A Little Tip For New PowerBook Owners...

[tjwett]

Many people who have had their aluminum PowerBooks for any decent period of time have complained of corrosion on the palm rest areas caused by sweat and the like breaking down or oxidizing the aluminum finish, myself included. Getting fed up with watching the condition worsen I decided that what I needed to do was simply somehow protect the area from my poison, sweaty hands. But how? Not in the mood for spending any money on some third-party felt or leather solution. I don't type well with boxing gloves on. Don't want to start applying paint to the machine. Hmm...what to do? Then it hit me, my Apple stickers! As we all know, every new Mac comes with two Apple logo decals in the box. Slap one on the left, one on the right. Good to go. Maybe obvious and not the most elegant, but it's cheap and it works. And it does look better than the "My Other Computer Is a Dual G5" bumper sticker plastered across the top of your book.

 

[jasylonian]

or you could always wash your hands with soap every 30 minutes or so (and dry them well)... of course this doesn't help if your palm rest gets really hot and makes your hands really sweaty, or if you're sitting next to a really swell person...

 

[Spizzo]

Or just buy a new powerbook every six or so months.

 

[cb911]

nice idea.... but wouldn't the heat from your hands/palms do some funky stuff to the adhesive used on the stickers? i can just imagine the sticker slipping off leaving a sticky goo on the palm rest area...

luckily i've never had that problem. my palms don't even touch the proper 'palm rest' area... my hands just always seem to float as i type...

 

[virividox]

when im working long periods of time i put a eye glass cloth on it, but in lectures whic are only 1 hour long i dont. it works for me

 

[johnnyjibbs]

No problems here either, my hands also tend to 'float' more often than not when typing.

Regarding lectures - Britain is so behind the times! People would think I'm mad if I took my PowerBook to lectures to take notes on!

 

[tjwett]

Originally posted by johnnyjibbs
No problems here either, my hands also tend to 'float' more often than not when typing.

Regarding lectures - Britain is so behind the times! People would think I'm mad if I took my PowerBook to lectures to take notes on!

i don't think it's the typing so much as the mousing that killed my machine since it's more concentrated on that one side. anyway, regarding Britain; i've always been under the impression that you guys were sort of living the Jetsons life over there. anytime i see some cool new technology being displayed or some weird futuristic bubble car it always seems to be in Britain.

 

[James_C]

Has anyone else seen this problem? I did't know it was a potential issue.

 

[johnnyjibbs]

Originally posted by tjwett
anyway, regarding Britain; i've always been under the impression that you guys were sort of living the Jetsons life over there. anytime i see some cool new technology being displayed or some weird futuristic bubble car it always seems to be in Britain.

I think you're confusing us with the Flintstones

 

[tjwett]

Originally posted by James Craner
Has anyone else seen this problem? I did't know it was a potential issue.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@163.3ryLaxsWej4.2@.599899be


http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?50@163.3ryLaxsWej4.118740@.688cf75a/0


http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@163.3ryLaxsWej4.118841@.59973ae1

 

[rueyeet]

Would this be a bad time to comment on computer use and sweaty hands?

Probably.

 

[virividox]

i just wipe down my pb every so often.

 

[James_C]

Thanks tjwett, looks like we need to keep the palm rest area clean then.

 

[Spock]

Originally posted by Spizzo
Or just buy a new powerbook every six or so months.

And give Spock Your old one.

 

[Bilba]

I really dont like the sound of it. I went to the forum at Apple.com, only to find out that MANY are suffering from this issue.
I am begining to regret selling my old and trustful tibook 500....
First it was the white spots issue, then its been the latch that dosent work weel, and now this..

While the color chiped from few places (esp. due to my watch band) , it still looked rather great after 2.5 years. People here are complaining about holes!!! after 5-8 months of usage. What I don't get is why Apple dosent acknowladge the problem and come up with some sort of a solution. People who paid $$$$$ for thier computer, and suffer from this issue, seem to take it rather lightly.

 

[KC9AIC]

The old lombards are great! the svelte black plastic doesn't show a thing. I wish that the PowerBook G5 would be a metallic black plastic beauty.

 

[wPod]

easy solution. . . get an external keyboard/ mouse when you know youre going to be typing for prolonged times. i keep mine almost 'docked' at home with external keyboard, mouse, and monitor, then i take my lap top to class for notes or to work on group projects. I have also found that a damp paper towel cleans off the keys and hand rest really well after the nice cheetos snack during a group project.

 

[Bilba]

Listen to yourself!! this is why we bought a "top-of-the-line" portable machine for 3000$ so that we will be forced to use an external keyboard? Its one thing when you use external keyboard out of comfort, it is totally different when you are forced to use one in order to avoid holes in the case.

The last thing I need to hear about is putting some plastic tape or leather crap in order to protect my laptop from, and I repeat, sweat!

Give me a break. If the thing is truly common as it seems right now, Apple needs to straight their act, and find a way to solve it.

 

[7on]

hmmm, or you can learn to 'float' your hands

 

[Diatribe]

No seriously, I don't think of this being particularly funny.
I was thinking of giving my iBook to my Mum and getting me a 12" PB, but if the freaking palmrests corrode on a $ 2000 product, it would freak me out. And I don't feel like sending it in every 5 months or so.
I love Apple, but I HATE them for not acknowledging quality issues. Damn you Apple for that.

 

[tjwett]

Yeah, I'm considering selling mine before it gets too bad and buying myself a G4 iBook. I can deal with 67 mhz less of power.

 

[Diatribe]

Does anyone know whether this happens only to rev As or to the rev Bs too? If they cannot cope with this problem we might yet see another material being used for the pb. Though this would be kinda funny going through a new material every time, it is pretty sad, you would think they'd be able to figure such stuff out beforehand

 

[Bilba]

While not reducing the problem, I would also like to know if rev B (the AIbook without the white spot problems) are free from this issue. This will mean that Apple realized the problem with the previous line, and did something to fix it.

If this is true, it makes sense that they will be able to fix those with Rev A that still suffer from it. If this is not the case, Apple should receive a spam for ignoring this absord problem. People also did not mention the health issue at hand. The chemical reaction that affects the pbook case, might also affect your skin.

I don't find this issue funney at all. It is not less concerning than the white spot issue.

 

[pudrik]

Don't think this is a quality issue

I think this is just one of those "lessons learned." I don't expect the design guys were aware how easily aluminum can corrode. I don't hold it against them too much, since this is the first time, as far as I know, that aluminum has been used as a laptop case material.

In the rest of the world, you protect aluminum from corrosion by painting it, coating it, or using a corrosion inhibitor of some kind (like WD-40). Unless you are willing to take these steps, or use another material between your palms and the laptop, you're SOL.

Hopefully, Apple has recognized the problem, and will incorporate palms rests made of some kind of plastic (like the iBook). Maybe the G5 Powerbook will be made of stainless steel?

Personally, although it doesn't look as sharp, I prefer the polycarbonate plastic of the iBooks... it's light-weight, durable, and conceals scratches better.

 

[Spock]

Originally posted by tjwett
Yeah, I'm considering selling mine before it gets too bad and buying myself a G4 iBook. I can deal with 67 mhz less of power.

You should not sell Your Powerbook, just give it to Spock.