20" iMac LCD color problems?

Okay this one is a little shaky because my French is non-existent. But in this post (Google translation) at the French Mac site MacBidouille, they present evidence that the LCD panel in the new 20" iMacs is not a 24bit color panel as in the previous generation, but an 18bit panel instead. Support for this includes the Kodawarisan take-apart photos which appear to show the panel as a LG PHILIPS LM201WE3. This panel seems to be a TN (twisted nematic) display most of which, according to wikipedia, "...are unable to display the full 16.7 million colors (24-bit truecolor) available from modern graphics cards." Other discussions online seem to support this conclusion.

Of course, we heard complaints before about color reproduction on Apple LCD displays. If true, this is consistent with the reviews (e.g. Macworld magazine) that have complained about the quality of the 20" screen versus that of the 24" iMac. If correct this would be a powerful reason to prefer the 24" iMac, particularly if color accuracy is very important to you (e.g. for working with photos).

Thanks Gabriel!

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