Scratch on aluminum laptop

Hi everybody,

Today bad stuff happened :

In the morning, before going to work, i took my laptop case like i do everyday (with hurry), unfortunately one of the belt was not correctly set, resulting the case to hang in the wrong way (up side down) with the opening of the case looking at the floor.

(this is a crappy laptop case, i have to change it)

The case was not completely closed and my laptop (and all documents and other stuff) fall on the floor resulting in a big *crash* noise.

something not really good to hear when you know you have a $1800 machine inside of it

after this i make a quick inspection, the laptop wasnt damaged (no folded corners or so) and, (fortunately), the lcd screen is intact (a miracle).
i try to boot and the rest (hdd) is also ok

=> the only problem is a scratch on the top of it. its really a soft scratch, because i didnt even notice it at home after first inspection , I only notice this at the office with full lights on. i have no idea which object scratch it. a pen ? the zipper of my bag (which is supposed to protect my laptop?)

the scratch is not really deep (hard to feel with your finger), and really thin.
i'd like to know what i can do to remove it (or at least make it less visible)

some ideas come to my mind :

• apply some (black) shoe polish to it (only a little). it will enter into the scratch and make it look darker thus less visible i think (but wont remove the scratch)
• use some car polish (i think i better be carefull with this, and at least try on the bottom first to see what i gives)
  i cannot imagine the top starting to be gray/white after some experiments, leaving some big white spots on it or making even more scratches

in all cases i dont want to make it worse than now. (like mister bean and the oil paint)

here is some pictures of it :
http://img79.imageshack.us/i/img0619.jpg/
http://img73.imageshack.us/i/img0620v.jpg/
http://img230.imageshack.us/i/img0624u.jpg/
(as you can see at some angles, its very soft (last picture), note the flash intensified the effect.

the laptop is made of brushed aluminium and i dont know how this one will react.

can somebody help ? some tips ? thx guys

 

Yeah, probably the zip from your bag made it happened. As I look at it, it doesn't look that bad, and you said it was only a light scratch.

For me, I'll just forget about it. I also had a deep scratch on my laptop track pad it's only around 2cm long but still quite annoying.

But that's life, I had this notebook for 3 yrs and it doesn't give me any problems. I suggest you forget about it and move on... the more you think about fixing it would lead you to Mr. Bean's situation.

 

If you really want to do something, I suggest covering it with a nice skin.

(leather, carbon, or wood?)

Check out:

www.sgpstore.com

but I'm not sure if they make them for your model.

 

Unlikely you can fix that type of thing without a major investment. So if you can't mend it, you could try covering it by painting over it or using some type of applique--and it doesn't have to be anything as gaudy as a skin. All you need is a small covering of design no larger than the scratch itself.

As for the mishap that precipitated the situation in the first place. Consider yourself very lucky it wasn't much worse. If I were you from now on no matter how rushed, I'd take my time to make sure my computer was secure.

Incidentally, I had a brand new messenger case I bought on line from Case Logic that couldn't take the weight of just the HDX 18 and a softback book. Luckily I had the habit of inspecting it daily and caught the broken thread in the shoulder straps (after only 2 weeks) before they gave way and my laptop came crashing to the ground. I'm so afraid of dropping my laptop I literally hold it like a baby.

 

Only real idea I could find that didnt look like crap:

http://www.pcdesignlab.com/smf/index.php?topic=113.0

 

Have an expert repaint the casing for you. That's the best way i know to have the scratch removed.