Do the Letters Wear off of G4 ibook keys?

[rosalindavenue]

Bruce Sterling's Wired Blog entry for today (http://wiredblogs.tripod.com/sterling/index.blog?entry_id=329478) has a picture of his G4 ibook-- the letters are wearing off from use. Has anyone else observed this?

[applemacdude]

Hmm, isnt that considered a defect...maybe he can return it...

[mymemory]

Well, in no time he is going to have a yet more minimalistic computer. :rolleyes:

What I do really hate is the dust that my wireless keyboard gets every day. The texture of the plastic catch too much dust and I have to clean it twice a day.

[Finiksa]

Yeah, I've read a couple of reports recently of those exact same keys wearing off the iBook G4 keyboard. Sounds like a batch of poorly printed keycaps made it through the system. Sadly Apple usually call this kind of thing acceptable wear and tear so don't cover it under warranty.

[virividox]

first i heard of that problem. but keyboards for the ibook at cheap and easy to replace.
but its a shame apple doesnt replace it themselves build good pr with customers

[LaMerVipere]

I can't say that the letters have faded on my iBook G4, but the keys which are hit most often, as well as the area on the trackpad that is most often used have been worn down to a visible "shine" from use, as opposed to their usual flat white appearance. That happened almost right away.

[slipper]

yes they do wear off, and it seems quite easily. my letter a looks like a sidewards T now and annoys me big time.

[Macmaniac]

They can wear off, especially in schools where they are used a lot the letters can disappear. If you have a local Apple shop in your area have them pop off the defective key and have them put in a new one. My shop keeps a couple old broken KBs so we can replace keys.

[Elbeano]

I'm actually a little jealous. I've looked long and hard for a slick looking keyboard that doesn't have letters on it, and that I woudln't have to rub them off my self somehow. I like how it keeps people from using my computer that don't know how to type correctly. When I was in college I switched the m and the n on my keyboard. You'd be amazed how much that messed with my friends that couldn't type without looking.

[wide]

I'm actually a little jealous. I've looked long and hard for a slick looking keyboard that doesn't have letters on it, and that I woudln't have to rub them off my self somehow. I like how it keeps people from using my computer that don't know how to type correctly. When I was in college I switched the m and the n on my keyboard. You'd be amazed how much that messed with my friends that couldn't type without looking.

LOL :D That's a good prank.

Whenever I want a new keyboard for my Dell laptop, I can break off one of the keys so that it cannot be replaced and call Dell. They send a technician to my house, and they replace my keyboard. No questions asked :). I guess there's no "wear and tear" for Dells.

[blue&whiteman]

I still use the keyboard that came new with my b&w. almost 5 years old now and gets used every day. not even slight wear.

I know the ibook is a good machine but if apple can't make it a quality system all round then why bother.. it would be better if they used higher quality parts and charged 100 or 200 more.

[michaelrjohnson]

no, they dont.

well, not on mine. I have absolutely no wear and tear on my keyboard after 2 months of HEAVY usage. apparently, it was just a bad batch... or perhaps he should be washing his hands more often...

[slipper]

ACK! my B is starting to go also!

[Powerbook G5]

I didn't think the keys could wear out. My old Lombard series G3 is still in perfect condition even after 5 years of heavy use and my G4 is perfect also.

[saabmp3]

If you don't maticiously wash your hands as your type the letters start to wear off and develope a shine to them. It happens to all keyboards. Move on, nothing to see here.

BEN

[Alienrat]

If you don't maticiously wash your hands as your type the letters start to wear off and develope a shine to them. It happens to all keyboards. Move on, nothing to see here.

BEN

It doesn't happen to all keyboards. in this picture (http://www.alienrat.com/images/pbibkey.jpg) , the iBook on the left is 4 months old, the powerbook is over a year old. they get the same amount of use.

The iBook keyboard (http://www.alienrat.com/images/ibkey.jpg) is much worse than any keyboard I have ever had and used for less than 5 years.

[osprey76]

It doesn't happen to all keyboards. in this picture (http://www.alienrat.com/images/pbibkey.jpg) , the iBook on the left is 4 months old, the powerbook is over a year old. they get the same amount of use.

Holy cow. That doesn't seem right to me. I've never had keys worn off of a keyboard, especially like that. (I've never owned a laptop, though. Just speaking from desktop experience.)

[griz]

Yes, they do!! My "A" key is nearly gone and my S is looking a bit wavy.
I can see obvious fading on the keys that are use most often.
I do play a bit of HALO and my a key gets used, but I also notice that my finger tip hits the A key with my fingernail and likely causes more wear, but this should not be happening. These keys should last much longer. My iBook is 6 months old. I. I went through 2 defective keyboards when I first got it because of sticking keys and now this? Hey APPLE Get your quality control ***** together!!!!

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

On my iBook G4 800 the symbol on the left cmd-key is beginning to fade away after heavy use since November... doesn't really matter, though I think I would have some trouble if all the keys were blank... ;)

[dongmin]

I owned the first-generation dual-USB G3 iBook (500 mhz) and now a 800-ghz G4 iBook. I have to say that the build quality is MUCH WORSE in the current models. My complaints:

- the white plastic of the palm rest gets dirty much easily than the old alumnum
-three of my keys have/are fading, after only 6 months of use; i've owned 5-6 Macs before and it has NEVER happened
-there are slight gaps around the keyboard, i.e. things don't line up perfectly
-the left side where the hard drive noise makes a crunching noise when i apply some pressure
-the trackpad button doesn't sit evenly

Other that those, I'm happy as a pig in a blanket with the G4 iBook. I'm sure Apple's been looking for ways to cut price and bring the price down, but they should really pay more attention to the build quality next time.

[slipper]

just came from the apple store. go ahead and ask the guy at the genius bar if they got any left over keys, tech guys should have some since they usually pop them off when they replace defective keyboards. i got a new "a" and "b", yippie!

[Mord]

my A looks like a triangle and my E looks like an F and my apple key no longer has an apple on it

ibook g3