In Praise of Midnight

[mrmister]

Here's my Midnight MacBook Air after being wiped down to zero finger prints, and handled for 10 minutes with hands that were thoroughly cleaned with soap and water. It does not matter how hard I try to clean my hands, finger prints are left behind after every last touch.

Again, this is 10 minutes of handling.

Many users do not spend 10 minutes pawing at their laptop like the apes pawed at the monolith in "2001".

I mean, I don’t want to make fun, but yeah…I’m sure if I literally just fondled it for ten minutes it might look like this. Mine basically never looks like this.

 

[np08]

I use HOM Alcohol Wipes on mine and the fingerprints go away.

 

[kp98077]

I’ve talked to Apple employees at the Apple Store and they are constantly wiping down the Midnight models. That is probably why the one you looked at didn’t have many fingerprints. One guy seemed pretty unhappy with the amount of cleaning the Midnight MBA took.

I love mine though. I keep a microfiber cloth nearby. I’m used to that because of using iPads anyway. Same problem.

I'd say, more people touch the midnight one in the store and they can't wipe fast enough, hence is why caused so much chaos here...

 

[mpetrides]

Leaving fingerprints has nothing to do with how clean your hands are. It is just human nature, some hands are dry, and some hands are moist. All normal. And this Mac Book shows all fingerprints. To say you like it, but you clean it because you leave fingerprints is like you admit to a crime. This is not normal, not in my book. Touching your stuff is normal, and in fact needed. I don't get the need to clean fingerprints...

Not true. It's the fingerprint oils that leave VISIBLE fingerprints on surfaces--and we are talking about visible fingerprints. No one cares about INvisible fingerprints (AKA LATENT fingerprints) when discussing how grubby an MBA looks.

Fleshing out the above: You are correct in that everyone leaves fingerprints but some are LATENT (invisible to the naked eye but still recoverable using forensic techniques) and some are visible. All that matters with respect to whether an MBA looks dirty are the visible ones. And you can definitely reduce the amount of fingerprint oils on your hands by washing them and, in the process, markedly reduce the number of visible fingerprints you leave behind on a surface.

 

[Toratek]

I know how the forum churn buries some posts, but I put up a full tutorial in this section on how to keep fingerprints from sticking to the anodize surface of the midnight MBA a month ago.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/easy-solutions-for-midnight-dirt-ding-issues.2352855/

TLDR, alcohol wipes are quite possibly the worst thing you can use, as they activate the surface (and worse, can eventually strip the nickel acetate sealant used on the anodize).

The key is to decrease the surface energy with a proper cleaner.

Plexus has been just outstanding for me, on mine. (It's formulated for aircraft canopies). I have a ton of it around but there are plenty of other effective substitutes.

I also have a very effective solution to dings in the surface around the ports that can show silver, mentioned in that post.

 

[mrmister]

I know how the forum churn buries some posts, but I put up a full tutorial in this section on how to keep fingerprints from sticking to the anodize surface of the midnight MBA a month ago.

Thank you for taking the time to post this—I had not seen this tutorial, which was deeply instructive.

Plexus has been just outstanding for me, on mine. (It's formulated for aircraft canopies). I have a ton of it around but there are plenty of other effective substitutes.

In the original post you made you talked about applying Renaissance Wax. Is that what you stuck with for your machine? Do you also use Plexus?

 

[Dealmans]

lol no ones going to go to that trouble

 

[Zazoh]

Here's my Midnight MacBook Air after being wiped down to zero finger prints, and handled for 10 minutes with hands that were thoroughly cleaned with soap and water. It does not matter how hard I try to clean my hands, finger prints are left behind after every last touch.

Again, this is 10 minutes of handling.

Once the whole thing is covered in finger prints you just have a matte midnight. That is what I witnessed at the Apple store in my area.

 

[Eric Idle]

I mean, I don’t want to make fun, but yeah…I’m sure if I literally just fondled it for ten minutes it might look like this. Mine basically never looks like this.

Fondled? I picked it up twice during the morning. Once to set up inside, and then once to move it outside.

 

[mrmister]

Fondled? I picked it up twice during the morning. Once to set up inside, and then once to move it outside.

I'm sorry, you talked about ten minutes of handling, I took you literally.

 

[Tagbert]

That's true, I have never considered Midnight before this, though I usually get a pro phone, and I don't do the watch, so I probably also haven't actually been considering it.

Might be time to reconsider both decisions 😊

 

[Tagbert]

So you praise the colour but you complain you have to clean it all the time... I don't get it.

Where is the complaining? Seem like the OP is fine with it. What don’t you get? 🤔

 

[kp98077]

I'd say, more people touch the midnight one in the store and they can't wipe fast enough, hence is why caused so much chaos here...

Yes it’s true. Even my “apple” cloth you kind of have to wipe aggressiven. That’s why I couldn’t handle it. Too much work for this lazy guy! 😂