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Does only the top of the Midnight M3 Air have the new Anodized coating?

DMG35

DMG35

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May 27, 2021
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I've seen on here a few times where people have said only the top of the new Midnight MacBook Air is has the new anodized coating. I can't find anything online about it but was wondering if that is indeed true? I was thinking about pulling the trigger on one but only if the entire MacBook has the coating. Does anyone know for sure?
 
DMG35 said:
I've seen on here a few times where people have said only the top of the new Midnight MacBook Air is has the new anodized coating. I can't find anything online about it but was wondering if that is indeed true? I was thinking about pulling the trigger on one but only if the entire MacBook has the coating. Does anyone know for sure?
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The palm-rest deck seems to have the anodized coating too but I can't be positive. After most of a work day, I don't see any fingerprints and that wouldn't have been true with the M2 Midnight MacBook Air.
 
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jdb8167 said:
The palm-rest deck seems to have the anodized coating too but I can't be positive. After most of a work day, I don't see any fingerprints and that wouldn't have been true with the M2 Midnight MacBook Air.
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Good to know. For some reason I've seen people on here saying that only the top had the coating on it which didn't make much sense to me.
 
DMG35 said:
Good to know. For some reason I've seen people on here saying that only the top had the coating on it which didn't make much sense to me.
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Yeah, I saw that as well. Nothing official to go off of and wouldn’t make sense from a production standpoint.
 
i would imagine the manufacturing process means the coating is everywhere.
If you have ever done any disassembly at all on any modern macbooks, you will find the anodized "colour" is inside, under the trackpad, under the hinges, all over the please which leads me to believe they use the "dip" method of anodizing
 
Steve121178 said:
It doesn't really matter when it doesn't work. It's essentially false advertising. Watch some reviews and see for yourself.
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Seems to work OK for me. Not perfect but much better than the M2. I can at least just wipe away the fingerprints on the top case and the palm rest seems to smudge much less.
 
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Steve121178 said:
It doesn't really matter when it doesn't work. It's essentially false advertising. Watch some reviews and see for yourself.
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Ah, the 'watch some reviews' proof! Curiously, watch some others and you seem to get a different answer.

By the way, we will get some idea of how 'false' the advertising is because there are some parts of the world where you can't just put any old crap in your ad, since the law says it has to actually be truthful. It's interesting to me how few of the claims of Apple's 'false advertising' are actually challenged, let alone upheld, in those places.

However, the OP's question was whether the coating (whether effective or not) is only on the top of the MBA, and the answer is that as far as I can tell from the 15-inch midnight MBA I'm using right now, and have been for most of the day, and the lack of smudges and marking on the wrist rest either side of the trackpad - no, it's not just on the top panel. Even the trackpad isn't smudging much. I also wipes clean pretty easily.
 
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za9ra22 said:
Ah, the 'watch some reviews' proof! Curiously, watch some others and you seem to get a different answer.
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I suggested watching the reviews as it's the easy way to see how it easily picks up fingerprints. And it is easy. Very easy. Too easy in fact. It would drive me nuts as I am one of those weirdos who likes to keep their tech in pristine condition. If fingerprints don't bother you, then Midnight is the way to go as it does look the best colour when clean.
 
Steve121178 said:
I suggested watching the reviews as it's the easy way to see how it easily picks up fingerprints. And it is easy. Very easy. Too easy in fact. It would drive me nuts as I am one of those weirdos who likes to keep their tech in pristine condition. If fingerprints don't bother you, then Midnight is the way to go as it does look the best colour when clean.
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Well, I watched one of those videos where the guy wiped his face on it. Really. Great test, complete with snot. Yes, it marks, and greasy skin will do that. Snot even more so. The point being that the people making YouTube videos are selling a product - their videos - so it pays them to be more controversial than less.

Hence I thought I'd find out for myself, and I have a 15-inch midnight sitting here. It's been in constant use since mid-morning. No significant marks at all, and nothing notably worse than my silver M1 MBA after cleaning that up first.

I get that some users are more fussy, and that's fine. However, with a cloth this doesn't seem a problem to wipe clean if it needs it. I can also say that with how hard it was the clean up the silver M1, that could have done with this coating too.
 
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Steve121178 said:
I suggested watching the reviews as it's the easy way to see how it easily picks up fingerprints. And it is easy. Very easy. Too easy in fact. It would drive me nuts as I am one of those weirdos who likes to keep their tech in pristine condition. If fingerprints don't bother you, then Midnight is the way to go as it does look the best colour when clean.
Click to expand...

Plexus fixes this, btw.
 
The Midnight air M2 as much as I love the color and finish there is NO denying it is a fingerprint magnet. Lenovo has been using a non fingerprint type anodization for a couple years at least on it's Yoga line, now it is on the GalaxyBook 4 series so I don't doubt at all it is the same type of finish on the new M3 MBA which I do not own and can't say for sure. But I can say with some confidence that the finish if it is like other's on the market works very well. It is not smudge or fingerprint proof by any means but it is specifically very resistant to fingerprints and does clean easier than the M2 MBA.

I have an HP with an Aluminum finish and it is similar to the M2 MBA and gets fingerprints very easily. But this has been an issue on dark Windows laptops for years now. I am glad to see Apple respond in one year. I think that is pretty good.

The only way people will know for sure is to see for themselves but I am sure there is some improvement and any improvement is welcome in my opinion!
 
Steve121178 said:
I suggested watching the reviews as it's the easy way to see how it easily picks up fingerprints. And it is easy. Very easy. Too easy in fact. It would drive me nuts as I am one of those weirdos who likes to keep their tech in pristine condition. If fingerprints don't bother you, then Midnight is the way to go as it does look the best colour when clean.
Click to expand...
Watched all the reviews I could find and it looks way too easy to make a mess of the new MBA. Took delivery of a 15" M3 MBA three days ago, in midnight. Also have the M2 15" in same spec that the spouse now uses. The new one stays cleaner looking but I never had issue with the M2 beyond showing dust. Like you, I keep my gear in a clean & pristine state. Very pleased with using it in the real world while practicing some basic hand hygiene from time to time. Apple has improved their product but doing reviews that say so doesn't likely generate enough clicks. As an aside, one review showed a pronounced halo in the finish all around the Apple logo on the top cover... looked horrid. Leaves me questioning if it could possibly have left the factory in such a state? My example is utterly flawless in every respect. The Midnight colour is full of character and worth any slight dust downside IMHO.
 
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