Scratches

Is it impossible to avoid scratches on the Macbook Pros?

My friend bought a MB Pro and after two weeks there are scratches everywhere in the aluminium and it doesn't look nice.

Is it a bad mistake by Apply using this soft material?

 

If you keep it in a sleeve when transporting it shouldn't. My Dell has a Mg-alloy exterior which is about as soft as Al and it looks new after 2 months of use. I don't think it's a mistake and I bet if your friend had purchased a laptop with a traditional plastic shell it would still look tore up.

 

I agree, invest in a good sleeve and take care of it. My 6yo Aluminum PowerBook still looks new to this day. Plastic shows wear more than aluminum IMO, especially matte plastic. The part where you touch it a lot will become glossy after years of usage, whereas aluminum stays matte

 

Another thing that you could do is to invest on full body shield, like that one that "best skins ever" sells. There are couple other companies, but IMO, they are very overpriced. Protechyourdevice also has a reasonable price (after coupon), but they only have it for 15" mbp.

The process of applying it may seem tedious, well, it's not, but it does require some patience. I had my mbp for a year before I sold it. I am pretty sure Apple could re package that as new, and no one would have known, lol.

But yeah, full body skin and some kind of padded sleeve, guaranteed that the body will be in mint condition. Not to mention the wrist rest area, where it'll tend to discolor after a while, but with full body skin, it covers that as well.

 

Could i use turtle wax for cars or similar?

 

No.

I'm not sure, actually -- interesting idea. May be unnecessary though; I use a sleeve I picked up for ~$30, and save for the bottom panel where my own handling on hard surfaces has caused scratches, my MBP is just fine.

 

My wife's had a unibody since October, 2008, and she hasn't put even the slightest scratch on it. It's all about how you handled it (whether you use a case/sleeve or not), and where/how you put it down. I know she's VERY careful to wipe crumbs etc off any tables she puts it on, and she puts it down like a baby to sleep.

 

^^^

Same here. I'm looking at my uMBP and I have literally zero scratches, anywhere. I've never had any scratches on any of my MBPs. Although I should mention that I've always used Tucano Second-skin cases whenever I leave the house.

My friend's new white MB OTOH, wow. That white plastic sure shows a lot of scratches and she babies hers.

 

I think it all comes to how you use it and how much you care for it.. I have mine since november 2008 and i havent had a single scratch. Of course i baby mine. It's a mac after all

 

I dont know about the uMBP. My aluminum powerbook wouldn't do well with wax, the matte material would make it harder to wipe off the wax residue.

 

The aluminum is akin to tin foil. It is soft and will scratch. This is normal.

 

*cough* invisibleSHIELD *cough*

Basically put one of those on it and never worry about a scratch again.

 

This is another one of Apple's ways of creating a 'disposable electronics' trend, to reduce a device's lifecycle and make you buy a new one faster.

Same thing for unreplaceable batteries.

 

thick aluminum is not really like tin foil...

 

Say what?

I can ALMOST see your point about the battery (let's never mind the fact that MOST consumers won't even bother replacing a out of warranty battery even if it is user replaceable and will instead choose to buy a new laptop instead). Seriously though, an aluminum (or other metal alloy) frame only serves to increase the usable lifespan of a device for the simple fact that the computer is more durable than it's plastic encased counterpart. Only someone who is incredibly superficial and values form over function would dispose of a $1200+ metal cased computer because of some surface marks... not that apple users would EVER be accused of purchasing technology based on superficial reasons... right?

 

The Unibody MBP's are thinner than the previous generation, but yet hold a bigger battery, plus longer battery life.

How did they achieve this? By getting rid of things that took up space, like the latched door. So there's a reason why the battery isn't replaceable. if you don't have a warranty, you could still change it yourself.

 

Before you're going to say more: read this and watch the video as well.
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/battery/

 

hmmm none of my MBP's ever took 1000 charges
and if you dismantle one of the battery packs ( I have ) they use the same Panasonic/Sanyo Cells found in almost every laptop made today.

And for me I found my 17" MBP's eat a battery every 600 charges or 350 days
NOT quite what they advertise. Battery life is also well affected by the ambiant temperature of the device it is in ...MBP's do run hotter than many machines

Always take the advertising for what it is, and remember most manufacturers rate specs by Lab and IDEAL conditions

 

then your Macbook Pros are older... they only started the new battery tech recently... your observations have nothing to do with currently sold models.

How fast you battery dies is a bit on luck, and a bit on use. Its not about total charges or total days... its how much and how fast you use it. 600 cycles in 350 days is a lot of battery usage, well over average. I only have a couple hundred myself in over a year.

 

I baby my Macbook Pro so I have like zero scratches.

 

Just get an invisible shield and just use the bottom piece. The bottom of the one I had was scratched within a day from university desks