Q: Greyish Smudge marks behind the glass screen.

skeltonmedia wrote:

 

Apparently this is a serious defect in the Mid 2011 27" iMacs and the replacement includes some sort of heat shield to eliminate future issues. If you've got a Mid 2011 27" iMac I'd seriously consider buying Apple Care while you still can. It's well worth the investment. Hope this helps.

The defect has been around in every model that is this design (since 2009)... it's not relegated to your model. This heat shield that has been added as a perm fix - this is the first time I have heard of it. The problem from what I can see from this thread - never goes away - it always comes back eventually -  even after multiple repairs. I have read all 43 pages of this post - where did you hear of this "fix?"

And yes, AppleCare is good to have for these kind of things but it's not a fix... eventually it will expire (3 years) and in the case of my 2009 model, I will eventually have to shell out money to replace the screen. The sad part is that Macs usually hold their value. When/if I upgrade my Mac, I can always count on being able to get decent money selling it used. Not this time. As a matter of fact, you tell me how one sells their iMac used on something say like eBay and NOT disclose that the screen looks awful. If I do, I get nothing for resale value. If I don't the person will send the unit back and leave me bad feedback. In other words, if I don't sell it right after I fix it - it's worthless. And I hadn't planned on replacing my iMac until there WAS a perm fix.

This seems to be a design issue.

Please Mr. Apple!!! talk to us ! What do you think about that dirty-screen???

It's now the moment to do something for us... We love Apple but not with that dirty imac.

Let us dreaming that Apple are the best!

Please... help us!!!!

Apple does not interact on these boards... it's a user to user forum.

The news of the fix came from the “genious” I talked to at the Apple store. He said all replacement screens now have a heat shield between the video card and the LCD that will stop future smudging. Obviously this isn't something coming directly from an Apple engineer but rather from someone who is experienced in diagnosing products.

I know people in the past on this forum have had multiple issues after multiple repairs so maybe this heat shield is a new addition. I'm not holding my breath or putting money on this being an end all solution but I thought I'd pass that information on.

As I mentioned before, make sure and buy Apple care for any iMac or Macbook. I've always bought Apple care and it's saved my wallet more than once. Putting so many components in such a tight space is clearly not always the best way to avoid heat related failure especially if you edit video editing or work with heavy graphics applications such as I do.

skeltonmedia wrote:

 

The news of the fix came from the “genious” I talked to at the Apple store. He said all replacement screens now have a heat shield between the video card and the LCD that will stop future smudging. Obviously this isn't something coming directly from an Apple engineer but rather from someone who is experienced in diagnosing products.

 

I know people in the past on this forum have had multiple issues after multiple repairs so maybe this heat shield is a new addition. I'm not holding my breath or putting money on this being an end all solution but I thought I'd pass that information on.

Please keep us updated to see if this new "shield" holds. Good to know. Thanks.

skeltonmedia wrote:

 

The news of the fix came from the “genious” I talked to at the Apple store. He said all replacement screens now have a heat shield between the video card and the LCD that will stop future smudging. Obviously this isn't something coming directly from an Apple engineer but rather from someone who is experienced in diagnosing products.

 

I know people in the past on this forum have had multiple issues after multiple repairs so maybe this heat shield is a new addition. I'm not holding my breath or putting money on this being an end all solution but I thought I'd pass that information on.

 

As I mentioned before, make sure and buy Apple care for any iMac or Macbook. I've always bought Apple care and it's saved my wallet more than once. Putting so many components in such a tight space is clearly not always the best way to avoid heat related failure especially if you edit video editing or work with heavy graphics applications such as I do.

This is a fantastic development.

As noted before, I was going to build a PC so I can "retire" my iMac to light duty after getting the screen replaced for the last time.  Now I don't think I'll wait.  I'll make sure to talk to a genius who knows about this new heat shield before bringing it in again.

I would really like to know more about this heat shield, this is the first ive heard about it.  I hope that apple "genius" wasn't just making something up to ease your concerns

I posted much, much earlier in this thread. I mentioned that my 2009 iMac's screen was replaced twice and then Apple replaced the entire system with a 2011 model.

Well, three weeks ago the problem reappeared. I have smears on 1/3rd of my screens. Unless this heat shield was implemented after August of 2011 it did nothing.

I'm about to submit my fourth repair claim to Apple regarding this issue. I'm waiting until I finish a critical project because every time I give them my iMac it takes about 1 week to get it back.

I can't begin to explain how angry this situation has made me. I switched from PC to Mac because of Steve Job's rhetoric regarding insanely great products. The iMac is not an insanely great product. And Apple doesn't care about us as customers.

One more note. If we really want to get Apple to take this problem seriously then we need to complain to the underwriter of their protection plan!

The #1 reason Apple doesn't take this seriously is because it costs them nothing to repair our systems. If you don't have Applecare you pay for the repair. If you have Applecare an insurance company pays for the repair. At no time does Apple experience financial loss. In fact, they make a profit off each repair because they charge a fee to the insurance company for the repair!

However, the underwriter can choose to nullify Apple's insurance policy and charge them for all previous iMac repairs if they suspect it was a systemic problem or design defect. Imagine the insurance provider suddenly calling Tim Cook and saying "You know the 100,000 iMac's with LCD problems that we've repaired in the last few years at about 500 bucks a pop? Well, turns out it was your fault. We need you to pay us 5 million dollars please."

Tim Cook would get this problem permanently fixed in a week if he was facing a massive bill from his insurance underwriter.

I do not have apple care (yet) because my warranty is still running. I am planning to bring my iMac to the Apple store to get it repaired. Will they fix it with the  or do u really need to but Apple care?

If your warranty is still valid, you do not need AppleCare. The recommendation for AppleCare is to cover possible repairs after the warranty expires. If you are contemplating AppleCare, go ahead and get it, it isn't cheaper if you wait and you can take advantage of the phone support included with the AppleCare.

@J.K. ROFLing

My problem developed before the warranty expired but I was told I was not covered for this issue and I'd have to pay for a repair. This was confirmed by the reseller I was put in touch with.

Different people have had different experiences, but this was mine.

I think the point of a lot of the discussion here is that we don't seem to have a coherent answer about what Apple's policy is. It appears to vary.

This still strikes me as odd because, in this country, products are supposed to be 'fit for purpose' when they are sold or you are entitled to a replacement or refund. What happened to that?.....

Anyway....

Just now I have 2 iMac 21.5" in technical center  for change the lcd panel.

Also my brothers has the iMac 21.5" in the same technical center  for the same problem.

I bought these computer at the middle of 2010 and both have the problem on lcd panel (haloe, greyish smudge and pixel dead).

Impossible to edit the photos with these problems, very annoying.

The technical center  inform me that the problem probably not be definitively solved and the first panel arrived for repair has again a pixel problem.

Fantastic, I spent a lot of money and this is the result.

Just noticed that I have this problem too. Except mine is a massive horizontal gray swath in the middle of the screen. It covers about one third of the screen. Definitely not dust - the area has defined, rounded edges. Bought this 27 inch iMac in July, 2009. The screen is yellowed too - evident when using a light gray or white desktop background. Will be seeking replacement asap!

You can try a screen replacement, but I've seen people go through that process about three to five times, and the problems have stayed the same or gotten worse. Either the yellow tinge was even more pronounced or there was even more grey smudging. The only way to fix this is a hardware re-design.

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