Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

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

bushidounohana said:
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.
Click to expand...

My iMac is from 2008. No yellow issues, beautiful screen, HOWEVER after about 2.5 years I started developing the smudges you are referring to. I had Apple Care set me up an appt. Luckily the guys made house calls, they checked out the LCD and replaced it at no charge.

No more grey smudges.

I have recently developed a small tiny bit of dust at teh very bottom of the display, but it is not where I usually look so I am going to leave well enough alone.

For cleaning I just vaccum my computer desk using the soft brush and ensure that I give a small go over the bottom of the monitor, and the back top slot as well as the bit behind the very center of the display in the back. Not required I am sure, but it makes me feel better.

Enjoy your iMac.

WW
 
scorpsgsxr said:
<snip>...so once a month I take off the ram cover and air dust it out, supprising how much dust accumulates there
Click to expand...

That's an excellent idea! Think I'll start doing that myself. Even though I have not seen any display issues (yet) I do live in a dusty environment.
 
Got my 2011 (May?) the week they were released. I've not had any of the issues mentioned. I have mine in the basement, I have 4 cats who like to rub the machine (warmth I guess). I'm more worried about the inside at this point, but so far the screen is as pristine as the day I got it.
 
I do have this problem. I bought mine in 2008 and there are several dark spots on my screen. I pulled off the screen and cleaned everything but they are still there. I havent yet pulled off or disembled anything due to I don't have the proper tools. In my opinion it is a bad miss my apple.

I also have to run a program that increases fan speed b/c with the standard speed the screen gets too hot and you can see burnt images. I love my imac but its a hard decision to spend another $1,800 to get the same problems.
 
Bought my 27" iMac in October 2009. No problems whatsoever with the display.(Previous iMac was 6 years old when a thunderstorm blew it up).

Can't believe it's over 2 years old. I still think of it as "new".
 
crouch said:
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?
Click to expand...

I have had my 27" iMac since 2010 never had issues with dust or black spots. Smudges are going to be unavoidable, they come off easy with a clean cloth.

Only issue i have had with this beauty is a screen flickering problem. Apparently very common in older models, but not as common in the 2010 models. Took it in (Best Buy) to have it repaired and Best Buy shipped it out and had it back with no screen flickering problem in 2 weeks. Bad screen apparently.

Since then she is working great. I would recommend it to anyone with the $$ and the "need" for a big screen.

Cheers
 
I bought a 2011 27" iMac and have none of the mentioned issues. We don't smoke, but apartment is somewhat dusty, and my fans do tend to kick in a fair amount when I game.

The glass is fairly easy to remove if you need to (I haven't), but then you do risk letting dust in to the LCD. I'd suggest putting the unit face down onto a soft cloth if you do this -- thats what I did when I took mine apart to swap the optical drive.
 
I bought mine in August 2011. There appears to be glue smudges or something under my glass on the upper right portion of the screen. Only really noticeable when the screen is white.

splotch.jpg


bought at Best Buy. I might just live with it as I do work on my machine and can't really be without it for a few weeks or however long Apple would take.
 
I didn't have any black spots or smudges but I did have a faulty backlight. The left side of my display was noticeably darker than the left. I took it in to the apple store 2 weeks ago and they replaced it on the spot. I had a new perfect (knock on wood) display in 45 mins. Great customer service in my opinion. Of course it was all dependent on whether they had the display in the back, which they did.

If you live near an apple store I wouldn't be afraid to put the money down. If something does come up you will get it fixed.
 
I have an '09 27" a '10 27" and the latest '11 27" and knock on aluminum... have yet to have any of the listed problems or any other problems yet.

Very Happy with all 3, I sense moved the '10 to work and it doubles and a Main OSX w/ Parallels 7 + Win7 always up, wife is using the '09 and I'm on the '11.

Actually the only problem I've had was a bad keyboard on the '09 that went out after a year which the Apple store replaced in minutes.
Like someone mentioned, if you have an Apple store nearby you'll be good if anything does come up.

I'm lucky to have 6 stores less than an hour out. If one doesn't have something, surely the others will.
 
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...
Apple's customer service is brilliant, I would buy Apple care and never look back.
 
I have a late 2009 iMac. I had to return the iMac three times due to display problems.

The one I've had for almost 2 years started off fine but has very slowly developed the smuges like the ones Gherkin shows.

They are very faint and don't bother me. I can only be see them when the screen is white or near-white. I've considered cleaning it, but the smuges are inside the LCD display assembly. From what I've read it sounds like the fix is a little risky so I'm waiting until it actually bothers me before doing anything about it.

I don't know what advice to give you. The display is not perfect. I can say I love my iMac and would buy is again in a heartbeat.
 
No problems with 27" IMAC. People on the forum are the ones that are having some type of problem. Thats in comparison to the millions sold.
Apple Care is always a worth while investment for peace of mind.
 
I have the most recent 2011 iMac and got the smudging under the glass on the LCD screen. Bought the computer brand new in August.

Took it in to apple in november and they replaced my LCD. It's fine now we will see how it looks in a few months.

The smudging was very noticeable and on a white screen it looked like the pattern of white marble with grey/black swirls. It happened to the right half of the screen around the middle.

----------
Gherkin said:
I bought mine in August 2011. There appears to be glue smudges or something under my glass on the upper right portion of the screen. Only really noticeable when the screen is white.

Image

bought at Best Buy. I might just live with it as I do work on my machine and can't really be without it for a few weeks or however long Apple would take.
Click to expand...

Literally took a day for mine to be fixed. They had the LCD panel in store.

----------

Looks like gherkin and I got computers from the same batch. Hope the LCD switch solves my issues.
 
I've had mine since roughly June of 2010. haven't had one screen issue. it's an amazing machine. running out of space on my TB is the only issue I'm currently facing hah
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back