Greyish Smudge marks behind the glass screen.

But Mac mini has nothing to do with an Imac, it's much less powerfull, even with all options... The only "Apple's alternative", in terms of power, is, in my opinion, the Mac Pro but it's too expensive for a "similar" configuration (I mean core i7, 16Gb memory, etc...) ...

And seeing what's happening with Imacs, seeing that the problem isn't fixed and isn't recognized officialy by Apple who dares to pay so much money in a Mac Pro ? Maybe Mac Pro has some issues too that won't ever be fixed by Apple... Who knows ? Now, the doubt is here.

Personaly, I would look twice before putting so much money in Apple's products now

Thanks Everyone for your feedback here !

I was very close to make one of my tech dreams come true and buy my first iMac today !! But, after reading about this design flaw (that causes smudges in the screen), I gave up and will not buy this machine until Apple fixes the problem once and for all !

For Apple: I was going to buy your iMac 27, which costs about US$ 3.800 here in Brazil !! But I gave up based on these feedbacks here. I don't want a computer that will soon develop smudges in the screen. So you lost my money !!

Regis

IMac 21.5″ 3,06 GHz nov 2010.

Since two three months, stains in the upper left corner.

Very disturbing with certain backgrounds, and also when opening a new document.

Appeared very progressively and are more and more obvious.

We don't smoke and live in green suburbs.

Is there a solution ? Thanks.

Sorry, i think there's no solution... If Apple change your screen, stains will reappear...

My imac was bought in sept 2010, and grey spots have appeared 13 monthes after...

Look at my name and come on !!! this is the only thing we can do...

I think it's bad that you're trying to pull people from this forum to your own.

This is really the proper place to have this discussion and telling people there is no solution is not a good tactic either. They DO have options.

Many people have received help from apple and many screens have been replaced under apple care.

Other's of us have taken it upon ourselves to clean our screens difficult though it may be.

It is not the only thing you can do. and aggrevating apple by advertising your own web site on theirs is not the way to get their attention.

Not to mention it's not very helpful for people to just be told there is not solution!@

The dust is not just from being a smoker. That just makes matters worse.

The air we breath is much more dirty than any of us would like to imagine and static electricity attracts it.

Computers are notoriously dirty in general for this reason.

Go to apple and try to get your screen replaced on apple care.

If you can't or your apple care is denied then you'll have to clean it on your own.

There are instructions from people like myself who have done it.

After you clean it do not seal it up tight. leave it open so that the smudges don't focus on just one area.

take the tape off the edges of the internal screen.

Watch for heat changes. It is not your fan that is the problem it is the expansion and contraction of air as the screen heats and cools that ***** the dust into the interior portion of your display.

Is it a design flaw? I think so. but it does not damage the screen it just makes it ugly and your computer will continue to work fine. If you do decide to attempt to clean the screen you must be VERY VERY careful. They are easy to break. I have damaged 2 of my 4 that I have tried to clean.

Best solution?

Buy a used mac pro!!!!

They'll last forever don't have the screen problems.

I just got my second 8 core 2.8 GHZ for 1300 plus a 23 inch monitor for 400 and I'm still cheaper than an IMAC and have 10 times the machine for the money!!!

I love APPLE!!!

I don't have applecare... and grey spots appeared 13 monthes after i have bought it...

The only option i have is to pay 600€ to replace lcd screen... Hey, i have already paid 2000€... A lot of people had to change more than one time.... (the website i talk about is not a commercial website....) maybe it's the only think i can do !

Please please please can people STOP going on about taking the bloody machine apart and cleaning the thing?? This should NOT be happening to a presigious high end machine that most of us have paid a great deal of money for. The fact that it is happening to quite a number of owners indicates a serious design oversight on the part of Apple and they should be recognising that fact by recalling the offending machines and giving loyal customers some recompense. Don't get me wrong, I love Apple's products, I own many of them myself. But this has gone on far too long with no apparent action. I applaud those on the forum attempting to bring this to a wider audience, because it seems that this is the only way to get some satisfaction.

Please Apple. Do the right thing.

I am a 100% with your comment here. It is just time that Apple is taking us seriously with this issue. It is really very disturbing being told that this an evironmental thing. My Apple support contact in the Netjherlands gave the impression that he felt very uncomfortable with this situation and recommended me to keep a look at the support site. They must know that this is an engineering problem. i hope that our loyalty towards Apple will be justified in short time.

I agree, Churchil

What we are missing is an acknowledgement from Apple that this problem even exists. No such thing has been forthcoming for 3 years. New machines continue to be sold with the same problem.

That's why other sites exist, Steve. We are entitled to talk freely and share our views - heavens, that's what all this marketing of iPhones and iPads, etc., is about, is it not? Y'know, "privacy is dead" and all that.

I agree we should continue to post here, though when pages of comments are cut - 'branched to a new discussion' which we are 'not authorised' to visit... perhaps privacy is only dead for the consumer?

Apple might well be the first company ever to hit $1 trillion.

More expense or dismantling are not reasonable suggestions to consumers of high-priced machines.

We have not even had an 'expert' here, or some bright spark with 5 stars after their name - apart from telling us to call Apple Care or see a 'genius'. But we have seen from the comments here that this is often a trying and sometimes fruitless pursuit.

That's what half the complaints are about.

I certainly hope that our loyalty to Apple will be justified....

Been a PC user all my life and I finally decided to go Imac with my next computer. I have been procrastinating for a few months now but after reading several posts here on different subjects and now this problem has me thinking that I should wait, hang on to my old PC a little longer until this problem is acknowledged and corrected by Apple.

Well .. to be fair, I have this issue but the computer itself is fine and quick, no slowdown whatsoever. But, yes ... the persistence smudge on LCD just changes the way I work or enjoy the computer. I dont appreciate it as much anymore knowing it's there ... and the worst part it's most likely coming back even after Apple replaced the whole display.

If you really want to go Mac desktop. What do you need exactly? Unfortunately Apple provides nothing in beween. It's either extremely casual and light computing with Mac Mini, or heavy contender and workstation with MacPro. But MacPro aint wise choice these days. This thing has not been updated for almost 2 years while keeping the same price. $2500 CPU tower with no display, outdated GPU, "just okay" quad core Xeon? Radeon 5xxx GPU? only 3GB of server grade RAM?!! Still yuucckk ... 😐 Real bad attitude from Apple if you ask me.

So, yes, current MacPro IS NOT FINE! It may still have some edges, but not with the same price just as 2 years ago! MacPro loyalists would deny the inevitable fact that MacPro most likely dead, simply by saying the new Intel Xeon CPU has not been released yet, thus no new MacPro line. But time will tell.

As much as I love it, I must imply that there will be no next gen MacPro .. like it or not! Mark my words here and I will apologize if proven otherwise.

Just an example and proof of the past: Macbook White unibody sold like hotcakes at $999 albeit it always has the lowest spec of all, but it's a darn good Mac and solve most daily computing, it satisfies most college and school students just fine, yet Apple disbanded them! The same fate will happen to MacPro in favor to the iMac, which in case still have some flaws and issues, smudged display in particular.

Too bad, iMac is the ONLY most decent and worthy choice for a power user & CONSUMER Macintosh computer with reasonable price. That's what I thought at least, and I gave it a go. I was aware that there were several problems with the iMac, some say it's the GPU, but many said the display problems will give you headache.

And so it is .. I ignored those posts and gave it a chance anway. Yet, here I am filled with a bit of regret. Why didnt I listen? If I were to go back, I would go MacPro if I can find it on a good price. If not, hmm .. going Hackintosh would be the wise thing to do. MacMini just wont cut it for my needs, and I'm not willing to spend that much for outdated 2010 MacPro. Not much of a choice, wouldnt you say?

I've got to say I've been both happen and disappointed with my late 09 iMac. I started seeing the smudges very soon after getting my machine but didn't really do anything about it. As a professional artist I use my machine at 2 bars of brightness as calibrated to match my Epson 3800 prints exactly. At 2-3 bars of brightness my screen flickers, again, I dealt with it for some time. I just recently upgraded the ram to 16GB 1333 DDR3 and upgraded to Lion. After the Lion upgrade the Superdrive doesn't work and I have sound issues with Logic and Kontakt 4.2 and 5.0.1, same in garageband. The machine is much quicker with the bump in ram capacity and speed but Lion is unacceptable. I have an appointment tomorrow to address all these issues but I fear I'm going to get the "environmental" excuse. When I changed my RAM chips the bay they were in was loaded with dust, I mean packed. And I fear the whole inside of the machine is packed full of dust.

My next machine will most definately be a custom built Mac with Snow Leopard.

I was going to upgrade to a refurb mini, but my parents decided to help get me a refurb quad-core i7 15" Macbook Pro for Christmas instead. And I recently inhereited a 30" Cinema display from an old client. It's actually much faster than my late 2009 quad-core i5 27" iMac. However, a mini would have worked just fine for me as well. And I use my Macs for entertainment, video editing, and CS5 work.

But really a mini or a Macbook Pro and external monitor are probably the better options. Although, if you require extra power, you can always get a refurb Mac Pro.

This doesn't dismiss the fact that Apple still needs to address this iMac issue. Luckily, I can just hold onto mine and wait for a response. But a lot of people on here don't have the funds to upgrade right now, so they're stuck with these defective iMacs. Clearly, from the more recent responses, Apple and their employees are feeling a little skittish about this issue. These iMac models must be recalled now. The longer Apple doesn't address this, the more costly it will be in the long-term.

Also just google @omek on twitter. The link to one is in the first tweet.

Additionally, contact the news media and tech blogs. And share on your social networks.

No doubt some of the new 2011 MBP could be faster than 2009 or some 2010 iMac. But again, they're not from the same generation, are they 🙂

I believe so far, iMac give you the best performance for your money as far as a Mac system can go. Maybe a few pages back I already posted a few comparison.

1. Basic Mac Mini ($650) + 27" Thunderbolt Display ($1000) would cost you at least $1650 total, you get i5 mobile CPU, intel HD3000 which barely able to do anything intensive, 2GB RAM and measly 500GB RPM HDD.

---> Or you can buy a base 27" iMac which already has 2.7GHz i5 desktop CPU, 4GB RAM, Radeon 6770M (which is not that bad), 1TB 7200 RPM and you still get the same 27" WQHD display. It all comes with roughly the same price.

2. Basic MBP ($1200) or MBA ($950)+ 27" Thunderbolt Display ($1000) even gives you worse value of all. Cost at least $2000 and you get pretty much the same performance as basic MacMini. The only advantage would be you get a standalone notebook which can be portable whenever you need it.

---> Or, again .. with the same money you can get hi-end standard 27" iMac which gives you 3.1GHz i5, and even better GPU (Radeon 6970M), it can respectably compete with basic MacPro ... iMac gives you much better run for the money, the only downside is that you have to buy another Macbook to get a portability.

My point is, iMac offers the best value in terms of performance, but the smudge display as we know it ruins everything about it. I dont really know what to do now 😟 Apple would surely replace the whole LCD panel, but if it keeps coming back, I really cant imagine how I must deal with it in the next 2 3 years with AppleCare. Bring it in to replace the whole panel, just to keep coming back again in the next 3 4 months, stop .. and repeat again. It doesn't just STOP.

Dammit  for bringing me into this situation.