News Apple Silicon iMacs appear to suffer from screen deterioration after two years — flood of user complaints hit Apple Community forums

[Admin]

M1 iMac users started seeing lines on their screens that require an expensive screen replacement to fix.

Apple Silicon iMacs appear to suffer from screen deterioration after two years — flood of user complaints hit Apple Community forums : Read more

 

[Findecanor]

I remember Louis Rossmann having found design flaws with the screen power cables in MacBooks ...

At least Apple is consistent.

 

[bit_user]

I'm generally opposed to aftermarket warranties. They're basically an insurance policy and you're generally better off not buying insurance you don't actually need (i.e. for things you can afford to replace out-of-pocket). However, given that Apple makes what are basically disposable appliances that you can't fix on your own, I might be tempted to buy the extended warranty on a machine I planned to keep beyond the base warranty period.

Even then, once it stops getting iOS updates, I think it pretty quickly becomes e-waste. I guess you could try running Linux on it, but that doesn't help most Mac users, who probably shudder at the idea of anything to do with Linux.

 

[Giroro]

50 V wouldn't burn out a cable, at least not if the current is controlled.
Plus if you burnt out a cable to an LCD, I would expect it to fail faster than 2 years, and more completely than 1 in 16 horizontal lines on half the screen.
If there is a problem with a cable or connector, I don't think it would have anything to do with how much voltage is going to the backlight - unless both data and backlight are being controlled on the LCD side by a single chip that has failed. Or specifically 32 copies of the same chip, which each controlling both functions on 1/32 of the screen, and one of those chips have failed... But it would not make much sense to design the screen that way.
My guess, the LCD is using a 32-bit wide parallel interface, and one of the paths for data is bad. I would change the cable just-in-case (which I doubt helps, but they aren't too expensive). Then start looking for failed solder and capacitors, starting wherever the heat cycling is worst - Probably near the CPU. The failure might even be inside the M1, but that doesn't seem too likely.

Edit: Looking through the Apple support thread, it looks like there could be a variety of issues at play.

 

[dimar]

Nothing's wrong with the screen, it's just Apple way of saying "time to upgrade", and me hearing buy Apple stock.

 

[Elusive Ruse]

Apple gonna borrow a leaf out of Intel's playbook.

 

[thisisaname]

Planned obsolescence?

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I own Apple products, in fact i'm typing this on a Mac Mini. What I do find funny/ironic is how the typical Mac user will claim how Apple products are the best and last the longest. They wouldn't consider anything but a Macbook.

This is nothing more than Apple charging more and using the lowest cost part giving the illusion to the Apple faithful that they are getting, nothing but the best from Cupertino. That's why if I bought a laptop, it sure as hell wouldn't be a Macbook. I'd rather splurge on a ThinkPad Carbon X1.

 

[jp7189]

I'm generally opposed to aftermarket warranties. They're basically an insurance policy and you're generally better off not buying insurance you don't actually need (i.e. for things you can afford to replace out-of-pocket). However, given that Apple makes what are basically disposable appliances that you can't fix on your own, I might be tempted to buy the extended warranty on a machine I planned to keep beyond the base warranty period.

Even then, once it stops getting iOS updates, I think it pretty quickly becomes e-waste. I guess you could try running Linux on it, but that doesn't help most Mac users, who probably shudder at the idea of anything to do with Linux.

One could also steer clear of devices with such short warranties.

In general terms, I think of warranties as a manufacturer's vote of confidence in their product. As an example, Dell generally provides a default 3 year warranty on Precision laptops, but when they produced and ultra thin Precision with a reduced 1 year warranty, that indicated they expected it to break quickly.

 

[gg83]

Seems all tech is going this way. A small crack on an oled results in trashed screen. With lcd, you'd just get a dead pixel or two. And warranties of one year is a joke unless you use your device 24/7, you won't see a problem until it's too late.

 

[cknobman]

Thank you for posting this!
I was actually going to get my daughter one of these for Christmas.

Not any more!
Maybe I'll just get a Mac Mini and buy a monitor seperate.

Really hate Apple and their entire ecosystem but my wife and daughter drink the koolaid 🙁

 

[domih]

That's the problem with all-in-one, if one of the all becomes broken the whole becomes too.

Put the Apple walled garden on top of that 🙁

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

While it's probably a parts supply issue given the relatively small number of people with issues (so far?), it is another example of why law mandated warranty periods need to be extended to at least 3 years, or at the least strengthen recall laws to mandate companies fix out of warranty products, much like which apply to vehicles.

 

[palladin9479]

Isn't it time to replace the Apple product anyway?

 

[bit_user]

One could also steer clear of devices with such short warranties.

In general terms, I think of warranties as a manufacturer's vote of confidence in their product. As an example, Dell generally provides a default 3 year warranty on Precision laptops, but when they produced and ultra thin Precision with a reduced 1 year warranty, that indicated they expected it to break quickly.

Hmmm... I'm not sure you can really read so much into a short warranty. For sure, long warranties imply confidence that either the device will last that long or most users will have replaced it due to obsolescence.

However, a short warranty could just be due to shaving margins. I've noticed a lot of tech products have seemed to undergo warranty reductions, in recent years, and it's not necessarily because they're less reliable. Perhaps manufacturers are wary of people doing things like cryptomining or heavy-duty AI workloads, but the typical user still should have nothing to worry about.

 

[jp7189]

Hmmm... I'm not sure you can really read so much into a short warranty. For sure, long warranties imply confidence that either the device will last that long or most users will have replaced it due to obsolescence.

However, a short warranty could just be due to shaving margins. I've noticed a lot of tech products have seemed to undergo warranty reductions, in recent years, and it's not necessarily because they're less reliable. Perhaps manufacturers are wary of people doing things like cryptomining or heavy-duty AI workloads, but the typical user still should have nothing to worry about.

I don't disagree with what you're saying. Warranties are firmly in the bean counter realm. Avg cost of repair x annualized rate of occurrence and all that, but in the context of this article - users getting screwed by faulty products with short warranties - the advice of stay away from products with short warranties is pretty solid.

 

[bit_user]

in the context of this article - users getting screwed by faulty products with short warranties - the advice of stay away from products with short warranties is pretty solid.

Most Mac buyers probably cannot. My presumption was just that. So, the sane alternative would be to pay the extra money for an extended warranty, if you had a high degree of confidence you were going to keep it that long and definitely didn't want to upgrade before then.

Alternatively, if the Mac Mini comes with a longer warranty and the price difference isn't much between it and the iMac, just move up a tier. However, I don't presume people buying iMacs are flush with cash. Otherwise, why would you?

 

[helper800]

It's as simple as not buying Apple products unless they are required by your employer. If you really like the OS, thats fair especially if you already own half their ecosystem, however, you cant really complain when your 3000 dollar 2-in-1 dies a month after its 1 or 2 year warranty because of a hardware defect that kills all their products roughly after the warranty expires.