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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?"
who cares what it looks like?
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
we now return your to your regularly scheduled discussion
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
It was always going to happen.
do these people smoke? Nicotine will stain white appliances.
An Apple product whose novel, groovy and stylish exterior wasn't designed with longevity as a prerequisite?
I'm shocked, shocked.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Just wash your freakin hands, people!
?SYNTAX ERROR IN LINE 42
Three computer users, one Windows, one Apple, one Linux go to the restroom. After being done, the Apple user washes his hands and uses a lot of paper towels to dry them. He says: "Apple users are very thorough."
The Windows user washes his hands, takes only one paper towel and uses even the last little bit. He says: "Windows users are not only thorough, but very economical."
Then they look at the Linux user who just walks out of the door, looks back and says: "Linux users don't piss on our hands."
#!/
Are they sure it is isn't the coating from cheddar cheese snacks that they've been munching on?
If there's a bit of orange then it's probably just the Cheetos.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I have an iBook G4 - within 2 weeks, the palm rests were discolored. The oils in the hands - dirty or clean - will rub into any white surface and discolor it. A chemist friend of mine tells me that the same will happen with a sheet of typing paper, given several hours a day in contact with human skin. It's the reason that white shirts turn yellowish as well - until bleached (but don't try to bleach your computer). The oil from human hands is corrosive as hell - if you visit a national park with caverns, they inform you that touching the formations with your hand will STOP growth for something like six thousand years. My advice? Deal with it - I stopped caring about the marks when I realized that I still had a damn good machine.
"Tu fui, ego eris" - Virgil
So, I guess that extra $150 for the black version seems like a good deal now.
Vincent J. Murphy
Spandex Justice
I bought one of the first gen 15.4 Macbook Pros and I have the damn whining noise (no it's not Jobs, myself or anyone else in the room... I've checked). Apple needs to do better testing with these machines before shipping. The problem is that they are to secretive about their designs and won't allow intensive testing. Good luck to those affected and getting Apple to admit they fucked up. They sure won't do it for me. My suggestion is to avoid the so called 'genius bar' at their retail stores. Some of them can be nice and helpful as well as knowledgable but others are just asshats who have no business working tech support, IMHO.
For the iPod carrying running persons there's the fresh white MacBook.
:)
For the cool designers there's the black MacBook.
For the party-party people there's now the new Nicotine-yellow colored MacBook.
I've had these problems for years on my PC. Sticky keyboards, strange streaks across the monitor, bad odours eminating from my dvd drive...
I just put it down to loneliness...
This new development means that, finally, it's possible to run Mac OS X legally on a Beige-box PC.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Come on, we all know that would never work.
Join Tor today!
I guess these Apple users REALLY love their new machines, they should probably wipe them off afterwards if they want to avoid any unsightly embarassing stains, that or use a tissue in the first place.
To err is human. To forgive is not company policy.
I have a Dell laptop that I have owned now for about 18 months. The grey finish has been darker where it was worn away leaving a dark grey appearance. The problem also has translated to some of my keys, though I have not begun to lose letters off the keyboard as I have some desktop keyboards in the past. You can see this very clearly on my spacebar since i tend to rest my left thumb on the button at all times. This leads to a space about 1" or so wide that looks shiny/unfinished compared to the rest of the spacebar.
I know the reason for my having this problem is somewhat related to genetics and possibly diet. My family (on my dad's side) has a history of what I can only term high sebum production. These oils (possibly combined with sweat) make for a fairly damaging mix on devices, especially plastics which just seem to absorb them. It is a problem I have experienced with many devices, including a desktop keyboard that began to lose the letters from constant use and an old Intellimouse explorer that is much darker near the area where my palm rests.
This could be the problem in this case, since Sebum tends to be yellow-to-orange in color, it does make up part of ear wax to give you an idea. Of course, the easy way to test if this truly is a problem with the design or simply the ill effects of the human bodies natural excretions would be to use the MacBook with external keyboards and mice only and see if one discolors anyway. I really think you are going to have a hard time convincing anyone, especially if you decide to attempt a suit (which always seems like a common threat).
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
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. . .
I just got one of these, so did my fiance. Mine has yellow stains around the mouse area, hers still looks brand new. Did I get a defective unit? I don't think so.
I use my laptop 18 hours a day, and smoke more often than I should (nicotine rules/sucks). She washes her hands every 15 minutes and uses her laptop about an hour a day. I am no detective, but I'm pretty sure you don't have to be to figure out what's going on here.
The whine? Over heating? Not enough RAM? check check and check. Turning yellow? WASH YOUR HANDS, then complain. Stop being distracting- Apple has *real* issues to fix.
barack to the future?
I'm surprised that no-one's suggested the most obvious solution - clear film.
Just buy some Contact or some other sort of plastic clear film, cut it to shape - wrist area, trackpad, trackpad button, maybe even the keys too if you like - and thoroughly clean the surface where you're going to apply it, then stick the clear film there.
What's Contact cost these days? $2 a roll?
That should stop the oil and sweat screwing with the finish, and if you apply it to the keys too, it'll stop that fading that may happen to the letters as well - like my keyboard at the moment with missing A, S, D, E, and other letters faded visibly.
Te Quiero, Puta!
white discoloring to yellow ?!? Shouldn't it be coloring ?
Non-Linux Penguins ?
In lifehacjker.com you can find a cleaning solution that works: Non-acetone nail polish remover. Also, someone mentions that Mr Clean Magic Eraser also works.
Seriously, maybe white wasn't the best choice of colors? I guess it's better than the translucent "Look at all the dust I keep in there!" cases from the first generation iMac era, but Apple really ought to consider going back to the drawing board. Maybe some fashion-conscious people would scoff at the idea of a shit-brown MacBook, but you wouldn't have this problem any longer.
"Hey, Johnson, it looks like someone smeared poo all over your laptop."
"It's not a laptop, it's a MacBook. It's supposed to be brown."
"Ooooh, nice then. Keep up the great work!"
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
One of the best cleaning products I've found for removing hand oils (and other gunk) from electronics parts is plain old Simple Green. Just mix one part Simple Green to two parts hot water, dip a cloth in (terry cloth works great), and have a go. This works great for keyboards, mice, wrist wrests, desk edges, etc.
Sometimes for a bit more built up areas (around the edges of large keys and such) it helps to dab the icky spot to dampenen it, then rub back over it a few minutes later.
Just be sure not to get any drops down in between the keys... That has the potential for badness.
...all that meth and your sweat won't be full of corrosive chemicals.
I repair macs where I work. I see on average 5 ibooks per week, and just as many powerbooks. I have yet to see one of the macbooks in for service. (though I have fixed a couple pros) It's not uncommon to find an ibook with discoloration below the two palms, I see it on probably 1 in 15 ibooks. This number may be low because people clean up their computer before bringing it in.
The previous case top of the ibook was a fairly (but not completely) smooth surface and was a slightly off shade of white. It was also a very hard plastic and I suspect very chemically inert. When I do have to clean them, they are not terribly difficult to get the grime off from, though it does require some force and use of alcohol. On the ibooks its also somewhat common to see a circular area in the central region of the trackpad, colored slightly lighter than the surrounding area of the trackpad. That's caused by the less used area of the trackpad getting more grimey. Those can be a little more difficult to clean due to the texture of the trackpad. It's also possible to chip the trackpad's sensor surface if you are rough with it.
I also find that I have to clean the palm areas of my powerbook from time to time, usually about once a month as grime starts to build up under my palms and around the trackpad.
These stories about yellowing of the macbooks is somewhat of a surprise, but not really. This is not caused by heat. It's a combination of grime from the user's hands, possibly combined with a chemestry problem between the user's body oils and the plastic of the top case.
I would personally consider this a defect, since it's fairly clear that inadequate research was done by Apple to determine if there was going to be such an issue with their new case design. Also as others have pointed out, Apple makes quite a name for itself as a good looking computer, and issues like this do a lot more harm to the Apple brand than they would to say, Dell. The Apple users tend to be more demanding as to the cosmetic appearance of their computer, and react much more strongly when an issue develops.
This is not the first time a case design has been a problem. Owners of "titanium" powerbook G4s will remember the "tibook paint" issue, where the outer border of the case, a carbon fiber, had problems with the paint easily chipping off and sometimes cracking and flaking off under the user's wrists. There were also issues with watches worn on the wrist causing almost immediate removal of the paint from the CF border. To my knowledge Apple fixed their manufacturing process (new paint or primer?) but did not recall those units despite a lot of upset owners' complaints. With the tibook, the top case was the frame of the computer, onto which everything was assembled. To replace the top case of the tibook was extremely labor intensive. With the ibook, the top case is somewhat easier to replace. Not sure on the macbook. This will factor into Apple's willingness to issue a recall.
I am a former owner of such a tibook, but for me I care much less about appearance and more about performance, so it didn't bother me that much. I took a hard plastic blade and finished the job so the computer at least looked more balanced rather than have two isolated wear spots. My current computer, an "aluminum" powerbook, has to be cleaned periodically to keep the grime off the palmrests.
If the discoloration can be cleaned off with alcohol, it's probably just a grime issue. That discoloration is not the color I am used to seeing though - usually grime is very dark in color, but this appears to be a cream or light yellow. I would tend to suspect a chemical change is occurring in the plastic based on a combination of oils from the user's hands, accellerated by the heat produced by the computer. (this could not be removed with alcohol) Apple may have to change the composition of the plastic of the case, or coat the top deck somehow, to reduce or prevent this problem.
I believe the design of the new macbooks should b
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
You can really see it behind your ears if you're a pack+ a day smoker who's without and sweating. The paper towel will be yellowish.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
Hmmmmm... I have the urge to start a new company selling latex gloves with the apple logo printed on them. "iGloves"
I have had my Macbook Pro for several months as have some of my coworkers. The one thing we all agree we love about our notebooks is the lack of problems. I've been using computers since 81, Dos/Windows PC's since 86 and coding for Linux since 94. I didn't really want a Mac, but I had to support Windows, Linux and Mac while constantly traveling. The Macbook was the best solution. I'm running XP and Linux virtually with Parallels and both work great for system adminstration and testing code.
What amazes me is how much attention from the media and computer people these "problems" get. My Macbook did run slightly warm until the SMC update which fixed that. The whine people talk about isn't noticable if I set the notebook next to any desktop or old PC laptop I have. Also the whine typically last for 5 minutes in the morning when I boot. I use the notbook so much now that I put it to sleep and don't shutdown which means no whine. As for discoloration I've used mine everyday for two months and it looks brand new. Searching the net I've only found two cases so far of this.
When using Windows your entire OS seems to slow down. You have a constant barrage of spyware and crap attempting to install. When you uninstall a program you wonder how many pieces are left over and what the effects will be. I mean with Windows I just came to expect problems ever since I started using version 3.0. I'd say that I have had way less problems with the Macbook than any other laptop I've ever owned (at least 10 Inspirons and Vaios). After fixing heavy Dell laptops for clients I've come to hate them and their tech support and yet they are still one of the best PC hardware companies out there. I've had even worse times dealing with Toshiba and Sony.
People just expect everything to be perfect on Mac and any conceivable problem is major news in the industry. To me that says so much about how good the product really is. I always made fun of Mac in the past because before OSX and Intel they had huge roadblocks that kept me from using them. Even though I didn't really want to use one or support it now I don't think I can go back to using Windows or Linux for my client desktop. I will say for servers though Unix is still the only option for me. I believe in the right tool for the job. At this point Windows only use is for my clients who don't think they can live without it yet constantly cry for help. My Mac and Linux users very rarely ask for any help only the Linux guys are all developers.
Way for you and your moderators to not read the article or the link to the flikr images. Quote:
The spots don't wash off, I've only had the MacBook for two weeks. Genius at Apple Store told me to call Apple about it, as he's never seen anything like it. My iBook didn't discolor in the 3 years I had it -- can't be my hands. I don't smoke, don't use latex, etc. And for those who worry about my hygiene habits, thanks. I wash my hands.
What's amazing is that you have about 10 responses jumping to the same conclusion. Oh well, I guess that's what we've come to expect on Slashdot.
It works because of irradiation (not the irradiation most slashdotters would think of, but the color theory irradiation). This is the same reason that black is slimming -- it's just an optical illusion that takes advantage of how the human eye perceives color and dark/light contrasts.
This was actually a pretty annoying problem for me when I last painted the interior of my house -- blue painters' tape on the walls made an off-white ceiling paint seem brilliant white when I cut in the edges... when the tape came off, the ceiling seemed very beige, especially for the rooms with yellow-toned walls. I had to repaint the damn ceiling bright white.
Back to the bluing -- grain & feed stores are a good place to find it, it's used to make horses' manes and tails brighter, particularly grey horses. I spent many, many hours growing up rinsing Bluette solution out of horse tails...
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
And I forgot to mention, Bluette is also a big reason why little old ladies often have blue-ish hair -- they use it to make white hair look brighter, even silvery. When they don't rinse it out all the way, it leaves too much blue tint in.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
I'm sitting in front of my white 2004 iBook G4 right now and I just tried your eraser proposal. You're right, the faint dark spots on the palm rests of my machine can indeed be brushed away with a rubber eraser.
But I have another problem: Over the course of the past two years, the keyboard has slowly lost its imprints. First on the "s" (where my ring finger rests during touch-typing), then on the "e", "a" and "c" keys (for the first two, it's probably the frequency with which they're hit, for the "c" it might be because of the angle at which my index finger hits it: with the nail). It doesn't seem to be a common problem, but Apple won't replace the keyboard (despite my AppleCare contract), because it is a standard usage effect, they claim. Granted, I don't need to see the keys during typing, but it sure looks ugly. Let's see how this problem turns out with the new machines.
The paint on the keyboard where my palms rest has all worn off.
Squirrel!
Apple has built a reputation for style, and this is what they get if there's even a little chink in the armor. If they don't want stories like this, they should be more like Dell and have this stuff be so common nobody bothers to write about it.
This is normal, really. You know those toothbrushes with the blue strip, and when it fades you're supposed to replace it? Yeah, it's like that, but when your MacBook turns yellow, you're supposed to buy another.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID =2516244 = 516645&tstart=0
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID
Locked discussions get a terse, "Unless otherwise noted, your Submission should either be a technical support question or a technical support answer." Er...what part of it's turning #@$%^! yellow!!! don't you understand?