I've been using eyeglass cleaner for my iMac screen--did I do damage?

[neoelectronaut]

Me being the usual paranoid person I am, I'm worried that I might be doing damage to my 27" iMac that I've had for a few months after reading a thread over in the iPhone forum.

In the thread for the iPhone someone was using windex to clean his iPhone and he was being warned about rubbing off some kind of coating.

I use the little bottle of eyeglass cleaner that came with my eyeglasses and a microfiber clothing thinking that if it's not supposed to scratch my glasses it won't scratch the screen either. I'm gonna switch over to warm water from here on out, but did I do any damage thus far? I don't believe the iMac glass has any kind of coating but I may be mistaken.

 

[Skybar]

Its probably as you say yourself; if the eyeglasses doesnt take damage, the imac screen probably wont either. Why would something made for cleaning glass damage that glass?

Furthermore, if you havent noticed anything being damaged, it probably isnt. Take into consideration that the screens for imac and iphone doesnt have the same purpose. The iphone screen is made to withstand you touching it all day since it is a touchscreen. The imac doesnt use touch, and thus the screen wouldnt have to be as "durable" as the iphone screen per se. Im not basing this on some kind of fact, but rather my own logic (but you never know, maybe what i say here isnt true at all). Some kind of proof to this may be that the imac screen gets dirty much easier than the iphone (atleast in my own experience).

So you really shouldnt worry in my opinion.

 

[DewGuy1999]

I think the issue with Windex is that it contains ammonia. Ammonia is a very strong cleaner. I don't think the iMac (the aluminum ones with the glass over the LCD) has any kind of coating on it and that pretty much any kind of cleaner you use to clean glass should be okay to use on it.

 

[The.316]

I use the same LCD cleaner that I use on my 40" Samsung LED TV, and dont have any issues.

 

[John T]

There shouldn't be any need to use anything more than a soft cloth, lightly dampened with plain water. Should the screen get "smeary", a small amount of detergent could be added. The main thing is to avoid is over-wetting the screen and its surround, particularly around the eyesight lens and the microphone aperture.

 

[teidon]

The coating they were talking about over at the iPhone discussion is the oleophobic (hope I got that word right) coating used in iPhone 3GS and newer iOS devices. It's purpose is to keep the glass clean of fingerprints. iMac's have no use for such coating as you aren't supposed to touch the screen.

And Apple has support documents for cleaning the various Apple devices. Google something like: apple support imac clean. Should get you the right document. I'm lazying (is that even a word?) with my iPad, so not giving you the direct link.

 

[gelinasbrian]

It is glass so use some thing you would for glass and it should be fine.