You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Is this color difference between an iMac mid 2010 and iMac late 2015 normal?

Good day.


I recently got a used iMac mid-2010. After a reset, it works like a charm - incredible, given this product is ten years old..!


However, when put aside my iMac late 2015 (left side), I notice that the colours on the 2010-iMac are displayed in a greenish/yellow tone in comparison to the 2015-iMac:



Is this difference something normal or to expect given only the 2015 iMac has a Retina display?


I tried manually calibrating to colors in the iMac settings (currently, the standard color profile is selected), but with no avail.


Thanks for any help.

Posted on Jan 20, 2020 6:55 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 27, 2020 2:38 AM

In case somebody has the same question: I have just contacted Apple Support (awesome support given this is a ten years old product!); the slight colour difference is something to expect e.g. not a malfunction.

Similar questions

11 replies

Jan 20, 2020 7:54 AM in response to pokiatapple

Oh also try Brightness slider in Sys Prefs>Displays


The one on the left looks horrible to me, maybe even dust getting in around the edges!


The one on the right looks a little off, but nothing like the left one.


I used to calibrate the Monitor with expensive SW/HW solution, but find it easier at this age to adjust my brain. :)


What does this look like on both screens?

Jan 20, 2020 8:08 AM in response to pokiatapple

Yeah I was just messing with you and know that taking photos of displays, doesn't alway turn out the way you expect them to.


On the 2010 go to the display preferences and try selecting a different pre-installed color profile. It that doesn't help, you can always try and manually calibrating a new color profile more to your liking.


see > http://www.computer-darkroom.com/colorsync-display/colorsync_1.htm


Also depending on the macOS, you may need to hold the Alt (option) key when selecting Calibrate... in order to get into Expert Mode.

Jan 20, 2020 12:15 PM in response to BDAqua

Thanks again for the reply and information.


Regarding the left screen, thanks for pointing the dark edges out! Do you think that could be dust?


However, I have double-checked the colour of my 2015-iMac by placing my new MacBook and a Dell monitor next to the 2015-iMac. The colour on the iMac 2015 is without mistake correct; it only looks pink on the picture (but as mentioned before, the edges are dark); e.g. when opening the Google homepage or a Finder window, its background is white on all screens except the 2010-Mac, which has a green tint to it...


By the way, I have set the brightness of both displays to the max - thanks for mentioning that as well.


Regarding the test picture, the colours look almost identical on both iMacs. However, the 2010-iMac has a green tint also over the test picture). Actually, I just managed to capture this by making a video (interestingly, the colours are more accurate when making a video), however, also here the 2015-iMac looks pink while, in fact, it displays a perfect white:


I am out of ideas; maybe the old iMac has a hardware issue?

Jan 20, 2020 12:20 PM in response to den.thed

Thanks for the reply and pointing out this (somewhat hidden) feature. Actually, I have already tried matching the colors with dozens of custom made color profiles, however, with no avail so far. : (


As mentioned in my reply BDAqua some moments ago, I managed to capture the displays:



As mentioned above, I have triple-checked the display of the 2015-iMac - it is definitely accurate and shows a perfect white.


I am out of ideas; maybe the old iMac has a hardware issue?

Jan 20, 2020 7:31 AM in response to den.thed

Thanks a lot for the swift reply.


Sorry, it's quite hard to photograph; the iMac 2015 only looks pink on the photograph; in real it looks fine (e.g. the background of the Google homepage is white on my late 2015 iMac, but greenish on the 2010 iMac).


Thanks for the tip regarding NightShift; I forgot to mention that I already had turned it off.


Thanks again.

Is this color difference between an iMac mid 2010 and iMac late 2015 normal?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.