Heat, Whine, and Now Yellow MacBooks

unPlugged-2.0 writes "It appears that Apple's woes with the new MacBook line continue as there have been reports on the forum that the finish on the new MacBook is flaking off or turning yellow. An article on Daily Tech summarizes this report saying: 'Some users have reported the palm rest area, touchpad and mousepad of their new white MacBooks has begun to discolor.' It goes on to say that 'some users on the Apple support forums are reporting moderate to severe discoloration near the palm rest and other locations of their new white MacBooks. At least one user has posted images of the problem to Flickr.' Is this a case of just dirty hands or could it be another problem in Apple's new Intel saga?"

Comments

One question...

[iteachgeeks]

do these people smoke? Nicotine will stain white appliances.

Re:As long as it works

[BigNumber]

Everytime someone says 'who cares what it looks like' Steve Jobs dies a little bit.

Seriously, though, this is a company that has made it's living on how things look. When they tried to put out standard PC-looking beige boxes, their sales went into the toilet. If it isn't pretty, it can't be an Apple product.

What does this have to do with intel?

[gboss]

From the summary: "Is this a case of just dirty hands or could it be another problem in Apple's new Intel saga?" Other than the computers in question having "Intel Inside," how does this relate to Intel? Then again, aren't Intel processors known for causing case discoloration? Apple should've known and used AMD instead. . .

Re:What?

[be-fan]

The thing is, the Macbook *was* designed with longevity as a prerequisite. The polycarbonate exterior is there because its durable, doesn't dent under normal use, and hides scratches better than aluminum. The case entirely lacks all the moving parts, flaps, nubbins, etc that inevitibly get lost or break off on many portable devices. The hinge for the LCD is very thick and securely attached. The new keyboard is designed to make it easy to clean out the crap that gets between keyboard keys. The keyboard surface and palm rests are free of grooves and are rubberized, to make it easy to clean just by wiping it off.

If the keyboard discoloration is a real issue, as opposed to a localized problem (mine doesn't show any signs, though I've only had it for a little while), then its an oversight in the design, not a sign that it was designed without regards to durability.