Greyish Smudge marks behind the glass screen.

I have an iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011). It's a great computer and it's been kept in the same place the entire time on a desk in the spare room. Now I live in the Middle East, but I keep the temperature a constant 23 degrees Celcius. I never open the windows because there is usually a lot of dust in the air. So if you consider all the above it's been kept in a constant well maintained and working environment.

Then a blotch suddenly appeared on the right hand corner (suddenly could have occurred in the past few weeks, who knows?). Now if I've taken care of the computer properly and ensured that it's been well maintained, why should a blotch even appear? Is there only a shelf life of these computers for 3 years before they start breaking down?

Design glitch more like. I read one post of the plastic touching the screen.

Justin, I just found this post and thought I would give you a shout in regards to a similar problem I have with my iMac. I'm wondering if you have any suggestions as to how to get Apple to replace my display. Apple just brushed me off and said I have to take it to my local Apple Genius bar, which I did. Below is what they said. On the work order the so called tech guy said it is a "cosmetic condition". I have attached an image of the screen on a neutral gray background. As a photographer I would strongly disagree that there is nothing "cosmetic about it". Of course I only saw that comment after he emailed the

Genius Bar Work Authorization pdf to me. Attached is a shot of the screen.

Problem Description/Diagnosis

Data Transfer: Not Required

Issue: Customer states his display has what looks to be distortion almost like a water marking

Steps to Reproduce: Confirmed at bar, attempted to clean display and issue persisted. Ran Mac Resource Inspector and all passed, ran Video Systems Test and all passed.

Most visible on a white background.

Cosmetic Condition: Nothing to note. Has a partial backup.

Proposed Resolution: Replace display and test.

Estimated Turn Around Time: We'll call you in 3 - 5 days

Mac OS Version: 10.7.5

Hard Drive Size: 1000 GB

Memory Size: 8 GB

iLife Version: n/a

Employee 1450695124

Repair Estimate

Item Number Description Price Amount Due Customer

KBB

661-6615 LCD PANEL 27 INCH WITH BLC $ 635.00 $ 635.00

S1490LL/A Hardware Repair Labor $ 39.00 $ 39.00

Tax $ 33.70

Total $ 674.00 $ 707.70

Is there a voice loud and strong enough out there to help myself and other loyal Apple customers get a replacement display at no cost to ourselves?

Any suggestions would be helpful, before I contact the BBB for direction.

Regards,

Paul

Justin, I just found this post and thought I would give you a shout in regards to a similar problem I have with my iMac. I'm wondering if you have any suggestions as to how to get Apple to replace my display. Apple just brushed me off and said I have to take it to my local Apple Genius bar, which I did. Below is what they said. On the work order the so called tech guy said it is a "cosmetic condition". I have attached an image of the screen on a neutral gray background. As a photographer I would strongly disagree that there is nothing "cosmetic about it". Of course I only saw that comment after he emailed the

Genius Bar Work Authorization pdf to me. Attached is a shot of the screen.

Problem Description/Diagnosis

Data Transfer: Not Required

Issue: Customer states his display has what looks to be distortion almost like a water marking

Steps to Reproduce: Confirmed at bar, attempted to clean display and issue persisted. Ran Mac Resource Inspector and all passed, ran Video Systems Test and all passed.

Most visible on a white background.

Cosmetic Condition: Nothing to note. Has a partial backup.

Proposed Resolution: Replace display and test.

Estimated Turn Around Time: We'll call you in 3 - 5 days

Mac OS Version: 10.7.5

Hard Drive Size: 1000 GB

Memory Size: 8 GB

iLife Version: n/a

Employee 1450695124

Repair Estimate

Item Number Description Price Amount Due Customer

KBB

661-6615 LCD PANEL 27 INCH WITH BLC $ 635.00 $ 635.00

S1490LL/A Hardware Repair Labor $ 39.00 $ 39.00

Tax $ 33.70

Total $ 674.00 $ 707.70

I have an mid 2011 27" iMac and the display has developed ghosting and what looks like watermarks and staining which have gotten worse and worse. I'm a photographer and digital desktop designer and need a large flawless monitor display for my business. I am a loyal Apple customer and have used Apple computers since the 1990's. My first Mac was a 6100 Mac Power PC. All of them worked beyond my expectations. My 2009 G5 iMac still works!

My extended Apple care on my 2011 iMac expired in 2014 but I called Apple anyway to see if there was any type of solution. I made an appointment with the local Apple store and Genius bar and the rep looked at the display, removed the protective cover and tried to wipe off the grey marks to no avail. He did notice the display was flickering and did some tests on the video card which he said was fine with no issues.

However he stated that it was the display itself since it was flickering and said it was failing. Then the subject of replacing the display came up and that to replace it would cost over $700.00 Canadian. Of course I would have to pay for this repair since it was not an Apple designated issue. I found this rather interesting as the web is inundated with countless numbers of similar and identical examples.

I asked to speak to the manager and all I received from her was " We are here to support you and to get you back up and running as soon as possible. But that it was not an Apple "issue". When I explained to her the multitude of Apple customers with identical problems, she just said "well there will always be people unhappy with Apple products and willing to share their stories. And then she said several more times for good measure that "we are here to support you". I know it is not her fault she cannot replace this display. Obviously it is an issue with quality control.

I cannot fathom why something as important as this type of display degradation would not become an "issue" which Apple would deem worthy as a recall.

I contacted Apple Canada Head office and they said sorry, there is nothing they can do as this display degradation is not enough of a problem to warrant a recall issue.

I would appreciate some communications for resolving an obvious flawed display which should not start failing after 4 years of operation.

I would like Apple to replace this faulty display as soon as possible at no cost to myself, since I am presently working on my Laptop to edit my photographic work.

Is there a voice loud and strong enough out there to help myself and other loyal Apple customers get a replacement display at no cost to ourselves?

Any suggestions would be helpful, before I contact the BBB for direction.

Regards,

Paul

It's not only iMacs. It affects Cinema displays.

The exact same issue has plagued my main Cinema Displays since they were purchased around 2009/10. They belong to my employer, and have been in their air-conditioned, clean office for their entire service lives. One has somewhat circular marks near its center. The other has some wavy marks that span about 8 inches up the side of one monitor. All marks look like grey smudges, but they must be different colors, I think, because they show up against different backgrounds. Monitor 1's circular mark disappears on a white background, but Monitor 2's marks seem visible over whites, blues, greens, reds... but it disappears on a black background.

I thought it might be burn-in, but I've set screensavers that change the whole screen's contents, often, and I've also tried letting them go dark sooner. I haven't tried burning in on purpose (that is, leaving something on the screen to let it burn in, on purpose). Should I try that?

BTW, about this forum thread: the top of this thread says it's been 'branched to a new discussion' but when I click that link, the site says it's restricted and I don't have permission. Can't imagine why; I'm just a dude who signed up for an account, same as anyone else, I would have thought.

I think at least one of my LED Cinema Displays, described in my previous post today, are merely suffering from burn-in, at least on one screen. The round circular mark is exactly where the soccer ball icon appears for my user name. That doesn't explain the other monitor's marks, but it's worth pursuing.

I saw an Apple support page about burn-in on LCD displays, and I'm going to try using that to burn-in white. My screensaver is set to show a single white image that fills the screen. Soon, I should know if that fixes the issue, maybe in a couple days.

Avoiding image persistence on Apple LCD displays - Apple Support

No way to edit my earlier post here, yet I can edit this later post. Hmm.

Update: after a few days of setting my screensaver to be just white, I noticed no change, BUT... I think I discovered why it's happening to me: the screensaver never gets more than 15 or 20 seconds of play time, max.

Then the login screen comes up... and just stays there, burning the login field and icon into my screen. I tried unplugging mouse, in case it was the building's vibration.

That means I can't actually apply the fix detailed in Apple's link, not unless I can make my machine show the screensaver instead of the login screen.

Of course I can set the screens to turn off, but then the suggested anti-burn-in fix would be impossible. It only works if the monitors are on and showing all white, right? Think so.

This is one of the reasons I won't buy another iMac anytime soon. It's probably my biggest disappointment with this machine as the screen was a major selling point.

I'm hoping the new MacBook Pro retina won't be plagued by the same problem...

Here's a photo of my mid 2010 27" iMac (right side of the screen, for a long time I thought this was due to the SuperDrive disc slot). First signs appeared two years ago, and it's getting worse as time goes by. Needless to say I won't spend north of $500, the price of a 4K monitor, on a replacement for this non-retina (yet formerly beautiful) screen. I'll just stare at a stained Apple screen for as long as this iMac lives, I guess...

remark: yes, the screen is also dirty on the outside, frankly because it's disheartening to try to clean something that simply will always look dirty, and I find myself not caring much anymore for this iMac. Which is why, obviously being more than cosmetic for graphists, developers and so on, this issue is how brands lose love from their customers. Just like an app that always displays things badly will quickly drive you to their rival's. My next desktop display will certainly not be from Apple.

UPDATE: for the monitor that keeps burning in the login window, the white-screen fix works. On Mondays, that burn-in is gone.

The same fix does not affect the other monitor. It's stains look a lot like the ones ikkei posted. They haven't gone away after more than a month of using a white screensaver and also opening a plain white TextEdit window on that section of that monitor for hours at a time.

Yours is quite impressive! My 2009 iMac has had a set of discolorations for years that fade after the display warms up. But now I have a streak that is more persistent and doesn't fade.

I am sure Apple will never fix this, but I'm interested to know if there are any 3rd party solutions.

If you are seeing discolorations that fade after the display warms up then it sounds like condensation may be forming on the inside surface of the glass panel on the front of the iMac. By any chance do you live in an area with relatively high humidity? Does the issue typically occur after you start up the iMac when it's cold? In a high humidity environment the moisture in the air can condense out and form droplets when it comes in contact with a cooler surface like the iMac.

Today it was my turn to discover the existence of this epic thread.

I have a 27'' Late 2012 iMac bought in June 2013 in Bulgaria. The smudges appeared today. One is in the lower left corner, the other in the lower right corner. They are relatively small, but as I understand they're likely to grow. I'll talk to Apple but judging by some of the comments I've read throughout this thread, I'm not keeping my hopes up.

It's amazing that this thread was started in January 2010 and the underlying problem hasn't been addressed yet.

I've noticed similar patterns on my screen too (a mid-2010, 21.5 inch i-Mac). I can see it both when the screen is solid white or solid green like you show. I suspect much of this is a static dust pattern as is often seen on plastic parts that have been in storage for a time. I tried capturing a portion of the screen to see if it was in the image the machine projected. It is not, therefore not software related. If it is indeed a static dust pattern, depending on what the dust consists of, it could easily get worse (more prominent visually) in high humidity conditions. If it is composed of something that has a low tendency to absorb water, it probably wouldn't change much in high humidity conditions. I've suspected that this dust is on the inner surface of the glass of the display. I suppose it is possible that it could be on other parts of the monitor display (the LEDs themselves, etc). On my machine the glass should be fairly easy to remove and clean as it is held on with magnets. I just never felt it was objectionable enough to go to the effort required to try it.

Interesting thought on the role of condensation. We're in Minnesota, which can be moist in summer -- though we air condition this part of the house. There's a laser printer nearby -- supposedly toner dust tends to accumulate in these displays (? electrostatic effect?).

Is an aggravating design defect. I wonder if Apple ever fixed the problem. I'm leary of iMacs after this, tend towards buying a portable with external monitor.

I'd love to know what Apple would charge to do this at the store. If under $200 I'd pay.

I have a 27" Cinema Thunderbolt and it has a smudge in the lower left portion of the screen. Yes, the monitor gets pretty hot after being on even an hour or two. It's a disgusting development and a smear on the reputation of Apple (no pun intended).