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poiihy

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 22, 2014
2,301
62
The problem with the iMac is that all of the electronics are right in your face. The worst part is the power adapter which would emit a lot of EMF radiation. This is especially bad for near-sighted people who have to shove their faces into the screen (just joking; not that close). I have an early 2009 iMac and I never was able to use it comfortably; I always seemed to get a headache/eyeache when using it. The CCFL could also cause problems.
A Mac mini is better because most of the electronics, especially the power adapter, is away from you, and only the screen is close to you. What do you think?
 
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WilliamG

macrumors G3
Mar 29, 2008
9,926
3,802
Seattle
The problem with the iMac is that all of the electronics are right in your face. The worst part is the power adapter which would emit a lot of EMF radiation. This is especially bad for near-sighted people who have to shove their faces into the screen (just joking; not that close). I have an early 2009 iMac and I never was able to use it comfortably; I always seemed to get a headache when using it. A Mac mini is better because most of the electronics, especially the power adapter, is away from you, and only the screen is close to you. What do you think?

I suspect it's the screen technology (LED, hard whites etc) over any EMF radiation. There's basically no chance of you detecting that and it giving you a headache. You're certainly not the first person to get headaches using an iMac, and it's not radiation. :)
 

redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,419
8,841
Colorado, USA
The problem with the iMac is that all of the electronics are right in your face. The worst part is the power adapter which would emit a lot of EMF radiation. This is especially bad for near-sighted people who have to shove their faces into the screen (just joking; not that close). I have an early 2009 iMac and I never was able to use it comfortably; I always seemed to get a headache when using it. A Mac mini is better because most of the electronics, especially the power adapter, is away from you, and only the screen is close to you. What do you think?

Something that can be fixed simply by sitting farther away from it.

The new ones are better than the older ones. I hated my 2010 for similar reasons (blamed it for radiating heat onto my face) but my current Retina iMac isn't nearly as bad.
 

poiihy

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 22, 2014
2,301
62
I suspect it's the screen technology (LED, hard whites etc) over any EMF radiation. There's basically no chance of you detecting that and it giving you a headache. You're certainly not the first person to get headaches using an iMac, and it's not radiation. :)

The iMac i have uses Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps. I've used a CCFL monitor before with no problems.
 

redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,419
8,841
Colorado, USA
The iMac i have uses Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps. I've used a CCFL monitor before with no problems.

CFL actually emits more radiation/UV light and gets hotter than LED. It also has a shorter life span. I'm pretty sure all late 2009 and later iMacs are LED backlit.
 

Chippy99

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2012
989
35
The problem with the iMac is that all of the electronics are right in your face. The worst part is the power adapter which would emit a lot of EMF radiation. This is especially bad for near-sighted people who have to shove their faces into the screen (just joking; not that close). I have an early 2009 iMac and I never was able to use it comfortably; I always seemed to get a headache when using it. A Mac mini is better because most of the electronics, especially the power adapter, is away from you, and only the screen is close to you. What do you think?

I think you're a druid ;-)

Seriously, the amount of energy being radiated is so pitifully small as to be utterly irrelevant as far as any human interaction is concerned.

There's far worse problems in the world to be worrying about. If you were getting a headache, it was probably eyestrain or neck ache.
 

tatty27

macrumors 6502
Nov 5, 2014
278
28
Staffs UK
I all honesty the innards of my imac are no closer or further away from me than my pc was. It's just in front of me rather than to the side. What I do know if that my pc had a 1200w power supply in comparison to the 220w(ish ?) power supply siting in front of me now so that must be better somehow.

If you're that worried wrap some tin foil around your head to deflect the rays :p
 

poiihy

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 22, 2014
2,301
62
CFL actually emits more radiation/UV light and gets hotter than LED. It also has a shorter life span. I'm pretty sure all late 2009 and later iMacs are LED backlit.

Mine is an Early 2009.
 

Steveatesh

macrumors regular
Oct 29, 2014
147
31
North east England
Jeez something else to worry about. Not only will my RiMac simply not cope with graphics software through stuttering and jerkiness, over heat inside, the fusion drive will break, have lots of edge light bleed, and that I'm basically a beta tester for Apple, but now I'm going to start glowing from the screen radiation and wiring as well as go blind.

I never knew moving to Mac from PC would be so stressful or dangerous! :)

Mind, none of this has happened yet but no doubt it will tomorrow!

It's a real interesting forum this, I love it!
 

Thrifty1

macrumors regular
Nov 21, 2009
215
27
I've never had a problem and I've been using Macs since the first 128K Mac backing the 1980's.

Now, I do have a 3rd eye growing out of my forehead but I'm sure it is not related to the EMF's from my Macs. :cool:
 

magicMac

macrumors 6502a
Apr 13, 2010
986
415
UK
The radiation from the wifi antenna is going to be much higher than any EMF radiation from power supplies and other noisy components. But this type of radiation is non-ionising and studies have only ever found it to cause a minor heating effect on fully developed skin tissue (could cause problems in the eyes however due to the lack of blood vessels). Think of electromagnetic radiation as a powerful light bulb that you can't see. Don't confuse this radiation with radioactivity (like from unstable atoms) otherwise you will become ill from worrying about about your perfectly safe wifi network and power supplies. Radioactivity is on the other hand dangerous.
 

Chippy99

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2012
989
35
The radiation from the wifi antenna is going to be much higher than any EMF radiation from power supplies and other noisy components. But this type of radiation is non-ionising and studies have only ever found it to cause a minor heating effect on fully developed skin tissue (could cause problems in the eyes however due to the lack of blood vessels). Think of electromagnetic radiation as a powerful light bulb that you can't see. Don't confuse this radiation with radioactivity (like from unstable atoms) otherwise you will become ill from worrying about about your perfectly safe wifi network and power supplies. Radioactivity is on the other hand dangerous.

Better, think of electromagnetic radiation as a very very very weak lightbulb that you can't see.

If you think that your average wifi antenna might be putting out a handful of milliwatts, compared to perhaps 60w from a lightbulb. It's literally 1000x less powerful.

By the way, your throw-away line about radioactivity being dangerous: By far the most dangerous type is gamma radiation, which is of course simply a type of electromagnetic radiation. So to say that electromagnetic radiation is safe and radioactivity is not, is really a bit of a contradiction.
 

magicMac

macrumors 6502a
Apr 13, 2010
986
415
UK
Better, think of electromagnetic radiation as a very very very weak lightbulb that you can't see.

If you think that your average wifi antenna might be putting out a handful of milliwatts, compared to perhaps 60w from a lightbulb. It's literally 1000x less powerful.

By the way, your throw-away line about radioactivity being dangerous: By far the most dangerous type is gamma radiation, which is of course simply a type of electromagnetic radiation. So to say that electromagnetic radiation is safe and radioactivity is not, is really a bit of a contradiction.

The amount of watts required by wifi is much lower than visible light for the same amount propagation due to the frequency being much lower than visible light. But I was relating power with brightness in my head as I typed that. I said its a more powerful in comparison to visible light because wifi typically propagates further with an omnidirectional antenna than a typical household light bulb - hence it's able to resonate against walls and continue propagating with some attenuation.

Regarding radioactivity, I was using this interchangeably with "ionising radiation" and comparing it against "non ionising radiation" and I thought that was clear. I think you're nit picking ;)

Point is the OP should probably be more concerned about the radioactivity from a marble kitchen surface than EMF from a power supply! :)
 
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Chippy99

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2012
989
35
The amount of watts required by wifi is much lower than visible light for the same amount propagation due to the frequency being much lower than visible light. But I was relating power with brightness in my head as I typed that. I said its a more powerful in comparison to visible light because wifi typically propagates further with an omnidirectional antenna than a typical household light bulb - hence it's able to resonate against walls and continue propagating with some attenuation.

Regarding radioactivity, I was using this interchangeably with "ionising radiation" and comparing it against "non ionising radiation" and I thought that was clear. I think you're nit picking ;)

Point is the OP should probably be more concerned about the radioactivity from a marble kitchen surface than EMF from a power supply! :)

I wasn't being nit-picking at all - there were loads of errors in your post about which I said nothing. Plenty of mistakes in your reply too, again about which I will say nothing.
 

PaulVirdee

macrumors newbie
Apr 5, 2024
1
0
Click the displays option is System Preferences, Click colour, Change the colour from Generic RGB Profile to sRGB IEC61966-2.1 and that should fix the radiation issue which is caused by a Auto-Contrast issue!
 
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