Strange Discoloration of Aluminum on XPS laptop

I have noticed this for awhile now, but I have been able to ignore it previously due to the problem being discrete and im not a very picky person. But as time went on this has gone far worse than i thought. As you can see in the 3 images i have attached below there is severe discoloration of the aluminum palm rests/base pieces of my xps laptop in the form of an imprint of a human hand.

The print on the left is the worst and the prints to the right of the touch pad are a little bit better. I have only owned this laptop for roughly 8 month and i dont even use the laptop that much everyday.

Does anyone know a quick and easy way to get this fixed? This is starting to bug me and i have tried some soap but it had no affect, actually kind of made it worse.

I really dont feel like calling dell support again cause i just called them to replace my faulty screen 2 weeks ago and i really dont know how a Dell technician can come to my house and fix this unless he replace the whole base.

advice appreciated

cheers

 

Try cleaning it with some isopropyl alcohol, it has to be just oil and debris from your hand being stuck in the tiny striations of the alum, since alum. itself can't tarnish or oxidize.

 

the palmrest is stainless steel.

edit: sure enough, a magnet doesn't stick to it, so it's not stainless steel. oh well. i've seen many people on this forum refer to it as stainless steel. never figured they were all wrong. sorry for the confusion.

but, a thin layer of stainless steel wouldn't weigh that much if that's what they had used. the metal of the palmrest is reinforced by a plastic framework behind it.

 

Steel? You kidding me?


Do you know how much weight that would add on? It is aluminum, trust me.

 

try warm water and soap. that might remove the oil from the aluminum. don't use abrasive type of cleaners. or use a magic cleaner type for computers.

 

It's definitely not steel. Aluminum maybe. Dell says it's magnesium alloy.

 

It's aluminium. This guy from Dell Mexico said so here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ISZRNaYT0Y

 

i hope you understand a lil bit of spanish =D

 

its a combination of sweat, oil, and dirt from your skin. i had the same thing happen to my inspiron 5100 but since it was plastic, it was pretty much permanent. the aluminum finish on this however, i dont know. try looking for a cleaner made specially for aluminum.

 

Is it still under warranty? If so call up Dell and they should have no problem coming out and replacing the palm rest, I am confident that comes under a materials fault. They shouldn't argue if it's under warranty but if its not then they have no obligation to repair it.

 

normal wear and tear isn't covered under most warranties. this is wear from using it. if dell replaces anything, i'd be VERY surprised.

 

Yeah I think they probably put that as cosmetic wear and tear....



That's why I try to keep my hands off the palm rest at all costs.

 

that's why, use ur XPS cleaning cloth once in a while whenever you are waiting for it to boot up and/or when shutting down. At least when ur doing it, ur being productive on your time and people will see how precious ur laptop is.... hehehehe...... letting them see how you love your XPS lappy....

 

should of kept the plastic covering that was on it when it was new, as i have. then it always looks brand new

 

Mmmm, I don't think there is a plastic sheet on the aluminum part. You're talking about the plastic touch area right?

 

Sorry to bump and old thread, bu has anyone actually taken the palmrest off... and polished it properly???

I'm thinking of doing it..... but it'd be a HUGE risk.. and i'd never touch my palmrest ever again!

 

The palmrest is aluminum. If you wipe the surface with a soapy cloth and it doesn't remove the mark, then it may be there to stay. My theory is that the discoloration is caused by a chemical reaction between the surface and the stuff that your palm deposits on it. The process can be accelerated by heat, and current leakage may also contribute.

I had this issue, and the discoloration eventually turned into darker spots (eroded) bits of aluminum. I used the online chat and told them that the surface had become abrasive and was irritating my wrist. At the end of the chat, I got an e-mail confirming that a replacement had been ordered. The next day, a tech called to set up an appointment. Day after that, my machine had a new palmrest.

So the lesson here is that if the machine is under warranty, let Dell handle it. No need to take any risks with the part yourself. And in the future, feel free to start your own thread, instead of resurrecting an ancient one.

 

Its brushed aluminum

 

Don't do it. It is brushed aluminum that has been clear anodized. If you polish off the anodizing, you expose the bare aluminum. Bare aluminum oxidizes almost immediately when contacting atmosphere. It will look nice for a short while, but the wear spots will return with a vengence. Anybody wants more information google "home anodizing". Learned a little about it while messing with paintball gear (almost everything is aluminum).

 

I had the same problem on my previous M1530 (got mine swapped because of overheating), the problem is not solved with any cleaning products, I even got tiny tiny holes in mine when you used a high pixel camera with macro-function.

You will probably get it replaced if you explain the problem and relate to other people having the same problems.