So what you buy an iMac and you gotta wait for the right temp to use it lololol??? this is why the iMac sucks right now. Who the hell wants to wait for a certain temperature to use there computer?? THATS REDICULOUS AFTER SPENDING 2400$ IMHO. The fact is there should be a huge recall on all these iMacs LCD's because there loosing alot of customers.
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The iMac condensation problem is obviously quite real....
- Thread starter gothiquegirrl
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Generically speaking, condensation is caused by material that is cooler than the air around it causing water in the warmer air to condense and form droplets on the cooler surface.
Condensation will not form if the "cool" material is warmer than the dew point of the air around it, so in order to get condensation there needs to be both water in the air and a cool surface to cause the condensation. It is not caused by a "pattern" on your screen, and it very likely wouldn't occur on a machine that had been on all day every day. Unless you're boiling a pot of water next to your iMac.
That being said, I could see where there may be condensation caused via a number of potential means - including warm air coming into the machine via air vents and condensing on the relatively cooler glass of the iMac. I could also see where when that water subsequently evaporated, there could be a "water stain" left on the glass that would be annoying and would potentially need to be cleaned.
As for the extent of this issue, it's always difficult to substantiate the claims or determine the percentage of owners experiencing the problem. 5%? .5%? .05%? Those with issues are always more vocal than those who get a product and don't have problems.
I agree that we've seen an increase in quality issues from Apple, so can't discount the possibility that this is a defect of some sort, but short of completely sealing off the face of the Mac so that no air could come in contact with the interior of the computer, I don't know that there's much to be done. Common wisdom states to let a piece of electronics warm up if it's cold before operating it in order to minimize the potential for condensation issues. This should be no different.
This logic doesn't make any sense to me. The price of the item has no bearing on the need to follow proper procedures to use it. Because I bought an expensive car, does that mean that I shouldn't have to change the oil?
Uh huh.
I generally don't like it when people degrade others for how they write, but please at least try to write in a way that wouldn't make your high school English teacher vomit. Normally, ad hominem attacks aren't my style, but, if you can't even bother to try to communicate well, it's harder for us to believe your story, which, frankly, goes along with many other posts of yours that all seem to indicate that most of what you've gotten from Apple has had horrible defects, which, even given the latest issues, seems a bit improbable.
As far as waiting for a piece of electronic equipment to reach room temperature before using it? That's just common sense.
Is there a design defect? I'm willing to believe there is, or at least that Apple should have done a better job of predicting how people would use the iMac. But I still have substantial doubts that what you've written is the complete and true story.
Holy cow! It's the **w tag team! What is it with you guys? The guy, among many others, has a legitimate complaint. How the hell do you warm up a computer without switching it on? Play a blowtorch over it for ten minutes? WTF??? This is getting completely absurd: you are implying in no uncertain terms that the OP is LYING, and at the same time making pompous statements about user error and not indulging in ad hominems. Please stop before this gets any worse.
ANOTHER MEMBER WHO SEE'S HOW THE APPLE COMMUNITY REALLY IS STUBBORN PEOPLE THAT JUST DONT LISTEN TO OTHER PEOPLES PROBLEM UNTIL IT HAPPENS TO YOU. WHY AND HOW COULD I MAKE ALL THIS CRAP UP? I LOVED APPLE UNTIL I WENT THROUGH ALL THIS BS.
Leave it in the box for a while if it's cold.
Take it out of the box.
Turn it on.
Is it really that difficult?
It is common knowledge that ANY electronics should be allowed to reach room temperature before use. This has been the case as long as I've been buying electronics. You don't use a blow torch, you wait for it to warm slowly. The whole problem is that turning it on warms it too quickly.
Not hard to find...
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...1&hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en-us&sa=N
http://www.noticiastech.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/imac-condensation.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2368/1693824310_a3e826b1b3_m.jpg
http://www.ihatepcs.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/1689771186_903cfab588.jpg
It's a frigging desktop computer in daily use. What are you talking about? You have to box it up every morning? No way! Absurd.
It is in the room, therefore it is by definition at room temperature. What are you people on?
if people understood the science behind say condensation, they wouldnt ask such common sense questions
for an experiment for you kids to try at home: get a cold soda and place it in the living room........see the water forming? WAIT you may ask, how is there water forming??? its called condensation and you can read up about it here : Condensation Any questions???
same principle at work here.
i blame our education system
you realize to be at room temp, equilibrium has to have happened. i mean is ice on the counter room temp? noooo. wait 10 min for it to melt and its getting there and so on...
holy cow how is this concept hard
for an experiment for you kids to try at home: get a cold soda and place it in the living room........see the water forming? WAIT you may ask, how is there water forming??? its called condensation and you can read up about it here : Condensation Any questions???
same principle at work here.
i blame our education system
you realize to be at room temp, equilibrium has to have happened. i mean is ice on the counter room temp? noooo. wait 10 min for it to melt and its getting there and so on...
holy cow how is this concept hard
Yes, but Apple is so good they can make condensation happen better than any other manufacturer.
This is the key point that keeps getting overlooked!
To the original poster here (assuming you are not just an alt of the same ranting person from the closed thread), you should be aware that you will likely never have a problem with condensation on an iMac.
A very, very small number of machines experienced this problem when they were first opened and turned on. However, it goes away the minute the machine has sufficiently warmed up. I have yet to hear of any machine that had the problem any longer than it took for the warmth of the machine to disperse or evaporate that tiny bit of moisture for the first time.
iMacs, (like any computers) are very warm and very dry inside. The very fact that the person ranting in the post about this happening to him said that the problem re-occurred quite a while *after* it had evaporated for the first time, tells you he is most likely just lying or exaggerating.
It's not possible for the condensation to collect for a second time unless there is a source of moisture in the house where the computer is. For instance if you have a ton of house plants, or fish-tanks, you could have a high enough humidity in your house for this to happen a second time. But if you have a high enough humidity in your house for this to happen a second time, then two things are also true:
1) you are destroying much more than just your computer visuals by having that humidity in your house. Probably your clothes and furniture are slowly rotting and full of bugs and microbes as well.
2) you are not operating the computer within the temperature and humidity range that you are supposed to as per the instructions on the box.
In any case, there is really nothing to fear about moisture problems in an iMac if you are thinking of purchasing one, and the problems raised by that person on the other thread are almost certainly their own fault.
Please.
Computer ships during the winter and arrives at a temperature of roughly 20°F, well below the stated operating temperature.
User immediately hooks it up and starts it running - by now the temperature of the screen has reached a balmy 30°F, still below the recommended operating temperature, and far less than the air temperature of 72°F.
The dewpoint of the air - meaning condensation will form below that temperature - is probably around 55°. Therefore, 72° air coming in contact with a 32° F screen may very well result in condensation. Should it occur inside the screen - if not sealed all the way, certainly. Is this a design flaw? Perhaps. Is it completely unexpected? Certainly not.
I'm not belittling anyone with this problem, nor do I believe necessarily that the OP is lying, but his stories seem a little far-fetched. I do, however, expect people to be able to follow reasonable procedures to avoid issues with their equipment.
The iMac isn't causing the condensation as a result of a design flaw - the condensation occurs as a result of simple physics. The question is, did Apple take reasonable design precautions to avoid this issue? All I'm saying is, it's impossible to tell that based on the reported issues.
Enough of this patronising twaddle. I understand the principle of condensation as well as anyone else, but it should not apply here. You should be able to expect to walk into your room, turn on or wake up your computer, be it a desktop or a laptop, and get to work. The design should be able to cope with anything within the specified environmental requirements. If it can't, it's a weak piece of design.
Thats quite bad
Hope this doesn't happen to mine
It won't happen spontaneously.
It only happens WHEN THE USER DOES NOT ALLOW THE EQUIPMENT TO REACH ROOM TEMPERATURE (if it just came from the cold, let it sit for a few hours) when the user got the computer for the first time.
USER ERROR.
Apparently not. If you did, then you wouldn't be arguing the point that cold computers in warm, relatively moist rooms, are subject to condensation.
This occurs when everything is not within the specified environmental requirements - this is occurring when users pull a cold computer out of a box and turn it on in a warm room. Not when they walk into a stable environment where a computer has been operating without condensation within the specified environmental conditions.
It can only occur if that's the case, and not in any other case. It is physically impossible for condensation to occur if the computer is being operated with the specified temperature and humidity ranges.
One word: BOLLOCKS! Read below, specifically the third comment, and, especially for any moderators here, the last comment.
You seem determined to ramp up this issue in the forum and spend an inordinate amount of time and effort supporting the ranting "Apple sucks!" person, but for what reason? I can't imagine what your motive is unless you and the ranting poster are friends or possibly even the same person.
Here, you go on and on about the condensation being a design flaw without referencing any actual facts (possibly because they are not on your side).
Condensation, inside a computer, that re-occurs, and re-occurs within the "normal" range of computer operating environments, certainly would be a problem and would be a design flaw, as you say. What you leave out of your statement however, is that this is simply not the case.
Condensation has been a reported problem for a tiny fraction of iMacs on the first day or two of operation. It goes away once the machine warms up and so far has not recurred to my knowledge. These basic facts argue quite strongly against your assertion that it is a "design flaw."
It does not occur in all machines, and it does not re-occur. How can it be a design flaw? How can it be anything other than a minor manufacturing issue if it never re-occurs?
By what logic do you insist on interpreting this as anything other than a small problem experienced by a few machines in very specific limited environmental conditions?
Heck, some dumb mouth-breather on the assembly hovering over the open machine might even cause this.
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