Hey, I've had my MBP for a month now and love it. But it gets so dirty easily. Fingerprints everywhere. What would be the best way, or the best product to use, for cleaning it?
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MBP getting really dirty
- Thread starter blankwave5551
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warm water and a damp paper towel works pretty well for me. Methanol also works if you can get some.
miles01110 said:
I second that. Warm water keeps my screen clean as well. The keyboard
however is more tricky. It get yellowish stains. perhaps I shouldn't eat apples
while typing....
miles01110 said:
That is a bad idea.
Methanol is corosive to aluminum by attacking the normal layer of oxidation that protects aluminum. I don't know exactley what alloy the MBP is made of but I would not chance it.
Not to mention, methanol is highly flamable and toxic. I would say, in general, it is not a good idea to have methanol in your home.
viccles said:
Find windex to be a good multi-purpose cleaner. It is basically just dilute ammonia and a little blue coloring.
Should be fairly safe as long as you just wipe-on wipe-off, don't spray it on and let is sit.
Funnily enough, just before happening upon this thread, I'd been cleaning my MBP 
For the screen and the case, I use the lens cleaning spray that my optician provides with my glasses.
Since this is safe to use on plastic lenses with anti-scratch and anti-glare coatings, I can't see it doing any harm to the plastic of the LCD. In fact, it's dried without leaving any smears or residue on the screen at all.
I use lint-free cotton cloths to do the cleaning. Be careful to only use a clean part of the cloth on the screen, and to clean the screen before the case. Otherwise you risk any scratchy nasties picked up from the muck on the case abrading the LCD plastic.
I use the same stuff on the keys. Turn off the machine, then moisten the cloth with the glasses spray. Then run it over the keys. I've been able to rub quite hard (but not recklessly!) on the keys, and it's worked a treat. You'll have to keep moving to a clean bit of cloth, otherwise you'll just be reapplying the finger-muck
By the way, I've just noticed that the thin strip of metal above the lid-release button is beginning to warp outwards. Anyone else noticed this? My machine's about 6 months old, and has been completely babied its whole life (it's pretty much perfect condition. Barring this little bit of warpage, I reckon I'd be able to describe it 'like new' on eBay!)
For the screen and the case, I use the lens cleaning spray that my optician provides with my glasses.
Since this is safe to use on plastic lenses with anti-scratch and anti-glare coatings, I can't see it doing any harm to the plastic of the LCD. In fact, it's dried without leaving any smears or residue on the screen at all.
I use lint-free cotton cloths to do the cleaning. Be careful to only use a clean part of the cloth on the screen, and to clean the screen before the case. Otherwise you risk any scratchy nasties picked up from the muck on the case abrading the LCD plastic.
I use the same stuff on the keys. Turn off the machine, then moisten the cloth with the glasses spray. Then run it over the keys. I've been able to rub quite hard (but not recklessly!) on the keys, and it's worked a treat. You'll have to keep moving to a clean bit of cloth, otherwise you'll just be reapplying the finger-muck
By the way, I've just noticed that the thin strip of metal above the lid-release button is beginning to warp outwards. Anyone else noticed this? My machine's about 6 months old, and has been completely babied its whole life (it's pretty much perfect condition. Barring this little bit of warpage, I reckon I'd be able to describe it 'like new' on eBay!)
displaced said:
My 12" PowerBook has the exact same problem, but it is the 867 MHz model, so it is a little bit older than your MacBook Pro, and has been like this for about a year, and i don't know what caused it.
Anyway, I use baby wipes to clean my PowerBook and they work really well on the body and the screen (apart from making it smell a bit wierd for half an hour afterwards
). I did not buy them especially to use on my laptop though, my mum bought them to clean our leather sofas. I thought they would be good because they shouldn't have any harmful or corrosive substances inside if they are for babies.
ChickenSwartz said:
the toxicity amd flamable-ness of methanol is not a problem, you can't have nearly as concentrated of those when you clean your macbook pro (unless you pour a liter of them out... (i mean, that's like saying, wine is toxic and flamable, except you take in much more concentrated alcohol when you drink wine than breathe in when you clean MBP)
in fact, methanol is very good in cleaning.
as far as the corrosion... methanol is not corrosive to most metal at ambient temperature... even to alumium coatings, methanol corrose very very slowly, and by the amount you'd use to clean, it won't be a problem at all
ANNOUNCEMENT!!!
People please don't use any chemicals on these expensive laptops. You need to use an LCD SAFE cleaner like Klear Screen or iKlear period. Half the cost of the laptop is the $creen!!!
People please don't use any chemicals on these expensive laptops. You need to use an LCD SAFE cleaner like Klear Screen or iKlear period. Half the cost of the laptop is the $creen!!!
Personally I find a blue "glass/polishing" e-cloth works the best. You just spray it with water and it cleans up my Powerbook in no time at all, without leaving any marks / streaks on the screen.
No chemicals, so no risk of damage to any coatings on the screen/aluminium either.
I've had various other microfibre cloths, but none have worked nearly as well as these. (I've ordered a few different ones and the glass/polishing cloth seems best)
As for the keys, I'd recommend getting an iSkin ProTouch.
No chemicals, so no risk of damage to any coatings on the screen/aluminium either.
I've had various other microfibre cloths, but none have worked nearly as well as these. (I've ordered a few different ones and the glass/polishing cloth seems best)
As for the keys, I'd recommend getting an iSkin ProTouch.
ChickenSwartz said:
The aluminum on the MBP is anodized, so it's fine.
And I don't keep it in my home, I keep it in my lab
But you are right, methanol in the home is not safe.
bearbo said:tAnd I don't keep it in my home, I keep it in my lab
OK we agree on that. But I think ethanol or isopropanol would be better choices.