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Cleaning Retina's 'oily' LCD.

T

thebigmeowski

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 8, 2013
28
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I've wanted to clean my 13" retina. I used one dry and one wet micro fibre cloth as I always do, but apparently the wet one had a bit too much water in it so I spent quite some time rubbing it out. Now, for some reason my LCD is all 'greasy' looking and it appears it doesn't matter how much time I will spend on buffing it it looks just like I've been 'misplacing' this oil into different directions. I tried huffing, no success whatsoever.

I'm kinda freaking out as well, because this oil is 'revealing' weird lines and dots on the screen that look like some micro scratches... Is it possible I've been buffing the screen to hard and damaged it? :confused: They are only visible under direct light that I'm using to clean the LCD; either way, it all looks kinda nasty. Unfortunately, it doesn't show on photos (!!!), so I don't even have anything to show you...

Should I buy a cleaning spray or sth? I don't have good experience with such products, the method described above was totally enough with all my other gadgets up to now...

I'll appreciate all tips, on my own I'm kinda hopeless...
 
Millionaire2K said:
You messed up your screen. Oh well.

In the future use iKlear. Apple uses it to clean their screens.
Click to expand...

'Oh well' as if in 'there's nothing you can do'?
Even with the oil? I'm not based in the US, in the online Apple store there's sth called "Keep it clean", but I found this on Amazon: link.

What did I do wrong exacly? All these 'micro scratches' are only from this one single mess up? Is it possible the dust on the screen caused them? ;_;
 
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thebigmeowski said:
I've wanted to clean my 13" retina. I used one dry and one wet micro fibre cloth as I always do, but apparently the wet one had a bit too much water in it so I spent quite some time rubbing it out. Now, for some reason my LCD is all 'greasy' looking and it appears it doesn't matter how much time I will spend on buffing it it looks just like I've been 'misplacing' this oil into different directions. I tried huffing, no success whatsoever.

I'm kinda freaking out as well, because this oil is 'revealing' weird lines and dots on the screen that look like some micro scratches... Is it possible I've been buffing the screen to hard and damaged it? :confused: They are only visible under direct light that I'm using to clean the LCD; either way, it all looks kinda nasty. Unfortunately, it doesn't show on photos (!!!), so I don't even have anything to show you...

Should I buy a cleaning spray or sth? I don't have good experience with such products, the method described above was totally enough with all my other gadgets up to now...

I'll appreciate all tips, on my own I'm kinda hopeless...
Click to expand...

Use 95% (or pure) ethanol or isopropyl alcohol.

Apply with spray or a mircrofibre cloth

Use one microfibre cloth to wipe away excess and to mostly dry it.

Use another dry microfibre cloth to buff till there are no smudges.

I frequently encounter this "grease" look on any glossy screen where I use pre-packaged cleaning fluid or tap water. I think it's from the salts or emulsifiers found inside. Main trick is to use a new dry microfibre cloth to do the buffing.
 
You have to do odometer research on microfiber.... Just because it is a MF cloth doesn't mean it is scratch free (no matter what the mfg may say). Even with good MF's you have to take care if them.

Try some isopropyl alcohol. But I am suspecting that you scratched the heck out of your screen.
 
thebigmeowski said:
... Is it possible I've been buffing the screen to hard and damaged it? :confused: They are only visible under direct light that I'm using to clean the LCD; either way, it all looks kinda nasty. Unfortunately, it doesn't show on photos (!!!), so I don't even have anything to show you...
Click to expand...

It is very likely that you buffed too hard and have created many micro-scratches (usually only seen in direct sunlight) on your screen. For their "Retina displays" this year Apple removed the Glass cover (removes a substantial amount of glare) which the cMBP line up has and therefore makes the screen more susceptible to scratches as you are essentially cleaning the bare screen itself. It is best to be very careful with cleaning, as you would a bare TV screen!

Regarding the oil, I think the above comments are good guidance. If you care a lot about your mac, it's probably best to get the Apple-approved cleaning solution, which I think is iKlear (link above somewhere). The micro-scratches you'll have to deal with, but those shouldn't be too bad once you get the oil cleaned up. Good luck, but be very careful with cleaning the screen. Definitely only clean with a microfiber cloth!
 
Reading about the oil streak problem for over a year and talking with Apple, this is not a screen cleaning problem, the oily slicks are behind the screen. Apple won't give more information and claims it's very rare but it's not rare at all. Solvents will mess up screens even more. It may be outgassing, condensation or some conflict between screen materials. Too expensive to replace and Apple doesn't cover under warranty
 
bzetlen said:
Reading about the oil streak problem for over a year and talking with Apple, this is not a screen cleaning problem, the oily slicks are behind the screen. Apple won't give more information and claims it's very rare but it's not rare at all. Solvents will mess up screens even more. It may be outgassing, condensation or some conflict between screen materials. Too expensive to replace and Apple doesn't cover under warranty
Click to expand...

The thread is almost 5 years old.
 
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