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Best (easiest) way to clean front glass of iMac?

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iMikeT

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 8, 2006
2,304
1
California
Over the weekend I have finally gotten around to do some cleaning and needed to wipe off the dust on my 27" iMac. I used a 100% cotton industrial cleaning cloth (disposable) to first wipe the layer of dust on the glass but all it did was smear the dust around. Then I decided to moisten the cloths with an alcohol solution and it helped in picking up the dust but I was left with wet streaks. To clean up the wet streaks, I took a moistened cloth to wipe an area then immediately wiped it with a dry cloth. All-in-all, this process took nearly an hour. :eek:

With that, is there an easier (and preferably inexpensive) solution to cleaning the glass without having to do so much work?
 
Macman45

Macman45

macrumors G5
Jul 29, 2011
13,197
135
Somewhere Back In The Long Ago
I use a micro fibre cloth and a little plain old tap water to dampen it a little. No chemicals at all. The same goes for my MBP and MBA, it cleans the screens fine without adding in expensive cleaning products like iclear etc.
 
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T

Tri-stan

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2012
268
0
A glass display is very easy to clean, you want to try and clean a dell monitor with high ag coating. It is impossible to clean and every time leaves smears. It has never been like new since purchase. I have resulted to using a fiber cloth soaked in screen cleaner and wiping the entire display until it is clean, then doing the same again getting the whole panel uniformly wet and let the substance dry off leaving a minimum amount of streaks. It is the only way for me.

For the iMac the best thing to use is a fiber cloth which is able to hold water, this will enable you to clean the screen better with the screen cleaner and pick up dirt and dust. The process is the same for cleaning a window just uses slightly different cleaning products.

  • Spray selected cleaning fluid on to cleaning cloth one
  • Wipe across screen until dirt and dust is gone
  • Use cloth two to clean away any last smears
Simple
 
I

iMikeT

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 8, 2006
2,304
1
California
flopticalcube said:
Any lense cleaner will do. I pick up 6 bottles for $6 at Costco with clothes included.
Click to expand...


I'll probably just do this in the future or pick up something similar from Newegg, both are very close to me.

My only concern about an over-the-counter solution is the cleaner will be too wet and I'll have to use dry cloths anyway. How wet are these out of the box?
 
H

harcosparky

macrumors 68020
Jan 14, 2008
2,055
2
Macman45 said:
I use a micro fibre cloth and a little plain old tap water to dampen it a little. No chemicals at all. The same goes for my MBP and MBA, it cleans the screens fine without adding in expensive cleaning products like iclear etc.
Click to expand...


What he said....

Very high quality micro fiber cloth ( the kind I use on very expensive camera lenses ) and water.

http://www.2filter.com/prices/products/photoclear.html

Photo-Clear are the only microfiber clothes I will ever allow near my gear.
 
D

drew.bowser

macrumors regular
Sep 23, 2008
120
17
Missouri
ThirteenXIII said:
bad idea. never use windex on mac glass panels.

simply a bit of water and microfibre is okay. iklear is the best but not necessary as most of the cleaning solutions that are waterbased are good enough.
Click to expand...

Bad idea? I have been using my iMac for 1.5 years and cleaning it about once a week with general window cleaner - not a single issue. People, seriously, it's glass!

It's not like there is an anti reflective coating on it or anything!! ;)

If you are really concerned they use a 100% cotton cloth and damp it with water or a microfiber lens cloth if you want to spend the money.

It's not something that has to be over thought! :)
 
spcdust

spcdust

macrumors 65816
May 6, 2008
1,087
162
London, UK
A splash of water on 1 micro fibre cloth, immediately wipe with dry micro fibre cloth. Job done in about 1 minute. How cleaning the iMac screen takes an hour I can't quite fathom?
 
Razorhog

Razorhog

macrumors 65816
Sep 16, 2006
1,148
116
Arkansas
ThirteenXIII said:
bad idea. never use windex on mac glass panels.

simply a bit of water and microfibre is okay. iklear is the best but not necessary as most of the cleaning solutions that are waterbased are good enough.
Click to expand...

Why not use glass cleaner? It's made out of glass. I use a dry microfiber cloth that came with my iPad, and don't have to clean it very often as I don't touch the screen. But if it really got dirty, I'd probably use a spray or two of "Invisible Glass", and wipe clean with a cloth. http://www.invisibleglass.com/
 
I

iMikeT

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 8, 2006
2,304
1
California
spcdust said:
A splash of water on 1 micro fibre cloth, immediately wipe with dry micro fibre cloth. Job done in about 1 minute. How cleaning the iMac screen takes an hour I can't quite fathom?
Click to expand...


Read my original post and I say exactly what happened. In the end, it was mostly due to making sure that I didn't leave behind any streak marks.
 
M

mchoffa

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2008
832
52
Asheville, NC
Macman45 said:
I use a micro fibre cloth and a little plain old tap water to dampen it a little. No chemicals at all. The same goes for my MBP and MBA, it cleans the screens fine without adding in expensive cleaning products like iclear etc.
Click to expand...

this is perfect, and sometimes you don't even need water if you have a good microfiber cloth.... just like wiping down the screen on your iphone/ipad
 
W

washburn

macrumors 6502a
Apr 8, 2010
513
33
Do not use tap water! There's tiny amounts of chlorine, chemicals and oil which is quite visible when you start wiping.

Use spring water find out what quality ones you can get.

Also before you start using the microfibres cloth, make sure there's no dust/specs on the screen as even the tiny ones can scratch as you apply pressure and wipe, so dust off before you wipe.
 
senseless

senseless

macrumors 68000
Apr 23, 2008
1,885
257
Pennsylvania, USA
Are there special coatings on the Imac glass? Otherwise window cleaner and a cotton cloth should be fine. I've found that paper towels tend to streak.
 
D

DollaTwentyFive

macrumors 6502a
Nov 11, 2010
747
4
Parts Unknown
When it gets dirty I just toss it and buy a new one.

Ha ha. I have some cleaning solution and a microfiber cloth that came with my TV. I use that and it seems to work like a charm. This on a Thunderbolt Display not an iMac but it should be the same.
 
W

washburn

macrumors 6502a
Apr 8, 2010
513
33
senseless said:
Are there special coatings on the Imac glass? Otherwise window cleaner and a cotton cloth should be fine. I've found that paper towels tend to streak.
Click to expand...

Yes there is special coatings, I forgot what they were but I remember reading someone's CRT was ruined cos someone used a window cleaning solution, just don't use anything with alcahol in it.
 
I

iMikeT

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 8, 2006
2,304
1
California
DollaTwentyFive said:
When it gets dirty I just toss it and buy a new one.
Click to expand...


Funny. Hardiharhar. :rolleyes:


washburn said:
Yes there is special coatings, I forgot what they were but I remember reading someone's CRT was ruined cos someone used a window cleaning solution, just don't use anything with alcahol in it.
Click to expand...


Really? Because pretty much every wet cleaning solution has alcohol in it.
 
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