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A question for 27" iMac owners who have owned their computers for at least six months

crouch

crouch

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 4, 2012
138
258
Hi, long time lurker (and really, you guys are awesome -- what you write is invaluable) who just created an account because I need your help --

My girlfriend & I just moved in into an apartment together. I work from home as a software developer, and she's an architect who uses the Adobe Suite a ton, and we figured that the 27" iMac would work perfectly for the both of us. The problem: all of the forums and discussion boards about the black spots, smudges, and dust that form inside of the 27" displays.

My question(s): for those of you that have owned a 27" iMac for at least six months, how many of you have encountered this? How many of you haven't? If you haven't, are you doing anything in particular -- like dusting around the computer every day, or using dehumidifiers -- to keep smudges from forming?

I would really love to buy this computer, only I'm a bit terrified that I'll have to lug the thing back to Apple every six months to get the display pulled apart and cleaned. Apple Care is a no brainer, but still -- for a computer costing this much $$$, I'd hope that they would have solved this by now. (I'm also hoping that I'm just reading about all of the "bad luck" cases, and that there are plenty of people with great experiences with their screens.) Thanks!
 
L

lantree

macrumors member
Jul 22, 2010
85
136
I've had my machine for around 7 months, so to answer your question

black spots ? No not seen one
smudges ? No none of them
dust behind the screen ? No not one spec of dust seen

Don't worry about it to be honest, my machine is like on 18 hours a day most of the time in a normal home environment and i've not had any problems.
 
X

xmnj

macrumors regular
Jul 5, 2007
100
15
I received a 27" refurb from Apple a few weeks back, no issues what so ever, and I have left it on 24 hrs a day since I had it.
 
I

iTalkappleosx

macrumors newbie
Apr 26, 2011
15
0
No man's land
Great computer

What i usually do is, once a year. I will take off the glass from the iMac, with suction cup's, and clean the inside with a micro fiber dusk rag, & some type of LCD monitor cleaner, wile the iMac is unplug from the wall socket, so if your not to sure on how this work's, here are some video's on youtube, you and your wife can check out, hope this help.:apple: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cHMHzq5E5I
 
jsw

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
As with most such issues, remember that people who don't have a problem won't write to not complain about it, so obviously you'll see a bias towards issues.

Of course, sometime the complaints do indicate a real problem, but I don't think that's the case with the display issues. I've had/used a number of iMacs of various generations and have never had a screen issues aside from one screen starting to go bad near the end of the 3 year warranty, and that was replaced without issue.

Could you have a problem with the display? Sure. Will you? Almost undoubtedly not. The only real advice I'd give is not to let the computer get really cold (like buying it mid-winter and leaving it in the car for hours as you shop) and then put it somewhere warm - condensation is going to happen in that case. Let it acclimate if it's quite cold before unboxing it.
 
T

Tonecrafter

macrumors member
Nov 1, 2011
46
0
I've been dealing with this same concern. I really don't think it'll be an issue. Though, maybe running an air purifier might make for some piece of mind. I'm sure that would cut down on any dust buildup that may have otherwise cropped up.
 
bartelby

bartelby

macrumors Core
Jun 16, 2004
19,795
34
I have a 2010 27" iMac and have none of the issues you are concerned about.

jsw talks sense...
 
L

lexvo

macrumors 65816
Nov 11, 2009
1,467
551
The Netherlands
Don't let internet forums put you off :)
While there are undoubtly faulty iMacs around, the majority works fine.

As for me, I have a 2009 27" iMac with a very slight yellow tinge. It doesn't bother me however. I have no problems with dust, smudges or black spots.

Like you said yourself, AppleCare is a no brainer. Mine is in repair for the second time and I'm glad I have AppleCare.
 
philipma1957

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Apr 13, 2010
6,367
251
Howell, New Jersey
R

radicalcentrist

macrumors member
Dec 10, 2008
73
0
Portland, OR
I've had my 27" for two years now and have had no problems with the screen whatsoever. It's in the home office (main part of the house), and we've had a dog the whole time.

It's still gorgeous. That being said, I'm really looking forward to upgrading next December when Applecare on it runs out!
 
B

bushidounohana

macrumors member
Jul 11, 2008
61
2
St. Louis, MO (USA)
Just wanted to chime in as someone who is experiencing the issue--

I've owned my machine less than 6 months (purchased in October of '11), and I've recently noticed "dusty smudges" forming just below the upper right and left hand corners. My issue is really only noticeable on pure white backgrounds, but when you see it, it is really annoying.

I've been a happy iMac owner since 2007, and this model is the first I've had this issue with. I'm a writer that moonlights in design and video production, which makes for long nights in Scrivener, InDesign, Photoshop, and web browsers doing research. I only occasionally truly tax the machine with infrequent video edits, rips, and encoding. I also regularly dust my hardware (and work area) and wipe the screen off with the proper cleaning cloths.

All that said, I don't know if there is a single (or combination of) activity that causes the problem (or will deter it), but tutorials around the web for pulling off the glass and cleaning it reveal the process to be stunningly easy (as iTalkappleosx points out), so I'm going to wrangle a suction cup and give it a toss myself.

Since the issue seems hit or miss and easily self-serviceable, I wouldn't let it scare you away.
 
L

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,197
19,054
I got a 2011 iMac soon after the refresh, so far no dust or other problems you talk about.
 
doktordoris

doktordoris

macrumors 6502a
Mar 14, 2009
532
1
I remember reading of late a post somewhere on this site which impressed me greatly. It said (and I paraphrase here) that if you wanted to learn about humans and went to a hospital to do so you would end up thinking that all humans are ill. Similarly no-one posts here to say "Ive had a mac for a year or 2 and it has been problem free". The lack of news is never news, if you see what I mean.
 
I

iMikeT

macrumors 68020
Jul 8, 2006
2,304
1
California
I have had my 2011 27" iMac since July, actually this particular one was a replacement of the one I got two weeks before it. The original had uneven backlighting, especially on the right side of the display. The one I have has had no issues whatsoever.

To crouch, the only thing I'm wondering is how two people are going to be able to share a single computer especially when it will be primarily used for work.
 
BasilFawlty

BasilFawlty

macrumors 65816
Jun 20, 2009
1,078
3,023
New Mexico
Bought mine back in May 2011. So far, no issues with display at all (and I live in a fairly dusty place in the southwest)
 
S

scorpsgsxr

macrumors newbie
Nov 15, 2011
13
0
had my iMac for just on a year and just had a new display because of dust ,it was ok till i had some building work done in the house

now if i think the place is going to be dusty i switch it off

from what I can make out air enters at the bottom where the ram is and exits out the top

so once a month I take off the ram cover and air dust it out, supprising how much dust accumulates there

house isn't that dusty but as with any electronics it creates static so attracts dust
 
M

macmastersam

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2011
515
0
Essex, england
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I say wait till the next generation of highest-end 27" iMacs if you aren't that desperate and bump the RAM to 8, if not 12 or 16GB of ram with aftermarket RAM (apple's ram pricing - too expensive) should be enough for what you both do.

Or get your own 27" iMacs each and do what I said above, If you have the money or you both have to work at the same time.
 
Fuchal

Fuchal

macrumors 68030
Sep 30, 2003
2,607
1,086
I have a 2009 27" iMac. Last year I brought it in to get the LCD replaced because of black smudge marks. They replaced it with no issue. Since then it's been fine.
 
B

B.A.T

macrumors 6502a
Oct 16, 2009
840
697
Idaho
Had a 2009 iMac for over two years and no issues whatsoever. Currently have a 2010 iMac and also have no problems.
 
M

Markovich

macrumors member
Jul 22, 2008
48
24
Central Ohio
crouch said:
Hi, long time lurker (and really, you guys are awesome -- what you write is invaluable) who just created an account because I need your help --

My girlfriend & I just moved in into an apartment together. I work from home as a software developer, and she's an architect who uses the Adobe Suite a ton, and we figured that the 27" iMac would work perfectly for the both of us. The problem: all of the forums and discussion boards about the black spots, smudges, and dust that form inside of the 27" displays.

My question(s): for those of you that have owned a 27" iMac for at least six months, how many of you have encountered this? How many of you haven't? If you haven't, are you doing anything in particular -- like dusting around the computer every day, or using dehumidifiers -- to keep smudges from forming?

I would really love to buy this computer, only I'm a bit terrified that I'll have to lug the thing back to Apple every six months to get the display pulled apart and cleaned. Apple Care is a no brainer, but still -- for a computer costing this much $$$, I'd hope that they would have solved this by now. (I'm also hoping that I'm just reading about all of the "bad luck" cases, and that there are plenty of people with great experiences with their screens.) Thanks!
Click to expand...


Ive not experienced any of these issues in mine.
 
T

Texran

macrumors regular
Mar 12, 2011
231
1
Texas
I've had no issues. I don't smoke and I'm curious as to how many that have problems do smoke.
 
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