toggle

AAPL Stock: 502.21 ( + 4.54 )

MacNN News

Apple blasted for defunct iMac LCDs, ignores users

updated 12:20 am EDT, Fri August 22, 2008

Users angry over iMacs

Apple is facing scrutiny for ignoring long-standing issues with the flatscreen iMacs, going back as far as the iMac G5, where vertical lines surface in the LCD displays of the popular desktop [2|3|4|5|6|7|8]. While some users were fortunately covered by either the limited AppleCare or AppleCare Service and Support Plan, others have been told to either cover the repair themselves or work out a compromise for living with the issue (such as purchasing an external LCD display).

A common answer heard by many is that technicians have not heard of the issue, despite the issue being felt by allegedly thousands around the world.

The issues could point to a design flaw, since the display is mounted to key structural points on the chassis, which users tend to hold to move the machine around.

Users are urging each other to band together as to create a voice that Apple will hear, since privately, it has dismissed many users complaints.

by MacNN Staff

(28)

TAGS :

iMac, LCD, Apple

Share the Article

Facebook Twitter Delious Slash Dot Digg

toggle

Comments

BWhaler
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2003

-9

08/22, 01:32am | report spam | close Reply |
The trend

Apple has been shipping beta software and had manufacturing issues for a couple of years now. This has been ignored because Apple's small market share and loyal fan base.

But articles like this are going to get more and more common now that the iPhone 3G & mobileme disaster has put focus on Apple's terrible quality. The only thing Apple has going for themselves is M$ is worse.

I buy a ton of Apple products, both personally and as a CTO, and I really worry about quality. I love Apple's innovation and the company's service, but without quality, the party is going to end sooner than anyone can imagine.

danviento
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2005

+3

08/22, 01:47am | report spam | close Reply |
alledgedly, etc.

With the grumbles this story cites, are there any actual statistics that can give an idea as to how many people this effects. These "alleged thousands" of disgruntled customers don't tell us anything about actual numbers. Normally I'd suggest that the publication show a chart of forums and a round number of different persons speaking of complaints, but then again we can't forget this is MacNN.

All the same, this goes to show that if a display is that important, maybe buying an "all-in-one" isn't as smart as you might have thought. Personally, I'd expect more from Apple. In my experience, they are very prompt about just replacing whatever is broke when it's under warranty, though I prefer to just take it to a local qualified apple repair store.

In fact, that's what I'd suggest to all of these complaining persons. Qualified repair centers aren't directly affiliated with Apple and in my experience are quick to make warranty repairs and replacement where Apple would be more stringent. You don't get the whole "this is not covered because it doesn't appear to be an initial defect" line from them- they just do the work and bill it all to Apple. When they send the entire machine to Apple when they realize they can't do something (rarely happens, but it does) they've already approved it for repair under warranty, so their isn't any arguing.

Anyone find such places different in policy?

ViktorCode
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2006

+5

08/22, 01:53am | report spam | close Reply |
Vertical lines

My lcd (non-Apple) has 1 vertical line. When it first appeared after about 5 years of use I researched the subject and it turned out that this is only lcd's fault, graphics board isn't involved.

Google for "lcd vertical line" and you will see that the problem is far from rare. Apple specific? Not at all. ANY lcd could sport one.

The question is to everyone and to BWhaler with his "The trend" post: why should Apple replace lcd with expired limited warranty for free, when everyone else in the world does not? If you wanted to see all Apple products covered with lifetime warranty, please say so. If you want to proove that this is a design flaw, please do. And please understand a simple thing: electronic circuits' components do age too, so they are going to break somewhere down their lifetime.

todddixon
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2004

+5

08/22, 02:05am | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
The real issue...

...is that a specific contiguous serial number address range of iMacs is affected. This represents a faulty batch of LCD's being supplied to Apple. These are the same model LCD's that were supplied before and after the faulty batch therefore there is a solid legal case towards getting a free replacement by supplier or manufacturer owing to a demonstrably inferior production run of that model.

Peter Bonte
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

08/22, 03:48am | report spam | close Reply |
LCD

That is the risk we take when buying all-in-one computers, the LCD is the weakest factor. Generally i had more problems with the pro models, every G5 tower had its issues it seems.

Tenex
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2006

+2

08/22, 04:19am | report spam | close Reply |
Had it fixed

This happened to me about a month out of the 1 year warranty. As the iMac had been in for a minor cosmetic repair a few weeks earlier Apple said they'd change the LCD. I got the impression this was based on two things: 1. I hadn't used AppleCare during the 12 months 2. the recent service. I strongly suspect that had the iMac not been in the shop within 3 months before the lines appeared they would have refused to fix it. However they did and I've ensured I buy AppleCare ever since. It really is pretty poor in an age when the same LCDs are getting 3 year warranties in other products that Apple doesn't institute a 3 year warranty for the screen but charge labour for fixing it if you don't buy AppleCare.

ratpH1nk
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2005

0

08/22, 05:15am | report spam | close Reply |
Like someone else said

this is a normal type of failure for an LCD, regardless of its form factor. I have had similar failures on a Nintendo DS, a cell phone and a mobile DVD player. This is no conspiracy, just normal hardware failure. Could "thousands" of iMacs LCDs failed? h*** yes. Have thousands of non-Apple LCDs failed in the same timeframe? Yes. This is a non-story.

LouZer
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2000

0

08/22, 09:32am | report spam | close Reply |
reason

This is the reason you're being money foolish if you don't buy the 3-year warranty on any computer with a built-in screen.

Eldernorm
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2007

0

08/22, 10:09am | report spam | close Reply |
"HATE Apple" article?

I always wonder when these "hit" pieces come out. Apple is ALWAYS at fault for not being perfect. There is no comparison to other companies and how they react, its just a b**** and moan approach.

Just a thought, but I believe its called trolling for hits ???? LOL

Just a thought.
en

Eldernorm
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2007

+1

08/22, 10:10am | report spam | close Reply |
opps PS

PS. Thanks to the posters above who actually researched the info or had actual experience and posted with an intelligent and professional approach.

Mr. Strat
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2002

+1

08/22, 10:29am | report spam | close Reply |
Problem fixed

We had a 24" iMac come in last week which had a bright green line from top to bottom about four inches from the left edge of the screen. I called AppleCare, and we had a new one within a few days with no hassle. This is the first defective Apple product I've seen out-of-the-box which is much better track record than I've seen from any PC manufacturer.

UberFu
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2002

-1

08/22, 10:44am | report spam | close Reply |
re:blasted...

"MacNN blasted for defunct News Reports, ignores users"

bjojade
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2007

-4

08/22, 10:46am | report spam | close Reply |
Thousands out of millions

So there have been THOUSANDS of computers with failures. Out of how many million machines that apple shipped? This equates to less than 1/10 percent of machines exhibiting problems. That's pretty darned good if you ask me.

Oh, and my LCD TV did the same thing. It was only about 4 years old. Think that company did anything to fix it? Nope. Go buy a new one.

Flying Meat
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2007

0

08/22, 11:35am | report spam | close Reply |
I've seen

hundreds of these machines come into the place I work and cannot recall having seen this issue. I'm a service tech for the company I work for.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, just wondering about how common it is

Flying Meat
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2007

+5

08/22, 11:41am | report spam | close Reply |
On the other hand

If the quantity of defects is as low as has been suggested, Apple should examine the displays and service them under warranty where applicable.

Bennyboy
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2005

+4

08/22, 11:48am | report spam | close Reply |
Not a Hate article

Do your research and you will see not only does this problem exist, there are new problems with the new iMacs with screens that are not up to Apple's quality. My advice is anyone who wants to buy a new iMac at the Applestore, open the computer there and power it up to check it. I went through 3 iMacs for a client due to flashing screens on all of them. Apple handled the problem professionally and replaced the machine twice, but that is a troubling sign. It used to be that in the past, Applecare wasn't really necessary, but now, I wouldn't buy any Apple product without it.

Mr. Fartleberry
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2003

+2

08/22, 12:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
Past Perfect

It's a it much when a dealer had a G5 iMac on display with a botched screen. Sell a lot of Macs that way?

Mr. Fartleberry
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2003

+4

08/22, 12:27pm | report spam | close Reply |
Past Perfect

It's a bit much when a dealer had a G5 iMac on display with a botched screen. Sell a lot of Macs that way?

wadepeeler
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2004

0

08/22, 12:39pm | report spam | close Reply |
Replacements

My sisters both had display problems on their G5 iMacs recently. Apple replaced both of their iMacs with brand new aluminum iMacs, under their AppleCare warranties.

I've never had any display problems with my G5 or Intel iMacs, but Apple did replace my G5 with an Intel iMac because of other issues, also under my AppleCare warranty.

My brother bought one of the aluminum iMacs and had display problems almost immediately, and the first time he took it in, they replaced it with another one without any hassle at all. He hasn't had any problems since.

I do think that ever since the G5 iMac there has been a high rate of problems (basically everyone I know who has bought one has had it replaced under warranty at least once), but Apple seems to be taking care of things.

lenn
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2008

+4

08/22, 01:03pm | report spam | close Reply |
iMac CoreDuo with lines

I have a 1st gen iMac CoreDuo that just started getting the vertical lines last month. I'm up to 3 now. Seem to get a new line every other week.

I called Apple last week and they told me they've never heard of this problem. They also said I'm out of luck since my warranty is over.

Btw, there is an online petition for people with this problem. There are over 1000 signatures now.

lenn

lenn
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2008

+2

08/22, 01:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
iMac CoreDuo with lines

I have a 1st gen iMac CoreDuo that just started getting the vertical lines last month. I'm up to 3 now. Seem to get a new line every other week.

I called Apple last week and they told me they've never heard of this problem. They also said I'm out of luck since my warranty is over.

Btw, there is an online petition for people with this problem. There are over 1000 signatures now.

lenn

nickp
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2007

+10

08/22, 06:34pm | report spam | close Reply |
Two repairs now!

I have an original Intel iMac purchased in Early 2006 when they first came out.

I had one yellow line appear in July this year, within a week 3 more lines showed (purple).

I had 3 year AppleCare - THANK GOODNESS, they replaced the screen, but within a week of the new screen the new panel failed even worse, with about 70 dead pixel rows.

Guys; this is NOT NORMAL, anyone who says this is normal is a moron. Normal is dead pixels, NOT dead entire rows. This generally means the inverter or column driver in the panel is defective or causing issues.

What surprises me is that the Genius bar played coy on it even though it sounded like they weren't shocked I was bringing in a unit with this problem. A person standing next to may made the comment that "My mom's iMac does the same thing, I didn't know it was covered for repair" THAT alone tells you people with the problem don't always report it.

I asked on the 2nd repair for anything the panel plugs into be replaced as obviously a new panel died within a week so something the panel is connected to (inverter/GPU, etc) is damaging the panel.

From the threads on Apple Discussion forums there are MANY people who have had 2nd or 3rd repairs and the problem still persists. All this after 1-2 years of perfect operations. I've not seen this on 100's of panels we've deployed over 5 years at my company NOR have I seen this on any notebooks over the last 10 years unless dropped.

My iMac was in the same unmoved location for 2 years, in a well ventilated location with full surge suppression and power conditioning.

The 2nd service (my iMac is still in service) the Genius bar employee was smart enough to try "Grab" and see that it wasn't the display framebuffer or bad RAM but purely the display itself.

Also; We've seen this on TWO other iMac's over the last year at work, both of those repairs worked the first time around. We've yet to replace a single Dell, LG, Samsung or other panel in the office for a similar problem. so this is NOT a panel normality. Either these panels had a manufacturing test escape or are defective OR something connected to the panel (inverter, etc) is damaging the panel.

Clearly Apple needs to beat up their suppliers a little more to get to root cause instead of dumbly changing the panels over and over again.

lenn
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2008

+4

08/22, 08:09pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Anything but normal!

Great post Nick! I agree 100%.

I've used LCD displays from Apple and other manufacturers for years. This is the first time I've seen the vertical lines.

For someone to say this is normal for LCDs is insane. Something is definately wrong with the LCDs Apple put in the 1st gen iMacCore Duos and they should investigate it at the very least. Not continue to hide their heads in the sand.

lenn

tmdupre
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2008

0

08/26, 12:23pm | report spam | close Reply |
This is a major problem

I know of several people personally throughout the world with this problem. I believe it is more wide spread than Apple is letting on. I have two older Apple LCD's and have no vertical lines at all. So you can't tell me this is "just normal" with LCD's. I'm really surprised that someone hasn't filed a lawsuit yet. Let me say, I agree that you will have things go out now and then with electronics, but when you have an issue like this on such a large scale, then there is obviously a problem. I'm believing in Apple to do right, if not I'm sure there is a government agency we can complain to.

tmdupre
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2008

+1

08/26, 12:37pm | report spam | close Reply |
iMac feedback form

I found this iMac feedback form on one of the Apple forums. Not sure if it will let me paste it here, but I'll try.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/imac.html

If we could get this out to the masses, maybe it would help.

Nick, you were right on.

Tom

tmdupre
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2008

0

08/26, 12:52pm | report spam | close Reply |
Sign Petition

Here is the link to a petition I found on the iMac forum. There are almost 1100 signatures and I'm sure there are thousands who don't even know about it.

petitiononline.com/maclines/petition.html

Please sign if you have problems. Maybe Apple will take note.

Show More Comments

Login Here

toggle

Network Headlines

02/16	SumOfUs criticizes FLA head, plans...
02/16	Safari 5.2, Xcode 4.4 seeds reach developers...
02/16	Mountain Lion updates to be funneled...
02/16	Apple shifts schedules for OS X updates...
02/16	Cook sees merging of notebooks, tablets...

Show All

02/16	Cook sees merging of notebooks, tablets...
02/16	Apple claims backing for rights to...
02/16	Intel may push Ivy Bridge back to June...
02/16	Ex-Olympus President, other execs,...
02/15	Sony completes Ericsson stake buyout...

Show All

02/16	Cook sees merging of notebooks, tablets...
02/15	Apple upgrades iBookstore with screenshots...
02/15	Congress asks Apple to answer questions...
02/14	Apple attempting to disrupt Siri hacks...
02/14	Readability iOS app delayed, Android...

Show All

02/16	Garmin nuvi 4.3-inch Portable GPS Navigator...
02/15	Monster iCarPlay Wireless FM Transmitter...
02/14	Refurb. 16GB iPhone 4, now only $259...
02/13	Refurb. Flip UltraHD Pocket Digital...
02/10	$380 off refurbished 2.8GHz Mac Pro...

Show All

toggle

Apple blasted for defunct iMac LCDs, ignores users

updated 12:20 am EDT, Fri August 22, 2008

Users angry over iMacs

The trend

alledgedly, etc.

Vertical lines

The real issue...

LCD

Had it fixed

Like someone else said

reason

"HATE Apple" article?

opps PS

Problem fixed

re:blasted...

Thousands out of millions

I've seen

On the other hand

Not a Hate article

Past Perfect

Past Perfect

Replacements

iMac CoreDuo with lines

iMac CoreDuo with lines

Two repairs now!

Anything but normal!

This is a major problem

iMac feedback form

Sign Petition

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

to our RSS

Follow us

on Twitter

10 Most Read

10 Most Discussed

MacNN Marketplace

Apple blasted for defunct iMac LCDs, ignores users

updated 12:20 am EDT, Fri August 22, 2008

Users angry over iMacs

Related Articles

Recent Articles

The trend

alledgedly, etc.

Vertical lines

The real issue...

LCD

Had it fixed

Like someone else said

reason

"HATE Apple" article?

opps PS

Problem fixed

re:blasted...

Thousands out of millions

I've seen

On the other hand

Not a Hate article

Past Perfect

Past Perfect

Replacements

iMac CoreDuo with lines

iMac CoreDuo with lines

Two repairs now!

Anything but normal!

This is a major problem

iMac feedback form

Sign Petition

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

to our RSS

Follow us

on Twitter

10 Most Read

10 Most Discussed

MacNN Marketplace