Weird Black Spots?

[Baffles]

My MBP has had weird black spots on it ever since it came out of the box. They appear to be getting slightly worse as time progresses, though. The black area on the top left corner of the screen will almost all go away when rubbed off, however when closed, it comes right back. I assume it comes from the same black area on the lower left hand corner of the base, because that area doesn't rub off.

I attached pictures of the issue. Has anyone ever seen this? Will apple give me some kind of scratch/dent refund for it or something, even though it has been a short while since I bought the machine?

 

[mathcolo]

Did you try rubbing or working at it for a long time?

These things don't come off very easily.

 

[Baffles]

Yeah, I did, for a fair amount of time. Some come off, some don't, and they seem to randomly pop up along the edges. If I moisten my finger and rub, the ones that come off leave a black reside on my finger, the ones that don't come off leave no residue. At first I thought it was graphite from a pencil or something, possibly some mishap in the factory, but that one spot (lower left of the base case, as shown above) is the worst and doesn't really clean up at all.

 

[Empyre]

I really dont think this is possible, but it may be that your Aluminum casing is oxidizing, but that requires something acidic or basic to start the process. That or its not fully aluminum and that the coating used on the metal was stripped from those areas and now its oxidizing with the trace impurities of other metals.

Do these "black" spots have texture? or are they flush with the material?

 

[snowmoon]

Do you wear a watch/cufflinks/rings that could be catching the case? Could they just be scratches?

 

[Baffles]

I really dont think this is possible, but it may be that your Aluminum casing is oxidizing, but that requires something acidic or basic to start the process. That or its not fully aluminum and that the coating used on the metal was stripped from those areas and now its oxidizing with the trace impurities of other metals.

Do these "black" spots have texture? or are they flush with the material?

They seem to be flush with the material, and although you can't see it that well in the pictures, the spots look shiny (almost like unfinished aluminum).

Do you wear a watch/cufflinks/rings that could be catching the case? Could they just be scratches?

Nope. They don't appear to be scratches either, as some of them rub off (and come back). Also, it was like this out of the box. I didn't say anything at the time because it was my 5th laptop, and I would rather live with these minor cosmetic issues than the crappy screens, noisy fans, and half working keyboards of the previous 4 laptops I received.

There is a small area of this on the upper left corner of the screen surround that won't wipe off. Just a small trace that used to come off before.

It does seem to be getting worse, as there are more spots popping up, and after a while they stop wiping clean. Will Apple do anything for this, like maybe a new case or something?

 

[marvel2]

It is almost as if whatever apple puts on the aluminum to coat the machine is wearing off.