iMac Screen Condensation

About 3 months ago, I purchased a new 24" iMac. I love this computer. Not only is it quite capable from a technical perspective, its design is aesthetically appealing as well. I was disappointed, however, to learn that because of the way it's designed, some of these systems have an unusual flaw. I noticed not long after purchasing the system that the lower right hand quadrant of the display was fogging up. It was like I was looking through a dirty window at the images behind it. This area of condensation would come and go at seemingly random times. After doing a bit of research, I discovered that the iMac's display features a piece of glass that is mounted (by magnets) over the LCD display. This is not an airtight seal, either. As a result, if the humidity and/or temperature in the location of the iMac changes (and, mark you, these need not be dramatic changes), some systems will develop condensation on the interior of the glass LCD cover. I'm one of the lucky guys who owns such a system. I found some recommendations on-line on how to resolve this issue. I was reluctant to try these on a brand-spakin' new system at first, but now that the honeymoon is over, I went ahead and tried it today. The glass pane that covers the LCD is actually quite easy to remove and the only tool you need is a piece of packing tape (the clear cellophane style). I took a 5" length of tape and placed it along the left-bottom edge of the display running vertically. You basically leave about 1/2 an inch of the tape hanging over the left side of the iMac taking care not to tape the overhang to the aluminum frame of the system. With a little careful pulling on the top and bottom portions of the tape, the glass panel's magnet fastening system will release and you can run a finger behind the resulting crack along the bottom of the glass and the whole thing just pops off. Once removed, I cleaned the section of glass prone to fogging up with a lens cloth saturated with 50% alcohol and 50% water. Reinstalling the glass is simply a matter of lining up the pegs on the frame of the glass with the holes in the iMac chassy. The magnets literally pull the glass back into the proper position. Since cleaning the spot, the glass has yet to fog back up. I suspect I may need to repeat this operation every now and then, but it beats taking it back to the Apple store for repair or replacement.

Though the solution is pretty simple, it does involve some risk to the user. If you break the glass cover, I suspect you're SOL as far as Apple is concerned. I also was unable to find any official Apple response to the NUMEROUS accounts of this problem I found on the internet, even on their own support site and forums. That's a bit disconcerting to me. When I bought this system, I did so on blind faith that Apple always turned out quality products that did not suffer from such obvious design errors. I'll do a little more homework before buying another Apple product.