PC World > Feature

Mac users report iMac 27-inch display issues

Users report that their screens flicker or black out within days of turning the machine on.

By James Heffield / Friday, November 27 2009

• Six reasons you want an iPad and six reasons you don't
• InternetNZ: Child porn filter ‘not the answer’
• Windows 7 RC users may face tricky route back to Vista
• Companies vie for piece of Ultra-Fast Broadband pie
• XT outages continue, no decision on compo

LATEST Feature

• App offers 'spatially aware' picture resizing on iPhone
• Windows 7 RC users may face tricky route back to Vista
• Botnet targets major web sites with junk SSL connection
• Bugs and fixes: Adobe Reader, Acrobat come under fire
• Facebook toolbar released for IE in multiple languages
• Avoid iPad pain and Valentines Day heartbreak
• Samsung begins mass producing 3D TV screens
• AMD takes processor market share from Intel, IDC says
• PC World Top 100
• Pope to priests: Go forth and blog

Hundreds of Mac users have complained that the screens on their new 27-inch iMac computers have begun flickering or blacking out within days of turning them on.



The problem has been reported on Apple’s help forum by users in countries including the US, Australia and England. Apple’s media department has not responded to PC World’s repeated requests for comment on the issue or whether any of the 27-inch iMac models shipped to New Zealand may be affected.

The comments on the forum, now numbering more than 600, say the 27-inch LED screen on their new iMacs flicker or black out for two or three seconds during use.

“I am currently on my third iMac 27-inch,” said one US forum poster. “It functioned perfectly for 15 days until I tried to wake it up from sleep yesterday. It took much longer than normal - I wound up having to press the power button to get the screen on. The screen flickered once, and the general hue of the screen changed. After a few hours of use, the screen started flickering on and off a couple times every minute.”

An Australian user was similarly disgruntled: “Bought a 27-inch iMac last weekend and had the problem from about day three. On the phone with customer support now to try and sort something out.”

Many users have said that Apple had been replacing or refunding their faulty units without cost.

An Auckland-based Mac reseller who did not want to be named said he had not received any complaints from New Zealand customers that had purchased iMac 27-inch models from his store.

However, he said he had been unable to order iMacs from Apple recently and had received no explanation why. “My assumption would be that this issue is why I can’t get hold of any.”

iMac 27-inch models are still available for purchase through New Zealand’s Apple Store.