M1 iMac Owners Complain About Horizontal Lines Appearing on Screen

[MacRumors]

Over the past year and a half or so, some owners of the 24-inch iMac with the M1 chip have encountered horizontal lines abruptly appearing on the computer's screen. There are complaints about this issue across the Apple Support Community, MacRumors Forums, Reddit, iFixit Answers, and several other websites, but it is unclear how many customers are affected in total, or what the underlying cause of the problem is.

The lines continue to appear on the screen even after the iMac is restarted, and no other solutions have been identified, according to the complaints.

Many affected users said the lines began appearing on the screen around 18 to 24 months after they purchased the iMac. As a result, the affected iMac units are often no longer covered by Apple's standard one-year warranty at the time the issue begins, unless the customer purchased extended AppleCare+ coverage. Some customers who contacted Apple about the issue said the company offered them an exemption, resulting in their iMac being repaired for free, but other customers said they had to pay for service.

One symptom commonly mentioned is the top-right corner of the iMac becoming hot to the touch after the issue begins, but there is no confirmed cause.

Given that these complaints have been continuously popping up for nearly two years now, there may be a hardware issue with this particular iMac model, which launched in May 2021. We have not seen widespread complaints about this issue affecting the iMac with the M3 chip, although that model was released less than a year ago.

Apple offers service programs for some hardware issues, but it is unclear if it will ever launch one for this iMac issue. We have reached out to Apple for comment on this matter, and we will update this story if we receive a response.

Article Link: M1 iMac Owners Complain About Horizontal Lines Appearing on Screen

 

[turbineseaplane]

Is Tim Cook Apple cutting corners?

Color me “not shocked”

 

[djc6]

For a while I regretted getting m2 mac mini instead of an iMac because of the cabling mess, but I do feel its more repairable since its not an all-in-one, and I was able to get a larger monitor.

 

[derek1984]

Interesting because I have this same iMac, but no issues thus far. I do have Apple Care + which will last me until early 2026 though. So I have that going for me lol

 

[VineRider]

Had one do this. AppleCare+ coverage took care of the problem no cost.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Had one do this. AppleCare+ coverage took care of the problem no cost.

Nobody should be forced to purchase an extra warranty to cover something like this

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Is Tim Cook Apple cutting corners?

Color me “not shocked”

Steve’s Apple shipped several MacBooks with failing graphics cards from 2007-2011.
And not graphics cards that might eventually fail, graphics cards that more than likely *would* fail.
Steve’s Apple also had easily scratched iPod nanos, exploding batteries in iPod Nanos, discolored and overheating iPhone 3GS’s, and the list goes on.

 

[harriska2]

We have a 2013 iMac that had a failed screen/graphic card. Have to combine 2 iMacs to get it to work. It is still used daily. That said, I prefer the mini. Or a laptop that can simply attach to an external monitor.

 

[CalMin]

This can happen due to faulty parts supply or unanticipated engineering issue. Apple can't do years long product testing before they ship a product. I hope they do the right thing by customers though.

For the record, this is why I stopped buying iMacs. It always bugged me to either get rid of a display when the computer aged out, or have no way to use the computer if the display craps out.

 

[dannyyankou]

I’m guessing it’s related to the display cable inside. The computer getting hot is surprising since the M1 chip is so efficient.

 

[roar08]

There are a number of times in the past Apple has repaired issues like this outside of warranty. Years ago I had a 16 or 17" MBP and the top layer of the screen was damaged from normal cleaning, per Apple's instruction. An Apple Store manager at the time basically told me it was my fault. I assured him I cleaned it as directed and he barely stopped short of accusing me of lying. A couple weeks later I want back but I spoke with my business manager at the same store and he took care of it for free. Literally two weeks later Apple issued a recall for the problem for any affected machine even outside of warranty. I was super tempted to go back and point it out to the original manager ... oh well. Long-winded I know but there are examples from time to time of Apple doing the right thing outside of warranty so sit tight. They're not the evil corporation many people here would like to believe they are.

 

[mrfunnypenguin]

This looks similar to what was happening with the 2016 to 2020 MacBook Pros (and maybe current MBPs and some MBAs as well) where the TCON board would overheat because it was too close to the heatsink blower and the display controller chip would start to fail.

From what I heard, it would only happen when the CPU temps were above 83c/182F.

 

[sunapple]

Hopefully it doesn’t take a class action lawsuit and years of pain before Apple fixes these issues under extended warranty. But yeah, it’s Apple. Good luck everyone.

 

[DunedinD]

I wish you’d include advice to check consumer rights legislation in a reader’s country in articles like this. In the UK, at least, whatever is causing this would be covered for years without AppleCare because neither chip nor screen are consumable parts and would be expected, in law, to last for the entire lifetime of the hardware.

 

[Xavier]

A left side dock person!

This seems like a bad issue, hopefully this doesnt effect the wifes M1 Macbook

 

[dumastudetto]

It's definitely not a repair program issue because the device is still usable.

 

[goodthymes]

Steve’s Apple shipped several MacBooks with failing graphics cards from 2007-2011.
And not graphics cards that might eventually fail, graphics cards that more than likely *would* fail.
Steve’s Apple also had easily scratched iPod nanos, exploding batteries in iPod Nanos, discolored and overheating iPhone 3GS’s, and the list goes on.

That was a nvidia problem, widespread beyond just Apple, and part of the reason why Apple stopped using nvidia as a vendor. But yes Apple had to eat the cost for that recall, I had a 2008 macbook pro with the failed nvidia gpu with bad solder (baking the mainboard to get it working again was a thing).

 

[kagharaht]

I read this issue on Apple forums where someone actually had an engineer technician do a full analysis of the issue. Granted it was a third party company analysis, but it didn't sound good. It seems to me that they are prone to failure and its just a matter of time.

Persistent horizontal lines appear on iMa… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

 

[zombierunner]

It's just a reminder to upgrade when the m4 drops.

 

[LV426]

No wonder Macs are so expensive. The self-destruct chip costs $100 alone!

 

[LV426]

Nobody should be forced to purchase an extra warranty to cover something like this

Ya'all get two years warranty in the EU.

 

[NMBob]

Mid-2012 13" MBP unaffected.

 

[Rychiar]

grrreat. got this for my parents last year expecting it to last for ages without issue for them...

 

[ZebedeeG]

Had one of these since launch and no issues so far... Just renewed my AppleCare so not worried, though obviously it'd be inconvenient if it went wrong.

Best desktop I've ever owned and still feels blazing fast after 3 years. I've no intention of upgrading it anytime soon, and will probably run it until it's obsolete and possibly a lot longer.

I maxed out the spec with 16GB memory & 2TB ssd so I feel ongoing AppleCare is worthwhile insurance.

 

[JPack]

Apple will again determine this affects only a "small percentage" of iMac owners, guaranteed. As usual, it'll probably take a class action before Apple does anything.