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Anodization wearing off. Im done with apple
- Thread starter schmintan
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I am going to buy a bad boy next feb
Congrats, but why Feb? Buy now, buy big. Fill your boots.
Anodization problem, but done with Apple??
I am a proud Mac Newbie.
I understand Schmintan"s frustration. After making a major investment of almost 2k for my MBP, I am hoping that in 2 years it is still looking great without loss of anodization. I also have Dell and Toshiba laptops that I have had for 5-6 years respectively. They have a little wear but the cost of both combined did not total 2k, so I can swallow that pill much easier. Schmintan, I am convinced that Apple makes a great product which is why I made the switch from PC. I would be upset as well, but maybe leaving Apple is a bit extreme. Fortunately, for me, I read this thread before I made the Mac leap, so I took some steps to protect my purchase. I have the hard shell cover from Specks and I purchased the Palm/TrackGuard by Moshi, which is great. I may be in crazy in love right now, but I also purchased the transparent keyboard cover and the screen film, (like for the iphone). Schmintan, exhale and reconsider.
I am a proud Mac Newbie.
I understand Schmintan"s frustration. After making a major investment of almost 2k for my MBP, I am hoping that in 2 years it is still looking great without loss of anodization. I also have Dell and Toshiba laptops that I have had for 5-6 years respectively. They have a little wear but the cost of both combined did not total 2k, so I can swallow that pill much easier. Schmintan, I am convinced that Apple makes a great product which is why I made the switch from PC. I would be upset as well, but maybe leaving Apple is a bit extreme. Fortunately, for me, I read this thread before I made the Mac leap, so I took some steps to protect my purchase. I have the hard shell cover from Specks and I purchased the Palm/TrackGuard by Moshi, which is great. I may be in crazy in love right now, but I also purchased the transparent keyboard cover and the screen film, (like for the iphone). Schmintan, exhale and reconsider. 
If you simply look at the warnings on anodized cookware, the companies selling it note harsh cleaners destroy the coating and reduce its life.
So cleaning too often with chemical cleaners (aka daily) most likely will remove the anodized coating and the paints on computers.
Use water and the micro fiber cleaning cloth, and only use the cleaners when you "need" to.
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Note: if you come back and say that the cleaner is made for computers, it is basically saying the same thing as a dishwasher being made for pots and pans ... while it may be made for them, it doesn't mean it won't destroy the anodized coating if you use it too often. And paint isn't as tough as that, so I wouldn't use some of those on my car's paint either.
So cleaning too often with chemical cleaners (aka daily) most likely will remove the anodized coating and the paints on computers.
Use water and the micro fiber cleaning cloth, and only use the cleaners when you "need" to.
---
Note: if you come back and say that the cleaner is made for computers, it is basically saying the same thing as a dishwasher being made for pots and pans ... while it may be made for them, it doesn't mean it won't destroy the anodized coating if you use it too often. And paint isn't as tough as that, so I wouldn't use some of those on my car's paint either.
We should expect perfection from consumer products. That expectation is the very force behind our developing better and better quality control.
You know what's been happening for the past 25 days? Nothing! The OP hasn't responded to this thread at all since posting! That's pretty funny - all of us are here blabbing away about whether stripped anodizing on the palmwrest is Apple's fault. he he he.
Yea, I feel your pain too. I've dropped my laptop twice, bumped it a few times (when I first got it; haven't done this in over a year), dented a few parts, made a few scratches here and there, scratched some paint off the keys with my fingernails. But ironically, the biggest visible cosmetic damage isn't caused directly from me.
There are several hundred black spots forming on the left side of my touchpad, the same area where my left palm lies. Supposedly, this damage is caused by my acidic sweat. However I don't even sweat enough when using it to even cause a single droplet of water to form on my laptop casing. I use a 3-pin plug all the time, but for some reason I can still feel shocks occasionally.
There are several hundred black spots forming on the left side of my touchpad, the same area where my left palm lies. Supposedly, this damage is caused by my acidic sweat. However I don't even sweat enough when using it to even cause a single droplet of water to form on my laptop casing. I use a 3-pin plug all the time, but for some reason I can still feel shocks occasionally.
If you look at the OP's photo, it appears there is a fairly serious scratch (aka user damage) & subsequently the anodization wore off along that line. I had that same gen machine before my uMBP & never had any problems.
I don't think that part of the laptop is aluminum. I'm fairly certain it is plastic, as is the entire keyboard surround / track pad / speaker grilles. It's simply coated to look like aluminum, to match the aluminum outer skin of the laptop.
And that is a bizarre spot for wear, just below the space bar there. How the heck to you wear that out?! I don't think I've ever even touched that spot before.
When using your MBP at home, perhaps consider plugging in a USB Apple Keyboard and Mouse, rather than using the keyboard and trackpad.
He probably typed on the keyboard while wearing a watch all the time. A metal watch will hang down and wear off the coating like that.
B
hi folks, was moving house so didnt have time to reply to this.
To respond to some of the comments, although i made this clear already:
1. I never used cleaning products on the macbook. a microfiber cloth and my own breath were all that were used to clean it.
2. its always been kept in a tucano softcase when not in use.
3. I dont wear rings and always take off my watch before using any laptop, including the mac book pro. if anyone read my original posts, i stress this a few times! folks too eager to jump to apples defence they didnt have time to read the full story il bet!
4. Yea, its 2 years old, but apple pride themselves on beautiful products. mine is scarred now, through no fault of my own.
5. Why should i live with it? comments like this are why companies can get away with spending less on quality control, as users will simply suck it up and chalk it down to experience.
I still havnt decided what my next computer will be, but it will most likely not be an apple, not just because of this, but because i need a docking solution.
At work i have a dell dock that has 4 external hard drives, webcam, headset, mouse, keyboard , big monitor and a few other things hooked to it. when i am at my desk i just click my laptop to the dock and use all my prehipherials, when i want to go to a meeting i just undock and bring the lapotop. no cables to worry about. there is no accessory that allows a mac book to do this. i have done reasearch and i will have to hook up at least 1-2 cables to allow me to do this with a mac.
so, apple's lack of quality control ( considering the premium price tag) and lack of mobility make it a no go for me until such time as both these areas are remedied.
To respond to some of the comments, although i made this clear already:
1. I never used cleaning products on the macbook. a microfiber cloth and my own breath were all that were used to clean it.
2. its always been kept in a tucano softcase when not in use.
3. I dont wear rings and always take off my watch before using any laptop, including the mac book pro. if anyone read my original posts, i stress this a few times! folks too eager to jump to apples defence they didnt have time to read the full story il bet!
4. Yea, its 2 years old, but apple pride themselves on beautiful products. mine is scarred now, through no fault of my own.
5. Why should i live with it? comments like this are why companies can get away with spending less on quality control, as users will simply suck it up and chalk it down to experience.
I still havnt decided what my next computer will be, but it will most likely not be an apple, not just because of this, but because i need a docking solution.
At work i have a dell dock that has 4 external hard drives, webcam, headset, mouse, keyboard , big monitor and a few other things hooked to it. when i am at my desk i just click my laptop to the dock and use all my prehipherials, when i want to go to a meeting i just undock and bring the lapotop. no cables to worry about. there is no accessory that allows a mac book to do this. i have done reasearch and i will have to hook up at least 1-2 cables to allow me to do this with a mac.
so, apple's lack of quality control ( considering the premium price tag) and lack of mobility make it a no go for me until such time as both these areas are remedied.
AS long as the insides work good. I think your'e good. For some reason I like small little wearings and tearings off products sometimes. It builds character
A tool is a tool---If you don't expect wear you shouldn't take it out of the box.If a key broke off or all the usb plugs shorted I could see where you might have a gripe. What sort of obsolescence would you like? cosmetic, or functional? I had a leaky hydraulic line on the power top of my vw, and they wanted almost $500.00 dollars for a replacement 3 foot plastic hydraulic line---that's just the part cost----get on with it, use your computer, dream of when it was new, say hello to inflation and obsolescence.Keep moving,stop bitching!
Major overreaction. Get online and find a replacement part. Shouldn't be hard.
If you're not going to avail yourself of AppleCare, don't be so shocked when your computer is a couple years old and needs some work. They're laptops--they wear faster than desktops. If you want a "defect" covered 2 years out, then you're the only one to blame for not purchasing the coverage.
I skipped AppleCare on this MBP and ended up replacing a SuperDrive and a handful of keys on the keyboard. Luckily my gamble paid off because that's less than the cost of an AppleCare agreement, but I'm definitely getting it for my next machine.
If you're not going to avail yourself of AppleCare, don't be so shocked when your computer is a couple years old and needs some work. They're laptops--they wear faster than desktops. If you want a "defect" covered 2 years out, then you're the only one to blame for not purchasing the coverage.
I skipped AppleCare on this MBP and ended up replacing a SuperDrive and a handful of keys on the keyboard. Luckily my gamble paid off because that's less than the cost of an AppleCare agreement, but I'm definitely getting it for my next machine.