Would buying a silicone keyboard skin help prevent Macbook cracks?

[notaznguy]

So I have the 2008 white Macbook and I recently got the infamous palmrest cracks repaired for free by Apple.

Do you think buying one of these skins will help prevent the cracks as it would lessen the pressure when I close my laptop?

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

Well, if you think about it, how would adding another layer of material between the lid and the body decrease pressure when it's closed? It has to increase pressure, not decrease it.

Either way, it won't decrease cracking (and it's a free fix anyway). It will keep your computer cleaner, but that's it.

 

[notaznguy]

Not exactly? What I was thinking was that it was the lines on the top of the case that cause the pressure onto the palm rest plate. The silicone keyboard case serves as a medium that allows the lines to concentrate on the silicone layer while reducing pressure on the palm rest plate.

I guess I saw it like this: Imagine getting punched in the stomach. A direct punch really hurts and you feel the pain. However, if you put a pillow between your stomach and the fist, your stomach will receive less pressure dealt from the blow of the punch as the pillow would absorb most of the momentum from the punch. I would imagine the silicone would act like the pillow in the analogy?

 

[iThinkergoiMac]

I see where the logic of that is. The thing is, I'm pretty sure that the lines on the bezel around the screen aren't the source of the cracking. The source is that the plastic where it cracks is just too darn thin. If you take the palmrest area off, you can break those pieces off with your fingers quite easily.

EDIT: In your punch analogy, you're using a pillow to disperse moving force. You're right in that the silicone skin would dissipate the force of those lines when they contact the palmrest at the moment of closing. However, say the same dude decides he's going to hold you against a wall with his fist a specific distance away from the wall, no matter what. Suddenly, you don't want the pillow there as removing it would give you more breathing space (less pressure).

You'd be dissipating pressure for an instant and then increasing it over the duration of time the MacBook is closed. This isn't necessarily bad, as it won't be enough pressure to do anything detrimental. But it won't be alleviating the cracking issue either (nor will it be making it worse).