Hi all. I am wondering if anybody has encountered an unpleasant, albeit faint, smell that seems to come from the two vents on the case's underside, or the trackpad, or around the space bar. I have for sure smelt this before, it is the 'Apple smell.' It is quite similar to what a leaking lithium battery smells like, actually, but I don't think it is. The laptop is a few weeks old, battery health is good, no overheating or bulging. I have not taken the case off, but I do not think it is the battery, at least I hope it isn't. The smell is imperceptible most of the time, but if I type aggressively I can smell it, or if I use it for long periods of time it becomes more pronounced. If I sniff a finger's width from the vents on either side, whether the laptop is on or off, I can smell it. I presume it is VOCs off-gassing; however, I am not sure. I really am getting sick of it and the smell is starting to give me headaches. Whether they are psychosomatic because I am slightly obsessed with the smell at this point or caused by it, I would just like the smell to go away. Has anybody else noticed this (most obvious by the vents, please take a long sniff for me)--if so, when does it go?
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Unpleasant solvent-like smell coming from MacBook Pro M4 2024
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Hi. I have the same issue, but I would rather identify the smell as similar to superglue / acetone or so. My Macbook Pro M3 Pro is almost 1.5 years old and still smells almost as strongly as on the first day. I also recently got a Macbook from my work, which is an M2 Pro, and even that one still smells just as strongly.
I guess our Macbooks are by far not the only ones with that issue...
I guess our Macbooks are by far not the only ones with that issue...
Hi, I have the same exact issue, near my trackpad and on the sides of it, smells like battery gas but I’m not sure about that, I think it does but my battery is healthy and it lasts and there’s no bulging, it gets less when it’s cold but it’s still very present and also to me it gives a headache. It comes and goes, like my MacBook Pro (m3 pro) is 1.5 years old and I have noticed it when it was new then I stopped noticing it (or it stopped doing it) and now it’s back. I don’t know if it’s harmful or just my head obsessing. Point is also my old m1 MacBook Air had this smell when it was hot and I moved away hoping I’d move away from it but apparently I haven’t. I’m really confused and it’s really annoying
I've had the battery checked in a store, the battery is fine. Would also be unlikely that it’s a malicious battery since most Macbooks we tested have the exact same smell. Only those with M1 or higher though, the Intel Macs don’t smell at all.
And I'm pretty sure that it's not entirely harmless over time, especially when my entire room fills up with those gasses when the Macbook gets warm and windows closed, I regularly have headaches since I got my M3…
Both my personal M3 Pro which is 1.5 years old and my job's M2 Pro, 2.5 years old, both in daily use, still smell just as strongly as in the beginning. And an M1 Macbook Air which I got from the store as rental device recently as well...
I mean solder paste after more than a year is a bit unlikely. And it’s noticeable like always unless the laptop is really cool like 25 degrees Celsius or less. I have a M1 air also but I can’t figure out if it’s the same smell. Honestly it’s been bothering me so much I think I smell it everywhere, even if I put my phone up to my nose when it’s slightly warm I smell it or I think it’s the same but it’s not, the MacBook is much more metallic.
Interestingly an 2017 iPad Pro in my house also has the same smell, although a bit less intense, probably because it's more sealed than a Macbook. And even that has not fully disappeared yet after all those years. I believe it must be a problem with their ARM chips or something, since none of their Intel devices I've ever had had this smell.
In one of the service provider stores I have been to for getting my Macbook checked, even the employee there agreed that all Macs they have smell like this intensely, he feels like it's getting worse by every generation.
Honestly, it’s really unpleasant but I noticed that on mine it’s just on the palm rest and keyboard, where I place my hands, I smelled it under, I smelled it near the vents, I smelled it on top of the lid, it has the smell you’d expect from metal normal smell not unpleasant but on the palm rests, trackpad and keyboard it’s this instense and unpleasant smell. I wiped it down like heavily with cloth soaked in water and soap (i didn’t have anything cleaning specific at hand) and the smell went away (or got covered) but then I figured I wouldn’t put my hands on it and used an external keyboard and mouse, and now it smells like all the rest of the laptop, not unpleasant just normal. Clearly then it’s a reaction between the skin and the metal or the oils or sum. All the other times that I had wiped it down I proceeded to put my hands back on it, this time not and seems like it got better. Idk maybe it’ll come back and it’s just an immediate effect of the soap or sum but maybe I got somewhere?…