Greyish Smudge marks behind the glass screen.

I have the latest imac 27'', and i have the same problem after almost 3 months of getting it.

I cannot give it to the applestore so they take a month minimum to fix it, because I work on it. I need a fast solution. I bought a 2000€ faulty computer and i need to have it replaced/fixed fast...

I took mine in to the apple store on a Wednesday for this issue and had it back Friday afternoon. If the part isn't in stock you can take the machine back home and when the part comes in you can take it back for the quick repair.

I have the exact problem described in this post and by thousands of other Apple customers. My 27" iMac is out of the 1 year warranty and Apple support claims the screen defect is "Not A Known Issue" and that they are not aware of a problem with their iMac screens! This post has had 133,722 views and 613 replies, so pardon me if I do not beleive that Apple is unaware of this screen defect.

There are tens of thousands of people that have reported this problem and thousands of people that have had their screen replaced under warranty. Why is Apple turning its back on customers when this is clearly an engineering/design problem with the iMac. It amazes me that Apple will not recognize this as a "Known Issue".

I spent $2,800, on a iMac and in less than 2 years I am being told by Apple Support that I have to come out of pocket $900 to replace the screen.

When you make a mistake Apple (which this defect is clearly a design/engineering flaw), you should recognize it and make it good. It is unethical on your part to make a profit selling labor and parts for a product that has engineering/design flaws and displays permanate damage in less than 2 years of use.

Apple please take action and restore faith to loyal Apple users that you stand by your product and recognize this screen defect as a "Known Issue".

I have the same problem on my 1,5 month old Imac 27", grey marks in the upper left corner (around 4 by 4 inch big). Its now at the APR for repair, dont know yet if they charge me any money. I also have Apple Care.

I've encountered the same problem. Greyish smudge appeared on the upper left corner of the screen a few days ago. I have a 21.5" iMac that I've bought 9 months ago. It took some time for me to understand that it was a screen problem, not "dirt", and I am now disappointed to see that it is not a rare problem throughout iMac users.

I've been using PCs for over a decade and decided to switch to a mac a year ago. I wanted to buy a high-quality, durable computer. Everything was perfect till yesterday, when I saw the smudges on my screen. Searched various forums for a possible (and permanent) solution but there's none. There are people who changed their screens several times but it seems that the problem re-appears within a period of time. So what should I have to do now? Should I change the screen too, and try to clean the screen if the problem persists, and never buy an Apple product again? Should I wait for the Apple to accept that this is actually a design problem and hope they'll call back my device? Or should I try to change my computer with another one? I love Macs, but not the ones with annoying smudged screens. Thought they were perfect. Now I'm feeling desperate not because of my wasted money, but because of the Apple's broken trust image.

Thought I would chime in as well and hope that Apple hears. I have also started to encounter this problem. Initially I thought it was just a dirty screen but I know see that it is behind the glass. Not sure if it is the inside glass thats dirty or the LCD. While looking at the screen, my smudges are on the top and bottom right hand side.

I have thge 27" iMac Model No. A1312 2.93QC/4x2GB/1TB/5750/SD

So far: Strange smudges on inner pane of iMac and broken Superdrive. Lovely!!!!

I phoned Apple up the other day. They said take it to the shop but it's not easy for me, so they said I could call them out but they would have to take it away and I need it at the moment. I have a year left on the warranty so I'm gonna see how it goes, it's only just noticeable on mine tbh, you can only see it on a white screen. I wanna see if it gets worse or not, then I will take it in or call them out.

If you're outside of 50 miles, I think, you can request they come to your home to do the fix. I have done it 3 times now. One time they insisted I bring it to an Apple authorized tech shop being they wanted it done in a "controlled environment". I agreed thinking that was a load of crap and when I lugged it into the shop they looked at me like I had two heads when I mentioned the "controlled environment".

Anyway after 3 new LCD screens, the last one wasn't done well with the glass having dust on the inside. I called to have someone come out once again. I mentioned that I was tired of this and how disappointed I was in the product and that soon enough I'd be calling on them again for yet another LCD and glass replacement. The next thing I know she mentioned something to the effect of maybe doing something about the situation. I was on the phone a long while and transferred and such but it was worth it because I now have a new 2011 iMac replacing the 2009 iMac. So far so good with the screen but I'm not counting on it. But here's the thing. My other iMac had the fans going more than this one. The new iMac is quieter except for one fan has a low sometimes irritating pitch. But I don't want the screen taken off to fix it. I think I can deal with it as long as the screen stays in good shape.

I have exactly the same problem on a top of the range iMac that is only three months old. Was in the apple store in hong kong today. And they said "we have never heard of this issue before" told me to wipe and restore the machine. I have used apple computers since 1996 for video editing and thought the iMac would be a good option for this, but now wishing I had gone with a tower as this must be down to heat issues as have only just started using it properly (long render times) and here we go heat marks inside the screen. Have no faith in apple computers any more as the build quality seems to get worse with every year. Maybe apple should stick to making phones and mp3 players.

Would like my money back but that won't happen, so thinking that this is going to be an issue with the machine for a long time. My 8100 from the 90s still runs, as do the laptops from 92. Like PCs I guess the iMac now has to be replaced every 18 months. Will be taking it in with postings from the forum to try and get this resolved. On the whole I have been very lucky, this is my first issue with an apple product, guessing it is now becoming the norm as the build quality gets worse.

Thanks for the advice.

hi all (again).

exactly after 1 further year i had to change the screen (27") for the second time

thanks I had the apple care plan, but at this rhytim next year I will change it for the 3rd, and last, time.

always same clouds, more diffused this time (I suspect last year they did not glued properly the new screen).

that's for apple quality..... at least at service they said nothing this time, just changed and go.

Fabio

Got an answer, but not a pleasant one.

Our business account rep recommended bringing it in. Their Genius said that it was obviously a defective display, but it was unrelated to the hard drive replacement they just did. And, since we didn't buy Apple Care, it would be $606 plus tax to replace the LCD. He also recommended just buying a second monitor and using that instead.

The message is clear: The iMac is not suitable for professional applications. It's a disposable, consumer-oriented machine that's going to fail in a couple years. We won't be buying any more for my department, and I'm going to recommend to the company at large and anyone who will listen to me: do not buy an iMac.

I agree with you pajama

I was planning on buying a load for post production but when I pushed the four month old one I had i.e. doing commercial work the screen started playing up, a yellow band at the bottom and grey smudge marks in the top left corner. They are just not up to pro work. And am going back to the old tower. Wish I had never bought it. I would be better off with a pc and adobe.

What a con... Steve jobbs the saint, no just a con man with a pretty face.

Yikes, thanks for the pic and fan advice.

Sorry if this has already been asked/addressed here, but has anyone been experiencing this screen smudge issue who does *not* use their iMac for CPU/GPU intensive tasks (like gaming, video editing, etc)?

Groundhog day. I remember back in the 90-s Apple had similar problems with hardware and same attitude to customers. "We understand your problem but there is nothing we can do." I have 3 iMacs at home and all of them with different defree got this "cataract". Got to this ïnteresting" two year old thread and didn't find a single response from Apple. It's interesting that with cars POTENTIAL problem with useless nut leads to mass recall of vehicles. Isn't this time to protect us - loyal mac users - from abuse. Owner of numerous mac products and I'm not going with my iMac to the macstore.

Read Jobs bio and real story about his dislike to fans. May be this spots, clouds on my screen are heat related but the biggest one is on the bottom right corner which feels like the coolest part.

The smudges are heat related but that being said not exactly heat related.

The fans blow air through the motherboard and hard drives and power supply etc.

The Screen is sealed (mostly) There is no direct airflow or currents though the screen it's self. This screen is the same as any other screen basically. The way that the smoke particles/ultra fine dust particles get inside the screen is due to the air flow caused by heating and cooling.

When the screen heats up the air pressure blows air out of the sealed screen. It's not 100% sealed it's just taped along the edges. When the screen cools off again the air contracts and is sucked back inside the screen. When it is sucked back inside it flows in all the little cracks and the staticly charged dust particles/smoke haze is sucked in with it. But since the screen is Mostly sealed the inflow is only in small certain areas rather than all around the screen. This concentrates the smoke/dust particulate matter in small areas causing noticable smudges. I have found that if you take the screen out of the iMac and take the tape off the smudges are not noticable because the air is sucked in every where rather than concentrated in a few small areas.

If you've ever taken apart any normal flat screen or for that matter any monitor you know that this dark static particulate matter is all over the inside of the case that contains the screen but does not actually get sucked into the screen. It seems to get caught inside the enclosure before becoming sucked into the screen it's self.

With an iMac, becuase the mother board etc is inside the screen enclousure and the fans are in there as well the heating and cooling of the screen seems to suck the dust inside the second layer as well. Is it a design flaw? yes. The screen NEEDS to be seperate from the rest of the components. There needs to be a divider between the display and the rest of the machine.

Apple would have been fine if they had taped a laptop to the back of a 27 inch monitor and then wrapped the entire assembly in a pretty skin. But no... they had to put it all in the same area.... mistake.

Could be easily fixed but that would require admitting a problem.

It's too bad that Jobs is gone... I'm sure if he had been more intune in the final years of his life this would never have been allowed... But the liability suits and lawyers have gotten involved and Apple will never be the same again. It will go the way of other cool manufacturers like Micron....and be no more...

I'm going back to my home built PC making it a hackintosh.... Even a home hack can do better now...