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MacBook Air... Scratch??

D

divinemercy

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
147
2
Okay, So i Just bought my first macbook air this morning! Im loving it so far. The only thing is that on the top next to the Apple logo there is the smallest little line. Not a scratch (it was in the plastic, and it is not indented... just a line in the metal).

It is not visible at certain angles (at all), and since it's not a 'gouge' where metal was taken away at all I'm thinking its just part of the metal finish...

So my question is, have any of you also experienced this sort of finish flaw? To be 100% honest I'm a bit OCD and it's bothering me a tad lol.... I probably won't exchange it or anything because we are talking something SUPER minor. like maybe 1/4 inch line.

But just curious to know if this is normal.

Thanks.
 
Take it back. I would, coz am OCD as well and it would bother me if it came from factory like that. If I did the scratch, thats fine. You are paying premium price for this thing, it better make you 100% happy ;)
 
Well its just soo minor that I don't think it's worth the hassle. They are real idiots over at the Best Buy I got it from. I walked in knowing exactly what I wanted and it took almost 45 minutes just to check out (there was no line). They kept having to call managers and all this silliness.

PLUS Im going to be putting a zagg skin on it, so i don't think it'll be visible anymore since even know its only visible at certain angles.


I'm only posting on here to see if its common. That'd make me feel better oddly enough lol..
 
Had a 2010 11" MBA with an imperfection in the anodizing but it was to the left of the track pad. You couldnt see it from any angle if look at it using a standard 60 watt incandescent light bulb. But when you went out in bright sunlight or under a florescent lamp you could see it but only from one certain angle. You had to look at it from the magsafe are looking across to the trackpad area. So ya it was very minor but I knew I had to return it. I mean after currency conversion it came to almost 2k USD. It has to be perfect for my sanity and also dont want any little thing to affect the resale value.
 
If you're not bothered enough to return it and you already made up your mind then why even post? If it is truly to see if you can feel better about keeping it then I have to ask if you're truly not bothered by it.

I would say that if it is that small and you don't notice it most of the time then taking it back is stupid. If you have a good screen and no other issues then keep it. Bottom line is these are made out of fairly soft metal and they'll scratch. Put your skin on it and just breathe.
 
Will it photograph? If so, post it here and we can tell you if we've seen it before. I can't say I have any scratches on mine, but remember that aluminum is soft so it can pick up dents and creases over time (usually from a physical blow or drop).

I'd suggest running the scripts to find out what SSD and display you have, but that might open up another can of worms. :D
 
Ive seen 2 13" Macbook Air's that my friends purchased. Both have slight lines on the outside towards the bottom of the computer where the hinge is. I would guess these are normal parts of the aluminum process.

I remember my 13" 2010 Macbook Pro also having something similar. Very hard to see, but once you notice it, its hard to stop. With all the other issues that can go wrong (a real scratch, dent, ding dead pixel, bad hinge, chip) I would not risk returning yours.

But to each their own. Good luck!
 
Return it immediately because you will probably lose sleep over this decision and regret it later after the 14 day return period.
 
ahhh just dropped my MBA 13" DAMN! Corner dented.. Ill see if i can post a pic... poor MBA only a week old

IMG_3474.jpg


IMG_3476.jpg
 
Last edited:
RTiii320 said:
ahhh just dropped my MBA 13" DAMN! Corner dented.. Ill see if i can post a pic... poor MBA only a week old
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That's too bad. :( If it won't close properly, perhaps see if the Genius Bar can send it out to get bent back into shape. There will be a crease, but at least it would be less noticeable. I dropped my Rev B MacBook Air on a hardwood floor and it had a little crease at the hinge, but still performed well for another year before I sold it to buy the Rev D last year.
 
dropped it about 2 feet onto a hard-wood floor, hard to notice it unless your looking at it specifically. It closes fine, trust me the pics look worse then it does in person, thankfully :rolleyes:

and yeah, all you can do is laugh when it happens.. I had my MBA in one hand, and my iPhone in the other. MBA slipped, and I essentially tossed my iPhone on the ground in a weak effort to catch the MBA. Needless to say, they both fell. :eek: As the saying goes "stuff happens"
 
Oh that's painful. I did the same exact thing to my MBP I know how much it hurts to see that damage!
 
RTiii320 said:
dropped it about 2 feet onto a hard-wood floor, hard to notice it unless your looking at it specifically. It closes fine, trust me the pics look worse then it does in person, thankfully :rolleyes:

and yeah, all you can do is laugh when it happens.. I had my MBA in one hand, and my iPhone in the other. MBA slipped, and I essentially tossed my iPhone on the ground in a weak effort to catch the MBA. Needless to say, they both fell. :eek: As the saying goes "stuff happens"
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1) hope for a hardware failure (including bad battery life, etc)

2) do "bad"/"evil" things on purpose and get a replacement based on that. I won't go there though.
 
macmba said:
1) hope for a hardware failure (including bad battery life, etc)

2) do "bad"/"evil" things on purpose and get a replacement based on that. I won't go there though.
Click to expand...

hahaha:D:D at your #2.. No, if something takes a dump on me i'll go get a replacement but in the mean time it's not affecting performance...
 
divinemercy said:
Well its just soo minor that I don't think it's worth the hassle.
Click to expand...

I did 2 minor/small dings on my MBA and it really bothered me quite a bit during the first few days. But in the end, it's the hardware that's the most important so I got over it. After all, no matter how minor it is, scratches will happen sooner or later even without you noticing it unless you're like a crazy person who baby your MBA like it's some sort of the softest tofu and still remain pristine after 2 years - for the sake of reselling the machine, which the price will drop pretty badly due to at least 1~2 cycles of refresh.

I'd like to add that, no matter how pristine the machine looked, it'll lose it luster once the next refresh come out. Again since there isn't any fault with your machine, and it's a big hassle to return it, by all means keep it and enjoy. You might get another one with perfect body but with other slight problem like creaky keys/chassis, slightly worse display, or worse a slightly warped chassis that doesn't stay flat on a flat surface - another return and you're risking for the same potential problem.
 
jackyyeow said:
I'd like to add that, no matter how pristine the machine looked, it'll lose it luster once the next refresh come out. Again since there isn't any fault with your machine, and it's a big hassle to return it, by all means keep it and enjoy. You might get another one with perfect body but with other slight problem like creaky keys/chassis, slightly worse display, or worse a slightly warped chassis that doesn't stay flat on a flat surface - another return and you're risking for the same potential problem.
Click to expand...

yep, agreed. It was bound to happen sooner or later
 
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