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Keyboard wear, how are yours doing?

G

Goettel

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 1, 2008
53
0
Hi all,

I have noticed that my keyboard is starting to get shiny, especially the keys that get used most often. I am concerned about having letters disappear as I plan to keep the computer for a long time. Being a college student, I type quite a lot and replacing the keyboard (and the whole top panel) comes out to over 300$ CND. Also, I don't want to use a keyboard skin as I hate typing with those.

The way I understand it, the keys are translucent white (for the backlight) with a black paint. Do you think I should be concerned with the paint wearing out 2-3 years from now?
 
I'm a bit ashamed to admit the same is happening to my W, A, S, D keys. I don't really know the answer to you question, but I suspect the MBA people would know because this black back-lit keyboard was introduced on the MBA a year ago.
 
Keyboard wear

Hi all,

In fact I don't own a MBA but I own a unibody MBP and I am starting to notice some keyboard wear on the most used keys. It is very easy to see on the space bar under the right lighting. As both macs share the same backlit keyboard, I would like to know how yours are going.

I plan to keep the MBP for a long time and it gets used quite a lot as I am a college student. I also take great care of my machine and try to keep my hands clean when I type.

Replacing the keyboard requires replacing the whole top case and costs over 300$ CND...
 
I've been using a silicon keyboard protector called zCover for a year and it prevents all kinds of oils and dust get into the keyboard + wear.
 
I have the majority of the shiny keys on the "Y" "U" "I" "O" "K" "L" "N" and "SPACE"... dunno why. Both of my hands are equally dirty. lol
 
I can think of no other manufacturer who makes equipment that is so prone to easily-inflicted, superficial cosmetic damage. The black MBP keys do invite greasy, permanent shiny marks, no matter how often you scrub your fingers before typing. It's all a matter of materials choice. The iPod is the most glaring example of Apple indifference to durability. I've had metal surfaces on audio devices (like, say, Walkman units from Sony), or electric razors or phones for years and they do not show the slightest scratch even after years of use. Yet one can barely slide an iPod into a protective case without scratching it. The metal surface on an iPod is even less durable than the playing surface of a CD, and yet the machine is meant for portable use and constant handling. Shocking, really.
The keys on the Macbook family have barely any resistance to wear. It's cheaper than cheap plastic, but what it should be is the kind of material companies like Nikon or Canon would use for controls on their better cameras, defying visible signs of wear after years of use. And that's the grade of finish one should expect for the premium price paid for Apple computers.
The only certainty with virtually any Apple product is that you'll need to buy a protector for it, unless you are oblivious to cosmetic damage. And Apple clearly don't care one iota.
 
On my Rev A their is permanent keyboard wear. I hate that. So when I got a rev B, the first thing I got was a MOSHI keypad cover.

It's very thin, so that you can still type normally, yet it protects the keyboard from spills and permanent wear.
 
Sir Cecil said:
I can think of no other manufacturer who makes equipment that is so prone to easily-inflicted, superficial cosmetic damage. The black MBP keys do invite greasy, permanent shiny marks, no matter how often you scrub your fingers before typing. It's all a matter of materials choice. The iPod is the most glaring example of Apple indifference to durability. I've had metal surfaces on audio devices (like, say, Walkman units from Sony), or electric razors or phones for years and they do not show the slightest scratch even after years of use. Yet one can barely slide an iPod into a protective case without scratching it. The metal surface on an iPod is even less durable than the playing surface of a CD, and yet the machine is meant for portable use and constant handling. Shocking, really.
The keys on the Macbook family have barely any resistance to wear. It's cheaper than cheap plastic, but what it should be is the kind of material companies like Nikon or Canon would use for controls on their better cameras, defying visible signs of wear after years of use. And that's the grade of finish one should expect for the premium price paid for Apple computers.
The only certainty with virtually any Apple product is that you'll need to buy a protector for it, unless you are oblivious to cosmetic damage. And Apple clearly don't care one iota.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that! Yes, it's the cheapest material available. You're right, Nikon DSLRs can handle almost anything without signs of wear and that's the kind of plastic you'd expect in the keyboard too, but Apple chooses the cheapest plastic in its computers. On the other hand, the aluminum is nice (though really cheap too) compared to most laptops. The old Macbook plastic was crap too.

I long for the day when I don't need any protection for my laptops, but there's a whole industry of apple computer protection so I doubt things will change. Everybody benefits from Apple's poor choices: Apple saves money and lots of accessory makers stay in business.
 
Sadly most of my keyboard is getting a nice shine to now from using it everyday. I even clean my computer probably every other day and it's just getting worse. One of my friends refers to it as permanent cock grease... thanks apple.
 
I am getting a smooth spot on my KB but there is no hole where the light from the backlight shines through.

For some reason my PowerBook's keyboard gets dirty but my iBook's did not.

It is not just Apple keyboards that do it the thinkpad my mom uses has a nice shiny spot on the KB. The iBook's KB was more shiny than my PB.
 
My old Thinkpad suffered the shiny key syndrome a lot worse than the silver keys on my MBP do... it's not just an Apple thing. The texture just wears off with use, and you can clean them all you want, but they still wear smooth and get shiny. Black keys would seem to be the worst. Maybe it has something to do with how firmly you tap the keys... I'm not exactly gentle on them.
 
It costs $300 to replace the whole keyboard top? Why do you need to replace the cover too? Couldn't you just replace the actual keyboard?
 
If its grease then good quality vodka and a microfiber cloth get the grease off.

Small grain gentle sandpaper helps with the more permanent wearing from long term use shinyness.
 
Sir Cecil said:
Have you noticed a build-up of heat, with the keyboard entirely covered by the protector?
Click to expand...

As another poster mentioned, no issues of heat build up with the ClearGuard on.

I ran a test stressing both CPU cores at 100% for over an hour with and without the ClearGuard on and there was no difference in temperature.

I use my MacBook Pro in closed clamshell mode with the ClearGuard on 90% of the time and there are no issues of the machine overheating or even hitting 100C when transcoding videos.
 
My MacBook is getting shiny black keys on the left side of the keyboard as well :\

I think it's better than the darkened white keys that the WhiteBook got after a lot of use :p
 
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