. So its very small and almost unnoticeable, just I think because I am in such a dark area. Under normal light it is not visible. Otherwise it is perfect. I love it. What should I do?

Also, I have a problem that when I set in it display properties to sleep the computer when I press the power button on the monitor. When I press the power button with that setting I get a dialog box asking if I want to sleep, shutdown, restart, or cancel. I remember playing with older displays and the sleep function working. What do I need to do to fix it? Or is it 10.4.2 that's the problem.

Thanks in advance for all the help!

Cadaver · Oct 7, 2005, 11:09 PM

The splotchies have been plaguing Apple's 23" aluminum displays since they came out. Still has yet to be corrected. Take it back until you get one you're 100% satisfied with.

As for the sleep button, not sure why its not respecting your setting in the Displays preferences panel. Try toggling to something else, closing the System Preferences window, and resetting back to how you want it. You could also try trashing the Displays prefs.

mduell · Oct 8, 2005, 12:01 AM

Return it, buy a 24" HD Dell LCD, and pocket the $500?

MichiganRich · Oct 8, 2005, 03:38 PM

I have a similar tale of woe with 23's at work. Bought two for the retouchers (me and the other guy), tried to convince ourselves that the pink stripe covering the left third of the screen was liveable. Got tired of it, sent them in for warranty repair and now they have a tobacco color in that same vertical third and uneven lighting side to side. Sent those back, will report on pair #3....

Dell 2005FPW and 2001FP at home, Dell 1900FP handed down to mom, and they are all ideal. No dead pixels among the three of them, pretty even lighting and most importantly even-colored side to side.

bentoon · Oct 8, 2005, 04:26 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Return it, buy a 24" HD Dell LCD, and pocket the $500?

Will this work with my apple 1.33 Gz 17 inch Laptop

bentoon · Oct 8, 2005, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Return it, buy a 24" HD Dell LCD, and pocket the $500?

I see that my apple 17 1.33Gz has an ATI Mobility Radeon 9600: and from Dells sit it says that the monitor is suported by it at 2005 FPW but not at 2405 FPW
what does that mean and how can I find out if it will work
Unfortunatly there is no longer a Dell store where I can go and look at these things first hand in NYC where I am
Thanks

mduell · 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by bentoon

Will this work with my apple 1.33 Gz 17 inch Laptop

Originally Posted by bentoon

I see that my apple 17 1.33Gz has an ATI Mobility Radeon 9600: and from Dells sit it says that the monitor is suported by it at 2005 FPW but not at 2405 FPW
what does that mean and how can I find out if it will work
Unfortunatly there is no longer a Dell store where I can go and look at these things first hand in NYC where I am
Thanks

Yes, the Dell 2405FPW will work with your 17" PowerBook. I think Dell is confused, because I think some of their 9600Mo equipped laptops had WUXGA screens.

Apple says:
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics processor with AGP 4X support and 64MB of DDR SDRAM video memory (17-inch model)
* Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports up to 1440 by 900 pixels on the built-in display and up to 2048 by 1536 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors

2048x1536 is bigger than the 2405FPW's 1920x1200

If you thought I was joking about pocketing $500, the 2405FPW is currenty $959.20 at the Home or Small Biz stores.

bentoon · Oct 8, 2005, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Yes, the Dell 2405FPW will work with your 17" PowerBook. I think Dell is confused, because I think some of their 9600Mo equipped laptops had WUXGA screens.

Apple says:
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics processor with AGP 4X support and 64MB of DDR SDRAM video memory (17-inch model)
* Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports up to 1440 by 900 pixels on the built-in display and up to 2048 by 1536 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors

2048x1536 is bigger than the 2405FPW's 1920x1200

If you thought I was joking about pocketing $500, the 2405FPW is currenty $959.20 at the Home or Small Biz stores.

Thanks Mark,
I am all over it

RayK · Oct 10, 2005, 04:42 PM

So, I'm on my third Apple Cinema Display and its getting annoying to have to drive there, get it, take it home, then take it back. Its so bright in there I cannot tell if there is a problem or I would test it there. If I call up Applecare will they 100% positive get me a good one? The one I'm on now was shipped from the warehouse on the 3rd of this month. Also, I would get a Dell Display, but I wanted one of these. If just for the prettiness of it.

Any chance I will find one that is perfect?

OreoCookie · Oct 10, 2005, 06:18 PM

Go to a store and ask them to hook it up. If you like it, buy it. If you don't, then don't.

RayK · Oct 10, 2005, 06:36 PM

Its not very visible in the store. The illumination is uneven, but in the store its too bright to tell. At my dorm its darker and I can see the issue. I take photos here and bring it to them with the display. Any tips on seeing it in very bright places?

RayK · Oct 12, 2005, 10:05 PM

i went through 4 brand new displays before giving up. Warning to you all.

form.aat · Apr 11, 2006, 04:40 AM

RayK,

did you have the same problem - whitish areas on black background - on all of them?

brassplayersrock² · Apr 18, 2006, 10:24 PM

the whitish area on black background is backlight leaking. i had to return my first 23'' because of the pink hue issue. this one though,

perfect. i know a guy who works at the apple store and he let me try out 5 of them in the back which is more realistic lighting, 3 of them had the pink hue and the 4th one had about, ooo, 15-20 dead pixels, the one im using now is perfect. not one problem. good luck on your endovours to you all

Chris Grande · Apr 20, 2006, 06:30 PM

The 23" models have always had issues. Demo units in both my local Apple Store and the local CompUSA have pink/yellow hues and are usually dark at the corners. Mostly all the 20" (including mine) and the 30s are perfect.

MacOS-Fan · Apr 24, 2006, 11:04 PM

RayK, sorry for your frustrations. That sucks!

bdwhite · Apr 26, 2006, 03:48 PM

You would think that when they charge double the price of similar quality disp[lays, they would at least perfect them? Thanks for posting the issues everyone, I was going to end up finding out the hard way had I not peeked here.

workerbee · May 4, 2006, 08:08 AM

Originally Posted by AnthonyB

You would think that when they charge double the price of similar quality disp[lays, they would at least perfect them?

Yep, Apple does appear to be either not interested or not capable of fixing this.
I have a beautiful 23" ACD at home that I bought off the shelf of an Apple dealer when I saw it (no white splotches and especially no pink hue).
Yesterday I went and bought a brand-new one (3 weeks since the Apple dealer got it) for the office. It's got

nasty pink hue
ugly white splotches on dark screen
weird image ghosting

It'll be back to the dealer today -- good thing I told them that I was slightly wary of this display, and they accepted that I might return it if not satisfied; normally this would now be handled by Apple, and since they do not appear to be overly concerned by these defects...

workerbee · May 4, 2006, 12:35 PM

Update: returned the 23" ACD today, tested two more in the shop; came out with my money back. All 23" had a pink hue to some degree, all had ghosting, 2 had whitish areas on black.

brassplayersrock² · May 4, 2006, 04:48 PM

im sorry to hear about that. that really is not good. the place you went to should get replacements from apple for the ones in there stores cause theyre loosing money due to bad products. hope you find another useable monitor.

brass

azt33 · May 4, 2006, 05:57 PM

Good thing I read through this thread! I was planning on getting the 23". Hmm, I think I'm goin to settle for the 20" then, or might it be wise to look around for a secondhand 23" that I can actually inspect before buying? Is it actually advisable to get a secondhand TFT-display at all?

brassplayersrock² · May 4, 2006, 06:06 PM

i'd buy new actually, and try it out in the store and if its at an apple store, request that you try it in the back. the lighting in there is very good at hiding defects in the monitor, hence asking to inspect in it the back which is more of a natural lighting atmosphere, also, if you can, take your own machine that your going to hook the monitor up to, always better to test things out with what theyre going to be partnered with

mduell · May 4, 2006, 06:52 PM

Wow, I'm surprised that ghosting is a problem with a premium priced LCD in 2006.

azt33 · May 4, 2006, 07:17 PM

Hmm, that means that I need to get it at an actual store. Unfortunately, we don't have any Apple Stores here (yet), only Apple Centres. Though some of them are not that helpful, most of them are friendly and I think they would be willing to let me try out the display.
That does mean that I cannot use my ADC-discount on the display though

Oh well, can't have everything.

A quick question, are the problems still evident in the 23" displays? I mean, this thread was started some time ago, just wondering if Apple did something about the issues.

workerbee · May 5, 2006, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by azt33

A quick question, are the problems still evident in the 23" displays? I mean, this thread was started some time ago, just wondering if Apple did something about the issues.

The 3 displays I tested yesterday and the day before were brand-new -- 3 weeks since they were delivered by Apple, as my dealer told me (I did not check the serial numbers though).

So to me it certainly looks as if the problem is not solved at all. The 23" ACD that normally is on display in this store also has the pink hue problem.

The dealer said that he expects Apple to update the monitor line soon anyway with built-in iSight across the line. While I'm neither sure nor keen on the iSight, I think Apple will need to update the ACDs to include HDCP, as DVD HD and BlueRay are just around the corner, and Apple will want/need to have compatible hardware.

Still, rather disappointing if you're in the market for a 23" and don't want to get-a-dell.

azt33 · May 5, 2006, 12:35 PM

Thanks for the info, workerbee, really appreciate it!

So it is actually better to wait a few months, or at least till August... Otherwise, I might go the Dell-route *sigh*

workerbee · May 5, 2006, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by azt33

So it is actually better to wait a few months, or at least till August... Otherwise, I might go the Dell-route *sigh*

Keep in mind that "new or refreshed ACDs" is just a conjecture at this point; I don't remember seeing anything pointing to this in the, uh, usual channels (appleinsider, thinksecret).
But if you don't need the display right now: waiting probably won't hurt.

From what I read, the Dell displays do not have the pink hue problem (they have different panels inside, Samsung 24" panels vs. Apple's Philips-LG panels I think), but some people say they are simply too bright. I really really like my 23" ACD, and only find it disappointing that finding a perfect, or even good one, is so difficult.

myplague · May 6, 2006, 06:25 AM

I'm also trying to buy a 23" ACD but it obviously isn't the way to go.....

I've been considering getting the 23" old plastic display instead, is this a good decision?
Or should I wait for the new ACDs coming soon?

I've already waited more than a year for Apple to resolve the quality issue, and I'm running out of patience now. 17" is looking so small these days......Other LCDs aren't option for me as none comes close to Apple's aesthetics.

Anyone have suggestions?
.
.

hldan · May 9, 2006, 01:34 AM

Originally Posted by apple boy

I'm also trying to buy a 23" ACD but it obviously isn't the way to go.....

I've been considering getting the 23" old plastic display instead, is this a good decision?
Or should I wait for the new ACDs coming soon?

I've already waited more than a year for Apple to resolve the quality issue, and I'm running out of patience now. 17" is looking so small these days......Other LCDs aren't option for me as none comes close to Apple's aesthetics.

Anyone have suggestions?
.
.

There is nothing wrong with the latest versions of Apple's 23" cinema displays. I just visited my nearby Apple retail store and they replaced all of their pink 23" displays and they look great. I have one that I bought last year in May 2005. Mine looks okay but depending on what's being displayed such as iTunes it fades a bit on the left side and it has a dark vertical band. I never notice any of this under normal use, I have to be examining it thoroughly to see any of this. The new ones in the Apple store have none of these issues. They looked great and appeared to be brighter than mine.