My Wearing MacBook Pro…

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My Wearing MacBook Pro…

Posted on 30 March 2007 by Mitchell Oke

Recently my MacBook Pro has started to loose the paint just below the keyboard. As you can see in the photos it is not pretty.

I don’t know what has caused it, but I only noticed it a few days ago and the “scratched” area (although it doesn’t look like your typical scratch) is growing. If they whole area would scratch off it would be ok, but instead I am left with this ugly mess. I am debating going to Apple with this to get it repaired, but I have it running so beautifully I would rather not have it messed with.

Anyone else encountered this on their MacBook Pro’s, and what did you do about it?

Despite this though, I still love my MacBook Pro, it is the best computer I have ever bought I am as happy with it as I was when I first opened the box (probably even more so now).

This post was written by:

Mitchell Oke - who has written 208 posts on Gear Diary.

Mitchell Oke is a 22 year old Bachelor of Creative Technology (Digital Video Production) from Sydney, Australia. He's previously worked for News Ltd as a Multimedia Producer, and currently works as a freelance editor and videographer. He has a great love for gadgets and cars, always wanting to have the latest and greatest phones, notebooks and other electronic toys. He is a huge fan of Star Trek, Top Gear and Seinfeld, citing them as his favourite TV shows. In December 2006 he became a Mac convert, having used Windows since he was 5.

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coolmanblu
I’ve see this reported a few times on MacRumors.com. It may be caused by the chemical reaction of the aluminum and your skin’s oil. Or it may be caused by the heat levels in the MBP.
If this is still under warranty, I’d bring it in for repair. It’s obviously a hardware malfunction and other people are experiencing it.
Good luck!
monkey2nut
If this is inside the warranty period, I would get the casing replaced – they should be able to do it same day service – Check out Kevin C Tofel’s recent positive experience with his Mac repair at http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2007/03/apple_service_g.html
Good luck.
http://www.geardiary.com Allen Hong
Being a computer tech for my day job… I have to disagree that this problem is a hardware malfunction. It is cosmetic wear and tear. Not sure if Apple will classify this as normal or not. How this type of problem is handled varies from computer maker to computer maker and how good their customer service is at making their valued customers happy.
The DELL laptop I am using has worn areas in the mouse touch pad and keyboard keys (seems like the fingerprint ridges are acting like sandpaper ) that I use the most for video games. I just think of it as battle scars.
http://www.geardiary.com Mitchell Oke
No I don’t think this is wear and tear, I think its poor quality. The computer is 4mths old, it shouldn’t be flaking like this in an area that barely ever gets touched.
I don’t think the White MacBook users would consider brown palm rests after only a few months acceptable wear and tear either.
The MacBook Pro is an amazingly built computer, which makes it that much more of a shame that things like this happen.
And yeah, my three previous notebooks were Dell’s (Inspiron 5100, then 8600, then 710m) and they all had a brown tinge in certain light on the palm rest shaped like my hands . It was kind of funny actually, it was like my palm print was on it haha.
JohnKes
Is it worth masking and spray painting yourself? (I’ve been doing that to my 95 Acura the past few weekends) The blue 3M masking tape is really good stuff.
coolmanblu
I just checked the wiki page on the Mac Book and it describes your problem. I’d bring the laptop to your nearest Apple store and see what they say. It wouldn’t hurt.
It’s implied on the wiki page that the problem was fixed in later models, which implies that it was indeed a hardware problem and not regular wear and tear.
Report back to use and let us know what Apple tells you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro
Issues from wiki…
“Peeling and flaking paint on the case area located just under the bottom row of keys of the keyboard.
Although no formal test results have been published, many users are reporting that some of these issues were fixed in later models (week 11 and onwards).”
http://www.geardiary.com Mitchell Oke
Yeah I am quite sure it is not a “wear and tear” issue, and the idea that the heat could be causing the stuff to become brittle or whatever sounds reasonable. I will have to find my nearest store and see what they think.
http://www.geardiary.com Allen Hong
Ok, how about calling it a “finish defect”?
Possible that the primer used was low grade or the mixture was wrong?
http://www.geardiary.com Mitchell Oke
Yeah who know, but I don’t like it!! Gah!!
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