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Retina MBP screen material and cleaning

S

Saftsack

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 1, 2012
4
0
Hey everyone,

I was just wondering if the screen of the new retina mbp was any different to the old ones as for the materials. Or is sit still a thin ordinary glass at the far front? I'm asking because I'm not sure, if I can still clean it with glass cleaner and a paper towel just like it was okay to do with the older models.

How would you clean it?

Thanks in advance.
 
That's actually a good question. I'm not sure what type of glass material is being used. But I DO NOT recommend you use paper towels. Use a microfiber cloth. Don't use any harsh cleaners/chemicals. I recommend iKlear which comes with the cloths and cleaning solution. It's the best stuff there is, even apple stores use it.
 
water + soft towel
and it doesnt have a glass in front of it
 
No glass anymore? Thats too bad. It was really neat with one. So it's just a membrane or something just like you find it on all the other Notebooks and HDTVs?
 
Saftsack said:
No glass anymore? Thats too bad. It was really neat with one. So it's just a membrane or something just like you find it on all the other Notebooks and HDTVs?
Click to expand...

Yes, in part that's how they get the thin design by excluding the glass. I was a bit dismayed myself on learning that it has no glass, but it is an engineering marvel to get a display into such a thin form factor.

I'd use a soft cloth (no paper towels) on your the display as paper towels could scratch the plastic.
 
Alright... good I asked. Will have to change my way of cleaning the new retina macbook. Think I just buy that iKlean Kit, which has pretty much everything I should need in it.

Thanks guys.
 
I am rather sure that the display is covered by a glass sheet, not a plastic one. But there is no external cover glass as in non-retina MBP. Look at the iFixit teardown of the display - they clearly refer to the 'glass' cover. Thus, a slightly damp soft cloth will work nicely.
 
The outer surface is glass. The new design eliminates one sheet of glass, but there is still glass. A soft cloth that is slightly damp is all you should need. I like to dampen one corner of a cloth to clean the display then use the remaining dry portion to remove any moisture.
 
The LCD is laminated to the cover glass.

The rMBP comes with a microfiber cloth, btw.
 

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Morien said:
This will be my first Mac. Only iOS devices. So I have never seen one.
Click to expand...

It's a kind of lacklustre, small, square, black cloth affair.

I used it on our iMac once and it seemed to just move dust around rather than remove it. I'd get a cheap micro fibre cloth instead.
 
The thin layer of glass that all LCD panels have is just extended out to the bezel in the rMBP. So it's glass, just fairly thin glass.
 
Very old thread, I know, but I hate to tell some of you- This thing isn't glass. At least the outside portion is not. Maybe out of the box it is but a few weeks ago Apple replaced my screen due to some dead pixels and I just noticed tonight that it definitely is not glass. It does not sound like it nor does glass allow for the tip of a knife to go into it at all. Yes I did that, not to far and without much pressure, and its clearly made of plastic. I'm going to make my way to an Apple store to compare with a floor model. If those are glass, they got some 'spannin to do.
 
jschu22 said:
Very old thread, I know, but I hate to tell some of you- This thing isn't glass. At least the outside portion is not. Maybe out of the box it is but a few weeks ago Apple replaced my screen due to some dead pixels and I just noticed tonight that it definitely is not glass. It does not sound like it nor does glass allow for the tip of a knife to go into it at all. Yes I did that, not to far and without much pressure, and its clearly made of plastic. I'm going to make my way to an Apple store to compare with a floor model. If those are glass, they got some 'spannin to do.
Click to expand...

If you tap the piece of glass on both the iPhone and iPad, those too will not sound like glass. And it won't have the same density as regular glass. That's because it's a type of glass that's also referred to as Gorilla Glass (alkali-aluminosilicate).
 
use the display cleaning cloth provided in the box. I use that cloth along with a plasma/lcd display cleaning liquid (which is actually just distilled water)
 
jschu22 said:
Very old thread, I know, but I hate to tell some of you- This thing isn't glass. At least the outside portion is not. Maybe out of the box it is but a few weeks ago Apple replaced my screen due to some dead pixels and I just noticed tonight that it definitely is not glass. It does not sound like it nor does glass allow for the tip of a knife to go into it at all. Yes I did that, not to far and without much pressure, and its clearly made of plastic. I'm going to make my way to an Apple store to compare with a floor model. If those are glass, they got some 'spannin to do.
Click to expand...

Matte displays have a plastic diffusor laminated on the front glass, and I've seen some older glossy displays have a plastic film on them too. But in those you could quite easily see, that the surface was not as smooth as a bare glass, it's quite easy to see any inconsistensies on the surface if you look at the reflections it makes. My rMBP screen is perfectly smooth, and makes a clear reflection with almost no distortion. I've never seen a plastic film that could do this.

So I did a small test: I took a tiny, very sharp steel needle, tapped the edge of the screen, and lightly pressed the needle against it.

It looks like glass. It feels like glass. It sounds like glass. It resists a sharp needle. I'm sort of inclined to think it's glass.
 
Original post is over a year old. Has anything changed on what to clean the screen with. I have 1 month old MBP w Retina display.
Still water and soft cloth??
Thx.
Frank
 
laurihoefs said:
Matte displays have a plastic diffusor laminated on the front glass, and I've seen some older glossy displays have a plastic film on them too. But in those you could quite easily see, that the surface was not as smooth as a bare glass, it's quite easy to see any inconsistensies on the surface if you look at the reflections it makes. My rMBP screen is perfectly smooth, and makes a clear reflection with almost no distortion. I've never seen a plastic film that could do this.

So I did a small test: I took a tiny, very sharp steel needle, tapped the edge of the screen, and lightly pressed the needle against it.

It looks like glass. It feels like glass. It sounds like glass. It resists a sharp needle. I'm sort of inclined to think it's glass.
Click to expand...

Try sliding that needle across the surface a bit. It will not slide if you apply any pressure, a characteristic of plastic because the needle is actually penetrating the material slightly. Glass is much too hard for this to happen.

The outside screen is plastic. That being the case, I would use extreme care in cleaning it.
 
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