A Little Tip For New PowerBook Owners...

[OutThere]

It's the content of the sweat that makes the aluminum corrode, because of this any aluminum powerbook would be affected.

Simply getting in the habit of wiping down the palm rests with a wet cloth every couple days (mind the track pad) should remedy the problem quite painlessly. As more and more sweat builds up on the palm rests it will only corrode faster. Keep it clean, and you won't be let down.

 

[Sun Baked]

There is that clear 3M film they use on automobiles for chip protection, and printed advertisements -- of course the auto grade vinyl products used for lettering and graphis may work.

This would probably work better than stickers, which degrade and leave funky residues.

 

[yamabushi]

I think aluminum is a fine material for laptops apart from the corrosion problem. With clear coat or paint the current Powerbook would be just fine. If anyone plans on coating it themselves be sure to first prep the metal surfaces thoroughly with an alcohol wipe.

 

[Counterfit]

Maybe the G5 Powerbook will be made of stainless steel?

Between that and all the cooling necessary, it'll weigh 10 lbs!

 

[Diatribe]

Me personally, I'd vote for carbon fiber. I think that would be a perfect material. And stylish too.

 

[macboygrey]

...or if you're sitting next to a really swell person...

It is Spring after all...
*hums "Love is in the Air"*

 

[amnesiac1984]

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!

We always have at least two iBooks and a few 12" pbs in use in our lectures and I'm at UWE bristol.

 

[Kwyjibo]

I've got this problem too, and its spreading like acne on a teenager. I'm still having the applecare debate, i think i'll end up buying it soon and then calling them up and getting it fixed when I go home for the summer but that will be real disspointing.

 

[Counterfit]

Me personally, I'd vote for carbon fiber. I think that would be a perfect material. And stylish too.

Maybe if you feel like paying $3000 for a base PB. that stuff isn't cheap!

 

[Sedulous]

Wow, that corrosion is very surprising. A [not so] comforting thought... most commercial jets are made out of the same stuff.

Is it possible this is just dirt getting stuck in the anodized layer? As I understand it, anodization is simply a pitting process that digs small holes in the outer layer of aluminum so it can be coated/painted.

Another possible solution could be to coat certain areas of the powerbook with teflon. Painting, adding "stickers", etc seems bad to me.

 

[Counterfit]

Wow, that corrosion is very surprising. A [not so] comforting thought... most commercial jets are made out of the same stuff.

Jets have components made of many different materials, like titanium (). Also, they don't have as much contact with sweat, and I don't think the external aluminum sheeting is anodized, so they probably wouldn't have this problem. Now at supersonic speeds, metal fatigue comes into play, but that's another thread

Is it possible this is just dirt getting stuck in the anodized layer? As I understand it, anodization is simply a pitting process that digs small holes in the outer layer of aluminum so it can be coated/painted.

I don't think it's the dirt so much as the salt in your sweat that's doing this. From these links, you can see that normal dirt wouldn't be able to fit in the holes, stick to the surface of maybe, but not get inside. Also, anodizing is not pitting, but purposefully oxidizing more than what would naturally occur so that the aluminum part is stronger. (read those links!)

 

[josepho]

We always have at least two iBooks and a few 12" pbs in use in our lectures and I'm at UWE bristol.

I guess it depends what subjects you're doing. I do languages and no-one dreams of using a notebook in class (perhaps partly because all the classes are small). Even last year, when I was in 500+ lectures on politics and business law not more than 1 or 2 people had notebooks out. And they were all IBM Thinkpads, which first year business school students are given (not to keep) - in 2nd year> they have to buy their own...

BTW, I'm at Strathclyde University, Glasgow.

I think if I whipped out an iBook people would just think I was showing off... I mean, I feel like a poser taking out my SonyEricsson P900 or O2 XDA II at uni - amongst all the poor student 3310s... lol

 

[amnesiac1984]

I guess it depends what subjects you're doing. I do languages and no-one dreams of using a notebook in class (perhaps partly because all the classes are small). Even last year, when I was in 500+ lectures on politics and business law not more than 1 or 2 people had notebooks out. And they were all IBM Thinkpads, which first year business school students are given (not to keep) - in 2nd year> they have to buy their own...

BTW, I'm at Strathclyde University, Glasgow.

I think if I whipped out an iBook people would just think I was showing off... I mean, I feel like a poser taking out my SonyEricsson P900 or O2 XDA II at uni - amongst all the poor student 3310s... lol

I know how you feel, I have a p900 too but some people have other nice phones too. My UNI is very wealthy and large with a lot of Nouveau Riche students in their beefed up bling bling Toyota Corollas and Video Cell Phones, My UNI is the second richest in the country too, but we don't even have a sports hall!

 

[smithwatches]

alloy corrosion on Powerbooks

I keep seeing these references to corrosion, and I can not hold back any longer. Please excuse the product plugging, but the following 2 are a cheap investment. The previous response regarding the use of 3M tape was the closest to the obvious solution, and one which I would recommend for the palmrests and top of the machine at least, and that is to order TiArmor products which can be found at vixinc.com. These people were good enough to ship from the US to the UK and saved me the inevitable surface damage that the soft alloy attracts. Even a carelessly dropped usb connector will scar the alloy badly. A Regular wipe down with iklear found at KlearScreen.com as recommended will help as well. I first used these cleaning products as a result of freebies handed out at MacExpo 02 in London. I had a problematic trackpad on my 17" Powerbook and Apple replaced the entire top surface with which this is an integral part with a better constructed one.

 

[josepho]

I know how you feel, I have a p900 too but some people have other nice phones too. My UNI is very wealthy and large with a lot of Nouveau Riche students in their beefed up bling bling Toyota Corollas and Video Cell Phones, My UNI is the second richest in the country too, but we don't even have a sports hall!

Video mobiles from 3? Bling?

As much as these people might like to think they've got some flash phone ("Wow, look I can make a really low bandwidth video call..."), you know that you don't get much more bling-bling than a P900.

However, in my opinion, most P900 users don't have it for bling, rather because it's powerful... very powerful, and because they use it for what it was built. Most people could get by fine on a Nokia 5110 and a disposable camera for special occasions. Few people use their phone for more than basic calling and texting - even WAP is massively underused. Cameras are a novelty, certainly in my experience.

Cheers!

 

[mms]

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

That's getting annoying. First time wasn't as bad, but it's not at all funny, interesting, or beneficial when you repeat this stuff in the thread.

 

[legion]

Me personally, I'd vote for carbon fiber. I think that would be a perfect material. And stylish too.

Maybe if you feel like paying $3000 for a base PB. that stuff isn't cheap!

Welcome to the T and X series Thinkpad from IBM.
(casing made from Ti-CFRP material = Titanium Carbon-Fibre Reinforced Plastic, screen backing and case structural-cage from Magnesium)

 

[dontmatter]

Dang! I sweat on mine all the time! thing runs so hot.

So, then another question-anybody know a good way to clean the keyboard? mine gets dirty and gross from my hands, and it seems like a just slightly damp cloth works, but I'm worried about messing it up by rubbing too hard w/ the keys (not the downward force, but the side to side b/c that's not quite how a keyboard is supposed to be used).

Also, trackpad?

Another item that I would point out needs a bit of fixing is the uber-wide trackpad that matches the uber wide screen-for those of us non floating typists, it can be seriously annoying when your wrists bump the corners of it and suddenly you find you're in another application or just selected 15 lines of text and all that's there now is the letter a.

 

[Souljas]

does the same thing happen to the Ti laptops? ...mmm i was thinking of getting one,,now maybe not

 

[Diatribe]

does the same thing happen to the Ti laptops? ...mmm i was thinking of getting one,,now maybe not

No it does not but TiBooks have other problems like "vanishing" paint.

 

[Versello]

Fortunately for me, God gave me non-sweaty hands

 

[Giaguara]

i have so far had no issues with my hands sweating ... they do sweat when im on the mac too long .. i'm not washing my hands all the time .. and i just after 6 months of use still can't see any signs of use in the aluminium.

maybe my sweat has some kind of chmeically different composition.. ?

 

[Diatribe]

maybe my sweat has some kind of chmeically different composition.. ?

If I recall correctly there are two factors that make aluminum corrode. First it's the salt in the sweat and it's the pH-value that is the other factor. The more the sweat tends to be a base instead of being slightly sour the more and the faster the aluminum corrodes.
If there are any chemists out there that can explain this better I'd be more than happy to learn.

 

[joker2]

sweaty palms...

For some reason, I haven't had that problem yet with my Rev. B 12" powerbook. I use it almost constantly, though I do wipe it down every so often (maybe twice a week) with a slightly damp cloth. I make a point to wipe it off with at least a paper towel if I notice I've been sweating...

I guess I'm wondering: with people spending $1400-3000 on such a machine, why aren't they taking better care of their 'toys' ?

 

[Diatribe]

I guess I'm wondering: with people spending $1400-3000 on such a machine, why aren't they taking better care of their 'toys' ?

The point is that you shouldn't have to. It is ok to be careful with it, etc. But if there's one thing that shouldn't do any harm to a book it is sweat. I mean come on next thing is that if you touch the keys with your fingers they wil disintegrate...