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Grey smudges on screen

E

erure

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
180
16
I purchased a 27" iMac in October 2010 and in December 2010, I noticed that there were grey smudges all over the upper right corner of the screen. I took it to the genius bar and got the LCD panel replaced, and it looked great. But the smudges came back again so I took it to the apple store today.

The genius asked me if I had my iMac near any windows and if I smoked or lit candles. I told him no. I live alone, I don't smoke, I don't light candles, and my iMac is a good 20 feet away from any windows which are 99% of the time closed anyway. So they took it in to get it repaired, but I got a call a few hours later from another genius saying that this would be the last time they did this kind of repair on my iMac because they can only conclude that it's an environmental problem. He also mentioned that they never see problems like this happen o_o

So I honestly don't know what to do now -- it'd be great if the smudges never came back again but if it does, I just have to live with it? I had another iMac in the past and I never had any problems with it before even though I live in the same apartment and the iMac is in the exact same spot. I'm thinking about selling off the iMac and getting a MacBook Pro instead, but I really like my iMac and I want to keep it. Please let me know what I should do :(
 
Tell him that you paid (x) amount of money, (oh and buy applecare), for a quality product. then tell him not to blame you, its not an environmental problem, and then proceed to print out the numerous threads of which people that have the exact same problem as you.
 
Take it back and speak with the manager, I had the exact same problem. Had the screen do the same after 2 months, they replaced it, 2 months later it happened again and I was getting accused of allsorts. Speak with the manager, if your machine has the same fault 3 times then it is a new machine, no doubt about it. If you have any problems with the genius, just go straight to the manager and they will sort it 100%.
 
HacKage said:
Take it back and speak with the manager, I had the exact same problem. Had the screen do the same after 2 months, they replaced it, 2 months later it happened again and I was getting accused of allsorts. Speak with the manager, if your machine has the same fault 3 times then it is a new machine, no doubt about it. If you have any problems with the genius, just go straight to the manager and they will sort it 100%.
Click to expand...

Were you able to get an exchange after the same problem happened 3 times? I remember for my old iMac I had it at the genius bar maybe 5 times but they refused to exchange it because it was the same type of problems; they said it needed to be 3 separate issues to warrant an exchange. And did the smudge problem not happen with the new iMac even though it was at the same place? Thank you!
 
This is very disheartening. I was looking to pick up a 27" iMac today but just had to read some reviews and it seems like black spots/grey smudges seems to be a regular occurrence.
 
protox said:
This is very disheartening. I was looking to pick up a 27" iMac today but just had to read some reviews and it seems like black spots/grey smudges seems to be a regular occurrence.
Click to expand...

I honestly don't know because I don't have any other friends who own iMacs, but this is my second iMac and both have had severe problems, so I'm thinking this will be my last iMac ever. I've never had any problems with MacBook Pros, just iMacs... And it's weird because the apple store is being a pain about both of them :(
 
erure said:
I honestly don't know because I don't have any other friends who own iMacs, but this is my second iMac and both have had severe problems, so I'm thinking this will be my last iMac ever. I've never had any problems with MacBook Pros, just iMacs... And it's weird because the apple store is being a pain about both of them :(
Click to expand...

IMO Apple's quality control has gone down since the switch to intel. It has slowly been declining, but with all of the stories of the 27" and 21.5" iMacs with discolored screens, cracked screens, buzzing noses, hard drive problems, it just makes people afraid to buy their $2,000 computers. I understand when you mass produce things, that **** does happen, but at the amount of problems back in 2009 when this thing launched, it was insane.
Also, the failure rate is like 2 or 4 years with a lot of these stories. It's kind of scary
 
Wow imac problems seems just getting bigger and worse, especially on the screen. I was planning on waiting 2011 iMac, but with this problem on the display, which actually is the best part of an iMac, i kinda lost my appetite for $2000 iMac

Do you think iMac is good in term of durability? It's $2000 and i dont wAnt to see it damaged, yes there is apple protection plan, but still it annoys me to keep returning my iMac for a repair

IMO, those screen damage happens because the hardware, which produce more heat compared to mbp is located tightly behind the screen, this cause a lot of annoyance to the lcd itself, how do u think?
 
Ugh I'm super depressed. I talked to a store manager over the phone and he was really nice but all he did was just explain what the genius told me... He said that they found some foreign matter in the vents (no one ever mentioned this before) and that's why they think it's an environmental issue. He said to bring it back to the apple store if the problem arises again, but there are limits to the warranty. And that screen issues like these aren't really covered under AppleCare, so that was a "courtesy service" of them. :(
 
Thanks Oggy but I am too scared to open the glass casing, let alone tear apart the computer. I'll end up killing the computer somehow, for sure.

Anyway, I picked up my iMac last night and it turns out they replaced the LCD panel, the processor, and the logic board. I don't really understand why they replaced the processor and the logic board and asked why they replaced it, but the guy I asked told me they don't know why either. Anyway, I opened it up today and noticed that there were some cosmetic damages on the exterior (the bottom metal part, not the screen) and I called up the apple store to ask about it and the manager called me back saying that cosmetic defects aren't covered under the warranty. I asked if cosmetic defects that occurred during the repair didn't apply either and he said he'll need to see it for himself to evaluate, but basically hinted strongly that they probably won't do anything about this. Plus he called me back saying that he knows about my past iMac experience with another apple store and noted that the last computer had dust issues too but that's complete BS because it was an entirely different issue (the computer had dust between the glass and the LCD panel after the repair, not the grey smudges that I've had on my current iMac). I think he thinks that I'm some crazy obsessive woman who likes picking fights with the apple store and I'm just... really disappointed and angry at the whole situation (of course I've never argued with any of the people there... I'm the least argumentative person on earth probably). I told them I'd bring the iMac back to the apple store first thing tomorrow morning and I feel like it's pointless because I already know that they'll just shrug their shoulders and tell me to take it back. :(
 
WOW. I got a brand new iMac as a replacement today (the store manager that I'd talked to over the phone a few times was not in). I just hope this one doesn't have any problems, because they pretty much told me that if this one gets the smudge issue, they won't do a thing about it.
 
I have a 27" iMac that I bought in Dec 2009 and just in the past 3 months I have noticed those grey smudges. I can best describe them as someone having sooty powdery hands and lightly tapping the glass on the inside.

Since I am under extended warranty, rather than remove the glass myself to see if I can clean it, I called Apple care. They were very helpful and provided me contacts for area authorized repairs in Victoria, BC, Canada. There are no actual "Apple stores" here.

I called Moore Associates (one of the two available to me) and found out they actually have a guy who makes house calls. Wonderful!

He came in, removed glass, we realized that it is an LCD issue, he ordered the parts, and 3 days later I now have a new LCD screen covered under my warranty.

I guess I will have to wait and see if it recurs.

WW
 
why do people still think for the $2000 they pay to apple for a iMac they get superior quality compared to something like a sony vaio all in one PC which cost the same price but offers less cpu power just for example that is

and no it was not caused by the transition to intel , the whole problem started with the iMac G5 , when apple decided that a lcd screen has enough space in its original housing to fit a complete computer inside , ok others had that idea as well ...sort off , but they left a awful lot of holes at the back to get rid of hot air , and in case of the G5 the heat very much contributed to the bad cap problem , as the most effected caps are the ones close to the processor and harddrive

which are the hot spots inside all iMac's from G5 to present day , so i dont blame intels processors for the lack of durability , because the intel processors actually last , its all the rest surrounding them that gives up within 4 years ,

i blame apple for its thinner is not good enough attitude , and apple seems to source the absolute cheapest parts they can get and get the iMacs build in the cheapest factories , and there is a reason for it , that is profits , not for the pockets of their CEO which is just average it seems as steve is far behind the top earners on the forbes list in that industry sector , no all these apple stores worldwide all these thousands of employees there cost a fortune and apple care cost a fortune too , dont think your couple quid would cover a logicboard as all are proprietary parts and expensive to produce


as for me a Mac ins not made a Mac because of it internals , not any more at least , a Mac becomes a Mac by design of Jonathan Ive and OSX , that makes it a Mac , not these parts fitted inside , and making it a inch thicker would not spoil the design in any way , as there is still the stand who dictates the footprint on the desk , but it would improve cooling massively , and as all the openings for fresh air are the bottom of the iMac that inch more thickness would create automatically more openings for fresh cool air and if the slot on the top would be a bit bigger more hot air could get out , thats simple physics , that way it would be easy to drop the overall temp by about 15 degree celsius inside and that would help to keep things inside cooler and we all know the better the cooling the longer parts live , sure apple tries to find the ideal compromise between cooling and slim design , but its still a compromise , and to be honest its not in apples interest if your iMac lasts longer
 
common problem

this is a common problem with Alum. Imacs. My 20 inch mid 2007 models has had this issue, I just remove the glass and clean the inside of the glass. The smudges come back after a few weeks. Apple refuses to admit that it's a design problem. If you google smudges on imac you'll see all the posts about this problem. Good luck
 
Law suit, nothing in the terms n conditions about only non smoking non candle burning dust free customers need apply, obviously the product is not meeting customer requirements, push hard enough on their $ button and they'll secretly compensate, no worries just be firm enough and follow protocol :D
 
is this on the glass or the screen itself? Also is it more prevalent on one side of the screen vs. the other? The reason I ask is I had my iMac apart the other day to put a new HDD and noticed a fine dust which was grey/black on the inside of the bezel. It was from the intake fan on the left side of the iMac at the bottom. I would assume if the screen wasn't sealed off well against the bezel that dust could easily be pushed up on the screen. And it's not a typical "dust" like dust bunnies but a real fine powder that's hard to remove.
 
erure said:
WOW. I got a brand new iMac as a replacement today (the store manager that I'd talked to over the phone a few times was not in). I just hope this one doesn't have any problems, because they pretty much told me that if this one gets the smudge issue, they won't do a thing about it.
Click to expand...

I would of told him I wanted a refund since it sounds like it most likely will reaccur. Those Apple store employees have alot of guts blaming customers for their shoddy Chinese workmanship and poor design choices made by Apple themselves. For $2000 you should expect perfection in a computer with the imacs specs.
 
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