MacOSG: MacBook discoloring—Apple responds
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Jul 3, 2006 at 9:29pm
By Dave Merten
Recently there have been numerous MacBook owners reporting an issue where their MacBook’s case becomes discolored around the palm reset area and other spots.
stauffere writes, “I have a three week old Macbook. The plastic on the palm rest and on the screen bezel where you open the screen has begun to have a yellow discoloration. At first I thought it was dirty, so I cleaned it with the stuff that I used to clean my iBook with, and it had no effect (tried several things, a damp cloth, Windex, Magic Eraser). I thought it was some dirt from touching it, but then I noticed that it was starting to appear at the bottom of the screen where I have never touched this thing. I am concerned that there is a problem with the plastic that they made the palm rests out of. It is a different material than what was used on the iBook, I think.”
Porkspeare writes, “Yeah I have the same problem, I was convinced someone with grubby hands had been using it, now it appears not. The iKlear products I used on the PowerBook will not shift it.”
MuadDib420 writes, “i’ve got the discoloration also on the left palm rest right where my hand lies. Strangely, not on the right on. You can only see it in very bright light (when the sun is shining in my living room). But it’s definitely noticable, and somewhat annoying, considering it’s only a few weeks old.”
“MacFan-Fl writes, “I’ve owned the machine for three weeks and I wash my hands frequently, but I have this yellow stain on the lower half of my trackpad (wrist pad as well). I’ve tried glass cleaner and alcohol, but none of them have made a difference. The stain is there to stay. It is worth noting that my MacBook runs a little bit toasty and I have complained about the temperature, but I’ve read about others machines being hotter. With that said, I wonder what this “rubberized” material is in that it is fading so fast. I’ve never had this problem with my iBooks.”
Well, Apple has finally acknowledged that there is a problems with the plastics used in some MacBook models. Apple has changed plastics, so recently shipping MacBooks should not exhibit this problem. The newer models have a “smoother” feel to the plastic, where the ones having discoloration, have a “rough” feel to them.
If your MacBook is starting to change color, contact AppleCare (1-800-APL-CARE in the US), let them know about it and they will replace the top of your MacBook.
The Mac Owners Support Group, aka MacOSG, was conceived in February, 2004 as the G5 Owners Support Group by Dave Merten, a former “Focus on Mac Support” guide at About.com. After purchasing a DOA Power Mac G5, and noticing on Apple Discussion Boards that people seemed to be having a lot of common hardware problems with them, Merten decided to open a support site for Power Mac G5 owners. He called it G5 Owners Support Group, registered the G5support.com domain and also applied to Apple to become an online Apple User Group.
MacOSG Home
Support Forums
Become a Member
Email us: admin@macosg.com
Article Information
Comment on this Article Print this Article Email this Article Digg This
Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
Recent Articles
