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cleaning your screen? what do you use?

S

stefmesman

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 25, 2010
432
1
Netherlands
so with all these gorgeous 27'' displays around. these things do have a habbit on gathering dust and sorts. so my question of today is.

what do you use to clean your imac/cinemadisplay?


i use the apple cleaning cloth for dust and fingerprints. and i use pure alcohol to clean the aluminum. anyone else?
 
If it's just dust, I use the microfiber supplied with it. If its' fingerprints or anything oily, I use a vinegar solvent with my own, larger microfiber.

With the anodized aluminum, I try to stick to using just water.
 
50/50 white vinegar and water. No need to make a lot. Just a tablespoon of each in a cup. Dip a microfiber cloth in the solution and clean. You'll be amazed at how well it works.
 
I just ordered the Moshi TeraGlove from Amazon for $9.99. Been reading awesome user reviews on it so I figured $10 is worth it for a $2000 investment.
 
I just use the same solvent for my glasses.

Using a paper towel, and then use a microfiber rag to pick up any dust or lint.
 
Supplied microfiber cloth slightly damp with distilled water works great as well. I use this often on my anti-glare MacBook pro because the screen is much more sensitive, but it also works great on the glossy glass front panel of anything.
 
Personally I would just use distilled (bottled) water on the screen and alcohol on the rest.

I don't think it really affects it anymore but I've seen some nasty LCD/Plasma screens get ruined from vinegar/ammonia/alcohol from working at Best Buy for 3.5 yrs in the Home Theater department. It would eat and remove some of the coatings the manufacture's would apply to the screens that's why us annoying sales people would push $50 cleaning solution to "safely" clean your screen. In reality though I think sticking to water is fine.
 
cthomas1489 said:
Personally I would just use distilled (bottled) water on the screen and alcohol on the rest.

I don't think it really affects it anymore but I've seen some nasty LCD/Plasma screens get ruined from vinegar/ammonia/alcohol from working at Best Buy for 3.5 yrs in the Home Theater department. It would eat and remove some of the coatings the manufacture's would apply to the screens that's why us annoying sales people would push $50 cleaning solution to "safely" clean your screen. In reality though I think sticking to water is fine.
Click to expand...

Don't put vinegar in the same category with ammonia and alcohol. Ammonia will take off window tint from your car windows. Hardly the same thing as vinegar.

As others have suggested, using just water is the best solution. However, water isn't always effective at getting off all surface contaminants, leaving a streak-free finish, etc. Most the time, water will just spread the dirt around leaving your screen full of streaks. Adding vinegar to the water will help break down the grime on your screen. Because vinegar is a weak acetic acid, it's strong enough to clean effectively, but still weak enough to not do any damage to your screen. I've been using the 1:1 vinegar/water ratio for over 10 years on all sorts of screens and have never had a single issue.
 
OptyCT said:
Don't put vinegar in the same category with ammonia and alcohol. Ammonia will take off window tint from your car windows. Hardly the same thing as vinegar.

As others have suggested, using just water is the best solution. However, water isn't always effective at getting off all surface contaminants, leaving a streak-free finish, etc. Most the time, water will just spread the dirt around leaving your screen full of streaks. Adding vinegar to the water will help break down the grime on your screen. Because vinegar is a weak acetic acid, it's strong enough to clean effectively, but still weak enough to not do any damage to your screen. I've been using the 1:1 vinegar/water ratio for over 10 years on all sorts of screens and have never had a single issue.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification :)
 
Distilled water and a microfiber cloth (or the cloth that came with your IMAC)
Do not use any alcohol cleaners, or lens cleaners even if they say safe for LCD, LED or Plasma displays.:cool:
 
Last time I checked actual distilled water was quite expensive so for most purposes the so-called distilled water is really just regular (clean enough) water with the calcium/magnesium ions replaced by sodium ions so that it's softer water.

If I'm wrong though, proper distilled water has the benefit that it dries stripeless, but I believe using a clean towel for a thorough cleaning (just don't push too hard, that's expensive equipment you're cleaning) will work just as well. I have a hard time seeing the reasons behind using distilled water in household cleaning. Now if you're doing chemistry it's ofcourse a different story.
 
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