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Weird taste in mouth when using midnight 13" m3 air

UPDATE & SOLUTION: after scrubbing the MacBook body hard a few times with a rag and Isopropyl alcohol, the keyboard area and body of my machine appear to solve the issue. sharing in case others find this thread in the future.

I refused to give up, so I tried one final m3 air machine and scrubbed the crap out of it, and the body is now much 'smoother to the touch', and the taste and sensations have gone down 98%.

to be honest, I think everyone should consider doing this, you don't know if these new machine chemicals are actually safe or not.
 
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erkanasu said:
UPDATE & SOLUTION: after scrubbing the MacBook body hard a few times with a rag and Isopropyl alcohol, the keyboard area and body of my machine appear to solve the issue. sharing in case others find this thread in the future.

I refused to give up, so I tried one final m3 air machine and scrubbed the crap out of it, and the body is now much 'smoother to the touch', and the taste and sensations have gone down 98%.

to be honest, I think everyone should consider doing this, you don't know if these new machine chemicals are actually safe or not.
Click to expand...

Honestly, this sounds more and more like placebo effect.
 
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erkanasu said:
UPDATE & SOLUTION: after scrubbing the MacBook body hard a few times with a rag and Isopropyl alcohol, the keyboard area and body of my machine appear to solve the issue. sharing in case others find this thread in the future.

I refused to give up, so I tried one final m3 air machine and scrubbed the crap out of it, and the body is now much 'smoother to the touch', and the taste and sensations have gone down 98%.

to be honest, I think everyone should consider doing this, you don't know if these new machine chemicals are actually safe or not.
Click to expand...
I'm glad that it worked for you, but I wouldn't say that wiping it down with isopropanol is making it chemically "safer". Alcohol kills viruses and microorganisms (ie. germs). It doesn't purify or decontaminate other chemicals.
 
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Cape Dave said:
Never once did this sound like a placebo effect.
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It did since the beginning, especially after OP did not want to do a blind test.
But for some reason you seem very committed to thinking this is real and can't accept the chance of it being in OP's mind.
 
erkanasu said:
lol take a hike
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?

It's quite sad that you get offended by someone just pointing out that you did not take a blind test like many of us suggested, and that this could all be placebo effect.

But I'm glad you solved your issue for the most part.
 
MazingerZND said:
?

It's quite sad that you get offended by someone just pointing out that you did not take a blind test like many of us suggested, and that this could all be placebo effect.

But I'm glad you solved your issue for the most part.
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not offended. but just an unnecessary post in my opinion. also, you are not using the word placebo correctly. another guy's theory of it being a psychosomatic response would be a better description (but you are both wrong). lol all good, gonna take a break from responding to you now and my post was meant for others who eventually find this tread.
 
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It isn't clear to me where a psychosomatic reaction of this kind would even come from, since broadly speaking these have triggers, and none of the kind you'd normally expect to see are here. It is an easy conclusion to draw though, if, as in this case, the reaction isn't familiar to us.

That said, there's all sorts of physical reactions to products which have no clear explanation, but are entirely real. I used an iPhone 5 for a couple of years which had the kind of tactile sense mentioned before as if it carried a low level charge or earthing problem, and it happened every time I touched it, whether it was on battery or powered, whether on or powered off, or even when I let the battery expire. It was weird, had no apparent cause, there were no voltages on the casing or RF fields around it, no static charge. The 4s I had before it and the 6s I got afterwards were both quite normal. Nobody else could sense anything.

Yet it was totally real. And since I do still have it, I just tried, and there's the same feel to it even when totally dead before charging.

I do tend to think that taste sensations around new items are often the result of off-gassing, with a few being more sensitive to trace chemicals than others, but while the anodizing process in the M3 MBA models is new, the colourants are bonded into the aluminum by the process, so there shouldn't be anything in free air. However, it's possible there is.

It's also possible that the issue comes not from the laptop itself but the packaging materials it is boxed up and sealed inside. The tear-off covering is an odd substance for example, and could leave chemicals on the laptop surface from the time packaged up in the range of environments it will have gone through.

All in all, there's plenty of potential causes of these symptoms, even if they're not commonly experienced.
 
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erkanasu said:
not offended. but just an unnecessary post in my opinion. also, you are not using the word placebo correctly. another guy's theory of it being a psychosomatic response would be a better description (but you are both wrong). lol all good, gonna take a break from responding to you now and my post was meant for others who eventually find this tread.
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You are correct, the right term to use would be “a psychosomatic response”. English is my second language so I mess up like that sometimes.
You’re free to your opinion of my post being unnecessary, I don’t think it is since I honestly think it would have been a good idea to do a blind test. Especially considering others might see your post and think there is a chemical leak that might harm them, when perhaps that is not the case (not saying it isn’t, just that it’s important to be as certain of something like that as possible).
 
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MazingerZND said:
You are correct, the right term to use would be “a psychosomatic response”. English is my second language so I mess up like that sometimes.
You’re free to your opinion of my post being unnecessary, I don’t think it is since I honestly think it would have been a good idea to do a blind test. Especially considering others might see your post and think there is a chemical leak that might harm them, when perhaps that is not the case (not saying it isn’t, just that it’s important to be as certain of something like that as possible).
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hey dude, i think you might have missed my other post, but it's impossible to do a blind test. the m3 air have a different texture on them due to the coating compared to prior models. if you are present and close your eyes, you can feel the surface is more grainy. so, it's a no go

so the whole blind test comments are not valid for me.

after scrubbing this crap out of body w/ the IPA, the grainyness goes way down and so does the taste.

again I realize I may be much more connected to my sensory experience than most. usually it's a pro lol
 
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I was wondering why I wasn’t experiencing the metallic taste when using my midnight 13 inch pro. But I’ve seen that this is exclusive to the M3 model and not having the M2 model I’ve missed out.
 
Shanghaichica said:
I was wondering why I wasn’t experiencing the metallic taste when using my midnight 13 inch pro. But I’ve seen that this is exclusive to the M3 model and not having the M2 model I’ve missed out.
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Did u try my solution?
 
hopping on...

I thought the OP was nuts - until I had this happen this morning:

- M3 Macbook Air (silver)
- it was near other mac laptops and a mac studio at the time
- while closed, my hand glanced across it and it felt rough once or twice - like some crazy light force touch sensor output - but it was only there for a second
- when opened and using - I felt that same feeling where my wrist meets the trackpad... and that's when I also had a metallic taste.

Does that sound more like short and slight conductivity?

After reading more posts in this thread... I'll keep an eye this... I'll also see if using a different/grounded charger has an effect.
 
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I could care less about the thread... I just came here to say this subject line is a winner (and the fact there are 10 pages of responses)
 
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TIOATIOA said:
OP, you made a good call here, and it looks like you're tough-skinned enough (pun intended) to deal with the jokers in this thread.

You seem to have done sufficient self-testing, even if casual, to verify something is happening, and it's important to protect your health. I appreciate you calling it into Apple, and I would expect that while they didn't show you much interest or feedback, I assure you they are taking this report VERY seriously. Within Apple are some of the smartest materials engineers around, and reports like this are a big deal.

I did not see if you responded to questions about dental fillings... do you have any?

More importantly, if it were me, I'd seek a blood test for a few things including heavy metals, carbon monoxide exposure, and basic blood panel that might show something out of line with iron/hemoglobin/rbcs etc.. This could be a valuable warning of some internal imbalance (or environmental toxin) that needs attention.
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OP, not sure if you saw my earlier post... do you have any dental fillings?

Have you tried A/B testing in Airplane Mode to rule out any wifi/radio wave effects?
 
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dgdosen said:
hopping on...

I thought the OP was nuts - until I had this happen this morning:

- M3 Macbook Air (silver)
- it was near other mac laptops and a mac studio at the time
- while closed, my hand glanced across it and it felt rough once or twice - like some crazy light force touch sensor output - but it was only there for a second
- when opened and using - I felt that same feeling where my wrist meets the trackpad... and that's when I also had a metallic taste.

Does that sound more like short and slight conductivity?

After reading more posts in this thread... I'll keep an eye this... I'll also see if using a different/grounded charger has an effect.
Click to expand...
What you're describing is 100% grounding related, quite common, and it's something I've experienced with my M1 MBP 13". Not really a health hazard. Switching to a grounded cable on the AC lead removes the issue.

I *do* believe that OP is experiencing something, and the report of isopropyl helping indicates it could be related to the surface coating.

I recall an Apple Keynote by Steve Jobs many years ago when the Titanium G4 was announced. He mentioned how the titanium could be produced in a great variety of colors, BUT we never saw these titanium colors produced. Hmmmm.
 
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