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

[iMikeT]

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.

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

[flopticalcube]

Any lense cleaner will do. I pick up 6 bottles for $6 at Costco with clothes included.

[Macman45]

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.

[drew.bowser]

windex works great for me

[ThirteenXIII]

Originally Posted by drew.bowser

windex works great for me

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.

[Tri-stan]

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

[iMikeT]

Originally Posted by flopticalcube

Any lense cleaner will do. I pick up 6 bottles for $6 at Costco with clothes included.

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?

[harcosparky]

Originally Posted by Macman45

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.

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.

[flopticalcube]

Originally Posted by iMikeT

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?

The mist sprays on fairly fine. A few squirts and your golden.

[drew.bowser]

Originally Posted by ThirteenXIII

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.

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]

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?

[MacMiguel]

Wet rag and no more

[Razorhog]

Originally Posted by ThirteenXIII

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.

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/

[iMikeT]

Originally Posted by spcdust

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?

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.

[mchoffa]

Originally Posted by Macman45

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.

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

[Dornblaser]

I use Moshi's teraglove, basically microfiber with spritz of water.

[BRyken]

Drop of water and microfiber cloth. Works like a charm. For all screen really.

[washburn]

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.

[Wickedgardengtp]

iKlear is cheap an works well

[senseless]

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.

[karatekidk]

Originally Posted by Wickedgardengtp

iKlear is cheap an works well

+1. I use it to clean the outer shell of my MBP as well as the screen. Works great.

[DollaTwentyFive]

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.

[washburn]

Originally Posted by senseless

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.

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.

[iMikeT]

Originally Posted by DollaTwentyFive

When it gets dirty I just toss it and buy a new one.

Funny. Hardiharhar.

Originally Posted by washburn

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.

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

[DollaTwentyFive]

[QUOTE=iMikeT;16378046]Funny. Hardiharhar.

I'm hoping you get that it was a jab to some of the other ludicrous things posted here on MR