About every 6 months, I open my Windows tower machines and blow out a lot of accumulated dust. I also see a lot of dust in laptops. I am wondering how to get rid of dust in the new Imacs. It doesn't take long for dust to build up on a fan impeller and the insides. Is there anyway to open the new Imacs up and blow stuff out?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Controlling Dust in new Imac
- Thread starter jimbo1mcm
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
No way to split it open without voiding your warranty / AC. I just ensure that I brush the intake ( Bottom of the iMac) and outlet ( slots at the top) on every couple of days or so with a soft varnishing brush. If anything is accumulating in there I can't see a way you could get at it anyway...My current 2011 model has suffered no issues, and my theory is that since it sits on a desk rather than low to the floor the way a tower would, ther should in theory at least be less to get in there.
I opened a 2007 iMac and replaced the hard drive back in late 2010. That's 3 years of daily usage. It had dust in it for sure, but not nearly as much as I thought it would. I also tore down this 2006 MacBook Pro when I bought it a few months ago from a friend, reapplied thermal paste and cleaned out every inch. It was loaded with dust. Way more than the 2007 iMac I worked with. I think the person who used this lived in a dusty environment or was a smoker.
Yes it was a pain to open the iMac if I were just cleaning it, but after 3 years it wasn't that much in there. A quick use of compressed air through the three fans and vents both in the in-direction and out-direction took care of it.
With the new iMac having just one fan it seems, perhaps the chance of increased dust build up is lessened? There might be a fan over the CPU too for all we know.
Now, comparing this to my wife's current PC, the dust problem is crazy! I think it's the poor design of the case or something, but the vents get loaded up with dust every month or so. It's a mini ITX Lian Li box with a 140mm intake fan. The CPU has a little 60mm fan on it or something, whatever the stock AMD fan is. The PSU has a 120mm exhaust fan taking air out of the case.
Granted the PC is on the floor and an iMac up on a desk, the difference in dust accumulation is still interesting.
get a small air compressor, canned air isnt powerful enough in my opinion.
start my blowing air under the bottom of the iMac where the ram is, then the back vent and finally the top vent.
you can always open it but you run the risk of damaging the glass or lcd and getting dust caught in there.
start my blowing air under the bottom of the iMac where the ram is, then the back vent and finally the top vent.
you can always open it but you run the risk of damaging the glass or lcd and getting dust caught in there.
I opened my 2009 27" iMac. It won't void your warranty if you are careful enough, I mean, no breaking connector, etc. The only warranty sticker I found is attached to one screw of the CPU socket.