iMac screens experiencing unwanted condensation?

One of our readers dropped us a note to tell us that his new 24-inch iMac was exhibiting condensation build up behind the screen: he's not the only one, with a few people on the Apple Support forums and elsewhere also reporting the problem. Our tipster says that condensation builds up in the lower corners, goes away, and then comes back when the surrounding environment drops in temperature. Moisture plus computers doesn't compute, so make sure to report the issue to Applecare if you're seeing the same issues. Hopefully Apple will step up and publicly recognize this as a fault sometime soon.

[Thanks, Lee B.]

Read - New iMac condensation inside screen (Apple Support)
Read - Condensation behind iMac glass (DPreview)
Read - iMac Aluminium Condensation (MacInTouch)

[crescentdavid @ Oct 21st 2007 8:08PM]

chill, joey. The fact of the matter is Apple is having some problems with their displays-this is just another in a line of mishaps. Some people are laughing at Apple, having little to no compassion or sensitivity for a corporation you obviously have somehow developed a personal relationship with.

Deep breaths everyone ... and release.

[mattstl77 @ Oct 21st 2007 8:16PM]

Looks like Apple is "sweating" with all of the competition. Must stink to be a distant second to Gates and the Windows Platform.

[Jeffrey Wrobel @ Dec 4th 2007 12:30AM]

You are comparing Apples and Oranges (or Lemons in the case of Vista), my PeeCee friend. Macs are PCs now and sport fully PC native INTEL processors (some of the fastest and newest that Intel has to offer, I might add). They are a company that has a radical approach to computers: Design the computer and design the operating system to go with it (along with countless other programs). Macs are still number one in web design, virus vulnerability, graphic designers, and many other areas that are up and coming. You can run Windows XP or Vista on a Mac as easily as you can a PC (and much faster in most cases). Add that they are two computers in one and run even Unix and Linux software and that they are feature for feature, significantly LESS expensive, faster, and more fun, there's no contest with me. Why so many continue to support a corporate raider like Gates who has NEVER contributed ANYTHING to computing (he buys other companies and sells THEIR innovations), I will never know. Go to http://www.microsuck.com for some interesting reading (non-mac affiliated) and don't go to bat for someone who already has billions upon billions of dollars. I prefer innovation over imitation, intuitive interfaces over "wizards" or "neighborhoods" and tolerance/inclusion over exclusion. Microsoft is CLOSED source. Mac is OPEN source. Hundreds of people tested the system base for Vista before it was released while MILLIONS tested the open source Cocoa subsystem of OS X before release. Leopard has had some growing pains, but nowhere near what Microsoft has. XP Pro = $270 OS X 10.4 Tiger = $120. Workstation from Dell with minimum configuration and monitor $1449. iMac 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with MORE features $1299. You do the math.
Jeff

[lgc90 @ Oct 21st 2007 8:18PM]

Am I the only one who looked at this and immediately thought "this would make a really cool desktop background idea." Maybe even a program that applies "condensation" behind the screen on top of any desktop background picture...?

[Johnathon Zirkle @ Oct 21st 2007 9:01PM]

http://lunapark6.com/preview-of-beryl-020.html

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Oct 21st 2007 8:19PM]

There is no component in the Mac that is below ambient temperature. Any condensation therefore would happen to plenty of other objects placed in the same situation, including some configurations of simple panes of glass.

Why does this article exhort us to hope that Apple will admit this is a fault in the iMac? What's the sense in that? Any problem a customer has is automatically Apple's fault and things won't be right until Apple admits fault?

[NightBlade @ Oct 21st 2007 8:21PM]

Guys, guys, don't worry.
That's just the Aqua interface.

[baz.karim @ Oct 21st 2007 8:25PM]

Apple's quality is starting to drop. Before you say this is not supported--take a look at this very post by Engadget. Then there is the iPod Touch screens. We had the tilted screen on the new Nanos. If this continues, it is likely that they will begin to either (1) Lose existing customers or (2) Keep potential users away.

I honestly think, and this is an opinion that belongs to many, that Apple has been running after the money recently. The money started pouring in when they became customer-oriented. It'll start pouring out if they chase the green god.

[baz.karim @ Oct 21st 2007 8:26PM]

Oh yea, and since Vista is picking up either--I'm thinking that Linux will gain a "significant" chunk of the market.

Karim Baz

[jere @ Oct 21st 2007 10:03PM]

I'm not going to pretend that apple's recent products haven't had those flaws, but I think it's a little unfair that everything that goes wrong with some of them (not all) is being reported on engadget. I mean, surely other products have flaws too, why not post about those? (im kind of kidding, that would be really boring to read)

[suv4x4 @ Oct 21st 2007 11:26PM]

"Apple's quality is starting to drop. Before you say this is not supported--take a look at this very post by Engadget. Then there is the iPod Touch screens. We had the tilted screen on the new Nanos. If this continues, it is likely that they will begin to either (1) Lose existing customers or (2) Keep potential users away."

Do you know what though. As an Apple customer (within reason) who's been following Apple closely for years, their quality isn't dropping. They always had some problems with their hardware/software here and there.

What happens now though, is they get even more press than before, and they have more customers than ever before, iPod being the best sold mp3 player and all.. So those quality issues are really starting to come out more often.

I really wonder for how long will Apple manage to sustain their image with this kind of situation. And it'll only get worse unless they figure out a more robust way test their products.

....Which means coming later on the market, and plenty of leaks which the competition will copy. Guess not happening.

[leingangzj @ Oct 21st 2007 8:28PM]

I haven't had such issue, i am more concerned about the frequent, sometime 2-3 times a day freeze ups, where the only thing that can move is my mouse, it's really starting to get annoying, the the frequent wifi drops, the macbook does it as well....and it can't be range, the router is one room away and all systems are utilizing 802.11N so it's beyond me, as the windows system doesn't have that problem....leopard will be here in a week i hope it remedies some of my problems.

[Adam @ Oct 21st 2007 8:36PM]

As opposed to WANTED condensation?

[Khris @ Oct 21st 2007 8:39PM]

Let's call it an undocumented feature.

We can market it as a built in relaxation therapy and call it iRainforest!

[john @ Oct 21st 2007 8:46PM]

iBought a piece of crap!

[Kenji F @ Oct 21st 2007 8:48PM]

I noticed the same problem when I unpacked a 24" iMac for a showroom. The condensation went away after a couple of hours, and has worked fine since.

[Mark @ Oct 21st 2007 8:56PM]

Whenever there is a problem with Apple products, it is always the end user's fault.

Hmm?

Seriously though, every manufacturer will accidently slip out defective products, and this is probably what happened here. Air conditioners wont cause yellow dust and condensation to appear.

[Super Cereal @ Oct 21st 2007 9:03PM]

That's right! Apple is clearly scarfing all of MS's ideas. And the quality is starting to drop to MS levels as a result! If Apple was smart, they'd bet the farm on their own Big Ass Table®. Then, when quality drops again, they can change their name to Denny's, Inc.

[Tom @ Oct 21st 2007 9:08PM]

This problem shouldnt exist at all. The fact that people are asking where exactly you keep your machine is irrelevant. It doesnt matter if its in a Greenland winter or a Saharan summer. Condensation shouldnt exist. The fact that it is happening, and is happening in non extreme temperatures should indicate that there is a serious design flaw. It doesnt matter what spin the fanboys put on it, it wont change that fact. So Apple has to fess up and either fix the problem with the current complaints, or put out a recall if the problem is out of control.

[nate @ Oct 21st 2007 9:29PM]

ok. to expect a piece of consumer electronics to withstand the extreme conditioned you mentioned is unreasonable. however, the probably shouldnt be any problems inside a house, with or without ac,

[Dylan K @ Oct 21st 2007 9:59PM]

Apple has already realized that they can continue to do a shitty job on their products and still rake in the money.

[BlahBlah @ Oct 21st 2007 10:13PM]

They should use that picture from now on whenever something that hurts Apple's reputation comes up in the news.

[spyyder @ Oct 21st 2007 11:10PM]

@Marduk

Who else, Linux users? Give me a break. The anti-mac smugness by the users that post on this is site is so strong it could cause Steve Jobs and Apple HQ to vaporize any day now.

@Paul

Fanboy? Who's comments are getting ranked higher? Surely not mine.

[Tanner @ Oct 21st 2007 11:49PM]

I don't think this has anything to do with the quality of the product. The store I work at sells macs, we have a couple on display and they have never exhibited this problem. What about apple stores? I have never seen this problem in an apple store either. This seems to me like an environment thing and instead of the condensation building on the outside of the computer it is building on the inside of the glass pane so it is more noticeable (can't be wiped off). I think whatever environment these computers are in they would be getting condensation either way. I mean, it is not like the computer is producing the condensation, they don't run at abnormal tempuratures so it has to be coming from somewhere. Like other people have stated, maybe they are using them near an ac vent or something. I have seen many of these new iMacs and I have never seen this.

[Jeff @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:00AM]

My 24" doesn't have this problem, but then again, it's not mounted above my bathtub.

[don @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:25AM]

Actually Glass is Not anykind of solid it's :

Glasses - contrary to crystalline materials - show no regular arrangement of their atoms. For example, the SiO4-tetrahedrons of silicate glasses are irregulary interlaced. The relatively large gaps can be filled by cations like sodium or potassium.
In order to differentiate glasses from crystalline materials, the changing of volume is described when the respective substances are cooled from melting temperature to ambient temperature. Such systems are compared which (a) solidify by crystallization and (b) by formation of glass. One detects that crystalline materials go through a enormous variation in volume with the melting temperature TS, they crystallize. In contrast to crystalline materials glasses condense over a wide temperature range also beyond TS. In the area of the transformation temperature Tg they change from the plastic state to the brittle state when cooled slowly. Rapid cooling leads to an UNDERCOOLED LIQUID. The changing of viscosity described here is fundamental for the for the processing of glasses and depends only on the chemical composition of the respective glasses.

[Joe @ Oct 22nd 2007 7:17AM]

Wait, so what you're saying is... [*brain explodes*]

[Akshat @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:36AM]

As opposed to "Wanted Condensation"?

[atz6975 @ Oct 22nd 2007 1:04AM]

Does it also work on the iphone, can you do it with Vista Ultimate SP1 beta?
Please someone hack it!

More seriously(maybe), isn't condensation water demineralized and therefore not conductive.

After Leopard, Sea-Leopard...

[Waruwaru @ Oct 22nd 2007 1:08AM]

It's apple juice! The juice is loose!

[Ryan Karolak @ Oct 22nd 2007 1:10AM]

Liquid Cooling.

It's a feature, not a bug.

[simon @ Oct 22nd 2007 1:54AM]

Why hasn't anyone pointed out the fact that aluminum is a great conductor. Couldn't it be that the heat generated from the components mix with the metal casing and actually draws the moisture from the air? Of course the inside would not be air tight, so I could almost guarantee that's the culprit. I think that it is a flaw by design and simply a consequence of having an all-in-one product with a metal housing. and to shoot down possible criticisms, paint would insulate and plastic would not conduct as well. And on a less unbiased note, I actually really like OSX, but I f*cking hate Apples hardware. I think its total bu!!sh!t the way they overcharge for hardware, put on airs by acting superior when they definitely are not and saying "Think different" when they only have a handful of current products (not any where as bad but still to convey my point, reminds me of the kids that shop at Hot Topic and all dress the same in an effort to be unique). So in review. Like Apple OSX, hate Apples hardware strategy, and aluminum (aluminium for those across the pond) is the most likely cause.

[Kizorblade @ Oct 22nd 2007 3:26AM]

"Why hasn't anyone pointed out the fact that aluminum is a great conductor. Couldn't it be that the heat generated from the components mix with the metal casing and actually draws the moisture from the air?"

So basically what you're saying is that Apple have found a way to create a vacuum using the heat from the casing, sucking in air and therefore moisture?

I mean. This would be great in places. Just think of the benefits! You could put a little collector at the bottom of the glass pane and eventually you'll get a clean glass of water to drink!

[Sebastian @ Oct 22nd 2007 3:19AM]

had the same problem, i instant returned the imac and got a new one without any problems. (before that i had to go through 4!!! retours, all imacs hat problems with display or were humming loudly)

[simon @ Oct 22nd 2007 4:02AM]

Fucktard, seriously, WTF are you talking about? How in the hell did you misconstrue what I said as it created a vacuum sucking in air and moisture? Are you that dense? There is a gap between the glass and the screen. Nothing was sucked in moron. I simply meant it was not air tight, which of course no computer is or should be. I dont think you getting this.
Let me break it down for you...
A METAL CASING WITH A GLASS WINDOW ENCASING ELECTRONICS THAT GENERATE HEAT WILL EASILY COLLECT MOISTURE. AND JUST WHERE THE FUCK WILL IT SHOW UP? THATS RIGHT THE GLASS THAT CONDUCTS HEAT DIFFERENTLY!!!

Still following? (I can already tell your good at it)

And to those that accused others of setting their Macs in front of an air conditioner... Really? Are you that dense and willing to defend something you pay for? I paid over $300 for my cell phone and I could give two fucks if someone wanted to slam it. Im happy with it and understand its shortcomings. And I said that it is a design flaw, as in metal, glass and heat. Not the actual designers, I actually think the new iMacs look great. I love the glossy screen on my laptop, but it gets smudges. I love my old TV upstairs, but a CRT collects dust via static electricity. Its a flaw by design. So Kizorblade, whatever the fuck that means, have a Coke and a smile and kindly shut the fuck up.

[Burkanov @ Oct 22nd 2007 5:16AM]

I had exactly the same trouble on my new 24" iMac right after the first-time start, the condensation gone after a couple of hours. Still it's another thing to hate in new displays, apart from glossssinessss.

[Benji @ Oct 22nd 2007 8:13AM]

This isn't the only display issue. Just visited a mate who had one that shifts colour when it warms up. It looks like my 30 year old TV, changing colour in the corners. I think Apple should stop making things thinner for the sake of it and just build them better.

[Josh @ Oct 22nd 2007 8:17AM]

The piece of glass is held in place with magnets. if you are taking the machine apart, the first step is removing it with a giant suction tool. So yeah, there's definitely a gap of air between the LCD and the glass. I'm still not so sure this qualifies as a design flaw, however.

[Mac Dub @ Oct 22nd 2007 9:16AM]

Yeah, I've seen that here in Spain with a customers rig. It went away so we thought it was all good. I'll have to get in contact with that guy and tell him to call Apple Support.

[Ant @ Oct 22nd 2007 9:17AM]

Aluminium is the problem. Anyone that ever had aluminium windows fitted in the mid 70's will tell you that even in the summer months they attract condensation like you wouldn't believe. Aluminium looses heat real quick, great for radiators on your CPU but not so good for external cases surrounding screens with an internal air gap. Unless they have vacuum-sealed and pressurised the space between the outer glass and the inner LCD these machines are screwed.

[The ZeroCorpse @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:04PM]

Hmm. I've never had this problem on my 24" iMac.

Some people need to move their air conditioning off the "arctic circle" setting.

[Mr. Picklesworth @ Oct 22nd 2007 12:50PM]

What is it with Apple and displays all of a sudden?

These are tethered to the devices. If the screen goes, the computer is toast. I'm sure these will be replaced, but they should really be putting more time into testing them...

[Machine_Gun @ Oct 22nd 2007 10:49PM]

说明这苹果很新鲜哦。

[stricjux @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:35AM]

And it does coverflow as well!!!!11111oneoneone

[maxfive @ Oct 25th 2007 6:13PM]

Apple should have added this "feature" to the Cube!