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Do you pluck the hair on your Mac regularly?

E

Epsilon88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 26, 2009
327
0
Sorry about the title. :p

Anyway, I recently ordered an iBook G4 12" from eBay. While I was typing, I noticed that the keys weren't pressing properly. Upon inspection, I noticed tons of thick black hair follicles hidden underneath the keys. There were also a lot of food particles and other organic material jammed into the keys. blech

UPDATED: I popped off all the keys, and here's what's underneath. (Pictures added on October 19th).

But that brings into question: do you clean underneath your keys regularly, and how?
 

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I bought an apple bluetooth keyboard on ebay and not only was it dirty the thing was full of hair and crumbs. Took it entirely apart, cleaned each individual piece with isopropyl alcohol and reassembled. Looks pretty nice.
 
Epsilon88 said:
In the bathroom sink... does that mean that the keyboard is washable?
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I must say hair removal part is done in the sink... anyways, moving away from that image; an air blower (canned air) should do away particles and such. Also, a small vacuum always helps. If these fail, then disassemble, clean and reassemble.
 
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That's why I bought a keyboard cover for both my Macs. It works well blocking out hair folicles and crumbs from getting on the keyboard. I still have my spray can of compressed air which I used to clean my old keyboard.
 
Reventon said:
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That's why I bought a keyboard cover for both my Macs. It works well blocking out hair folicles and crumbs from getting on the keyboard. I still have my spray can of compressed air which I used to clean my old keyboard.
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Last time when I was going to buy a keyboard cover, the SA advised me not to go with it, for the cover may prevent the heat output.
 
Epsilon88 said:
Upon inspection, I noticed tons of thick black hair follicles hidden underneath the keys. blech

So I tried to tweeze them out, but no regular tweezer is thin enough to get under there. It took me about an hour, but I got all the hair out...
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The key caps come off very easily on most, if not all Apple keyboards. Check ifixit.com or the interwebs for a guide for your particular keyboard. iBooks and the new chicklet style keyboards can have the caps popped off easily for cleaning. Scary the first time - you think you're going to break your keyboard.

Avoid removing space or the bigger keys if possible - they can be a pain to put back on.
 
Man, I remember removing every key on the older bluetooth keyboards, with the number keypad. I took every key off, and wiped it down with alcohol. I had to put the keys in order on my desk, otherwise I would have forgotten where they went lol. Long process that Im glad I dont have to deal with again.
 
I thought I had gotten a lot of hair out, but I was wrong. As a user suggested, I popped off the keys. Here's what was underneath. Would it be unreasonable to send the seller a frustrated-sounding email about the uncleanliness of the product?
 

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Epsilon88 said:
I thought I had gotten a lot of hair out, but I was wrong. As a user suggested, I popped off the keys. Here's what was underneath. Would it be unreasonable to send the seller a frustrated-sounding email about the uncleanliness of the product?
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What would be the overall point of sending a frustrated sounding e-mail? Frankly, I think you'd be wasting your time and energy.
 
jessica. said:
What would be the overall point of sending a frustrated sounding e-mail? Frankly, I think you'd be wasting your time and energy.
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I guess there would only be a point if he genuinely didn't realize how dirty it was underneath the keys. The iBook's keyboard is such that it actually didn't look bad from the outside. Maybe next time he would clean it before sending?
 
^ Even if he cared, again, I ask why bother? So you make the guy feel like crap? Big whoop. Frankly, I would genuinely care, take note for future cleanings and be on with myself. I would also take pause and wonder why you bothered wasting your time to tell me.

I think you should spend the time cleaning your keyboard. ;)
 
jessica. said:
^ Even if he cared, again, I ask why bother? So you make the guy feel like crap? Big whoop. Frankly, I would genuinely care, take note for future cleanings and be on with myself. I would also take pause and wonder why you bothered wasting your time to tell me.

I think you should spend the time cleaning your keyboard. ;)
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I think you just answered your own question Jessica. You would "genuinely care", but you can only do so if you know that the laptop you sent out was dirty. It saves the next buyer the hassle of cleaning.
 
I think you should see that I also answered your question. ;)

Don't waste your time, use the time to clean that disaster of a keyboard.
 
This guy was obviously a dirty bastard. Dirty bastards don't care by default. It's in the contract.
 
I imagine if you looked inside fifty six-year-old keyboards, forty-nine of them would look just about like that. The other one would belong to the OP, or someone else similarly anal retentive.

Clean it up and move on. No sense bitching to the seller about it.
 
Tomorrow said:
I imagine if you looked inside fifty six-year-old keyboards, forty-nine of them would look just about like that. The other one would belong to the OP, or someone else similarly anal retentive.

Clean it up and move on. No sense bitching to the seller about it.
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^^ yeah, this is definitely the "dirty bastard" that sold me this laptop. :D
 
MultiM said:
Not to defend the "dirty bastard", but I have 3 cats, 2 of which like to lie on my keyboard, especially when I'm using it. I think I need to clean it more often now that I've seen this...
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I don't actually mind the hair actually. It's mostly the food particles/organic material trapped under the keys that's a little offputting.
 
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