iMac 24 Aluminum screen burn-in?

You can get burn-in (or call it 'image persistence') on an LCD screen. I know this because I've just bought a Philips LCD TV and it's mentioned in the manual. Common burn-ins on LCD TVs are the TV logos on the corners and news ticker bars on the bottom.

HERE'S AN APPLE DOC ABOUT THIS THAT MIGHT SOLVE THE PROBLEM:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88343

Please let me know how it works out for you guys!!!!

24" Aluminium here. Same as everyone else, vertical lines and ghosted UI elements on the left side of the screen. My machine is in constant use, nothing is ever in one place for long enough for it to cause genuine burn-in.

Installed smcFanControl and have had the fans running at 3000rpm for about 2 hours, and I left a blank white screen as screensaver as per http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2807?viewlocale=en_US. It actually seems to have almost fixed it. Still a little bit of ghosting, but if 2 hours has almost eliminated it I'm sure overnight in a cold room with the screensaver and fans on will do the trick.

I have the same machine, had it about 6 months. I have just started seeing the same hallows of sort with text and graphics. They show up as a very faint grey outline. They seem to go away after a half day or so, so far, but I'm also noticing that the screen seems to be getting some very slight banding or gradient areas, that also appear to be screen burn.

I have another machine, that is about a year and half old, white 2Ghz iMac, that stays on just as much as the 2.4Ghz. It has no screen burn signs at all. Not sure what the issue is, but it seems to be apparent.

I just started noticing the same problem about a month ago as well. If I move icons around on the desktop, I can still see the ghostly writing and faint icon outlines where they used to be. Same goes for windows that have been in the same place for a while (more than a day). What's more, I don't leave the screen on all the time and yet it still happens. The screen saver activates after 10 minutes, and the screen turns off after 20 minutes. The screen is off for at least 10-12 hours a day (when I'm asleep and gone to class). The fact that it is ghosting with what seems like average use, especially being such a new machine (purchased late Aug. 2007) really bothers me.

I hope Apple has a plan to resolve this issue. I also see icon list burnt into screen. Also i think it might be some sort of a heat sink behind the glass for the gradient. I have 2 imac's 24" and they are both doing the same thing

This is very worrying to me. I've only had my iMac for a month and have still not decided what to do regarding the gradient issue, if this is likely to happen as well I'm definitely getting rid of this lemon asap... Anyone getting this burn-in on the 20" iMac?

Just for comparison's sake, I've had a Sony 17" screen (which is probably also a cheap TN because it has a gradient too, though less evident than the iMac's) for 7 years with screen-saver off all the time and have no burn-in at all, so there's no excuse for that, especially because supposedly the 24" iMacs have a better quality screen than TN...

You cannot get screen burn-in on an LCD display the same way you can on a Plasma or CRT display. On LCDs, it's possible that the liquid crystals sort of "set up" in a pattern when they are exposed to a constant charge to orient them a particular way (e.g. to change them to a particular value). Basically, the molecules stack together like pick-up sticks.

You can jostle the crystals loose by cycling them through different colors, especially between black and white, for a short period of time. If you simply run a screen-saver that will involve the pixels in the display being cycled through some colors, you will fix it.

The problem is worse in cold environments. Also, it shouldn't occur very easily as it takes a while. The effect should not be permanent. If you start to see systemic effects (patterns not representing actual items on the display, such as banding patterns, etc.), that's a different problem and probably relates to voltage regulation to the display (it's probably not the case with you, but LCD displays that aren't sealed well enough can do that when they get into a humid environment).

I understand what you are saying about LCDs not burning in the same way CRTs or plasmas do. But I think it's still fair to call this "burn-in" because it essentially looks the same, regardless of whether it fades over time. Whatever is happening here is a very real problem that is apparently not as rare as you claim (at least in my case).

My screen starts exhibiting this "burn-in" or whatever else you want to call it after only 1 or 2 days. If I delete an icon from my desktop that has only been there for 1 or 2 days, it leaves a ghostly remnant of itself that takes another 1 or 2 days to completely fade away. Same goes for windows that have been open in the same place for a while (like my web browser). If I minimize/close them after a couple of days, I can see ghostly traces of where the edges of the window used to be.

I do, in fact, use a screen saver that uses shifting colors, but it doesn't seem to help at all, at least not on the scale of "a few minutes." The only thing that seems to help is completely turning off (or sleeping) the machine for 8 or more consecutive hours. The burn-in still remains even after that, but it's much fainter. I would imagine if I left it off for an entire day, it might go away. But that's a terrible solution to this problem. I want to be able to use my iMac, not leave it turned off all the time to avoid screen burn (or molecular alignment, or whatever it is)

I didn't mean to imply that it doesn't exist. Burn-in on LCDs is different though, as it's pretty much reversible. Burn in on CRTs and plasma displays results from a physical ablation of material from the inner surfaces of the display. On an LCD, it's a result of the oriented molecules in the display interlocking. As the article you cite states, you can prevent it by preventing the screen from having the same static image on the display for too long or by turning off the display. However, if the display itself is not otherwise damaged, you can generally reverse the process by displaying dynamic (constantly changing) images on the display for some time (i.e., a screensaver). The optimal dynamic image would be something that rapidly switches the affected pixels between black and white.

I know you weren't implying that it doesn't exist, and I didn't meant to sound confrontational. 🙂 And, yes, I am glad there are techniques for reversing it. The problem is that it's not a rare occurrence in my case (and apparently the others who have posted in this thread). It happens on a daily basis. To have to go through these "fixes" every day just to prevent image persistence seems like too much to ask of the user. I would argue that normal use of a computer, with a screen saver that activates after an idle period of 10 minutes, and the power saving mode turning off the screen after 20 minutes, should not result in image persistence. Yet it does.

I also have this same problem. The difference is that my "burn-in" will not go away after (any) length of time. I,m trying the fix in Apple article #88343. Anybodyy else have the problem but just doesn't go away?

I'm having the same problem on my iMac Alu 24 inch.
It started yesterday while using borland under Vista, when I went back to Mac OS I dicovered ligne on the place chere is the left marge of borland.
And again toay ne igne appear after using borland in VMware...
I could blame Borland but green + black colors should not be to hard for a LCD which costest around 3K (with the harware of course).

I'll call the apple care to se what they can do even if I can't give my iMac to them until the end of the school year.

Here are some pictures of the burn-line (not easy to see I agreee but they really exists and appeared in juste 2 to 3 hours).
http://fry-them-all.com/temp/iMac/DSC_0005mini.jpg
http://fry-them-all.com/temp/iMac/DSC_0011mini.jpg
http://fry-them-all.com/temp/iMac/DSC_0005.jpg
http://fry-them-all.com/temp/iMac/DSC_0011.jpg

We aren't the same group of people who were subjected to the 'problematical' video card when the Aluminium iMac was originally launched. Apple eventually offered us a software/firmware fix for the card?

Mine just started looking pretty bad!

Thanks for the JScreen fix. Not worked but made me realise that this is nothing to do with screen burn.

My email in box (which changes on a moment by moment basis) is now burnt into the screen.

This must be something to do with a cache memory of the video card - or similar.

Unless a fix is sorted in 10.53 (which I guess is imminent then I am onto Apple Techies for a solution or replacement.

Is this just the 24? that is the problem. Any thoughts on it being the original video cards?

A screen grab will not display the issue because the screen grab is captured from the video card memory, not from the physical screen pixels. You will need to take a photograph of your screen for others to see the problem.