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Apple Replacing Yellowed MacBook Palmrests 51

Posted by timothy from the possibly-useful dept.
Andrew Nagy writes "I noticed recently (as did many other MacBook owners) that the palmrests and general surface of my white MacBook was beginning to yellow. I don't really find it a big deal, but thought I'd check out what Apple was doing about it. They now have a page in their support section dedicated to this issue, but since it just tells you to contact Apple support, I did. I took mine in to the nearest store, and after attempting (and failing) to clean the surface he told me they could order a new surface and replace it in the store... all covered for free under the warranty."
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Apple Replacing Yellowed MacBook Palmrests More

Apple Replacing Yellowed MacBook Palmrests

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  • That's mighty white of them (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    (It's a joke.)
  • Good to hear it is covered, but that is exactly the reason you do not want a white surface if there is gonna be a lot of contact with it.

    Black/gray cant turn any other color...

    • Re:That is why white sucks (Score:5, Insightful)

      by TCM ( 130219 ) on Monday July 31, 2006 @02:41PM (#15819194)
      Black/gray cant turn any other color...
      Believe me, it can.

    • Re:That is why white sucks (Score:5, Interesting)

      by CiaoYunz ( 620693 ) on Monday July 31, 2006 @02:43PM (#15819225)
      We have a G4 iBook in heavy use. It doesn't show any yellow stains on the palmrests. So I guess it's not a problem with white surfaces in general.

    • Nope. White Rules. (Score:5, Informative)

      by astrosmash ( 3561 ) on Monday July 31, 2006 @02:51PM (#15819300) Journal
      My two year old iBook is as white as the day I bought it. Any marks can be easily cleaned.

      The problem with the original MacBooks is a specific manufacturing defect. It's not dirt and it can't be cleaned. That's why they're replacing it on warranty.

    • Re:That is why white sucks (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Junks Jerzey ( 54586 ) on Monday July 31, 2006 @02:51PM (#15819305)
      Good to hear it is covered, but that is exactly the reason you do not want a white surface if there is gonna be a lot of contact with it.

      And yet this is only a problem with the new MacBooks, not the tens of millions of white iBooks sold over the last 5+ years.
      • Actually, this has been an issue with previous white iBooks. Like the current issue, it did not affect everyone. I think the current state of whining on the internet is partly to blame, so it's no wonder we're hearing about it more than before. Plus Apple is more in the spotlight now than it has been since OS X first came out.

        All these Apple rumors sites and digg-like sites are controlled by fifteen-year-olds with nothing better to do than complain. It's a different internet these days. Instead of actually

    • Re:That is why white sucks (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Bastian ( 66383 ) on Monday July 31, 2006 @03:11PM (#15819501)
      Black/gray cant turn any other color


      I have a four-year-old TiBook that says you're wrong.

      That said, the level of discoloration is minor enough to not be immediately obvious, could probably be scrubbed off if I cared enough about it (I assume it's just collected oil and dirt), and certainly is not the ugly yellow that shows up on the MacBooks.
    • Wrong.

      I can see the E-Coli on my black mouse.

  • "New Surface" /shady (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    "Leftover paint gloss should do the job," thought Steve.

  • To all the geeks out there... (Score:5, Funny)

    by sensei85 ( 989372 ) on Monday July 31, 2006 @02:42PM (#15819219)
    ...Thank you! It's people like you who jump on new technology and bitch about all the things that are wrong with it that make everyone else's lives easier. When I finally break the bank for a MacBook, I won't have to worry about any of this stuff :)

  • Hey, this is America (Score:4, Funny)

    by $RANDOMLUSER ( 804576 ) on Monday July 31, 2006 @02:45PM (#15819250)
    We fix what shows.
  • My Clamshell iBook arrived with scuffs on the plastic, running along the edge of the rubber. There were cracks around the Apple logo, and one of the feet hovered just above the surface. The Apple rep tried to convince me I was okay with these problems.
    I never even thought about going to Apple with my discolored palm prints.

    Is Apple getting a little better?

    • Re:Is Apple getting better? (Score:5, Funny)

      by gEvil (beta) ( 945888 ) on Monday July 31, 2006 @03:22PM (#15819603)
      There were cracks around the Apple logo, and one of the feet hovered just above the surface.

      Too bad it wasn't all of the feet that hovered. You probably coulda sold your floating iBook for a mint...
    • I owned a clamshell iBook that I bought launch weekend in October 1999. 4 months later, the flip-out handle was cracked (even though I rarely used the handle), and the screen housing was beginning to crack around the logo as well.

      I called Apple and they told me that they weren't going to fix it because it was cosmetic. I responded that the very CEO of their company had promoted this product at launch as being made of virtually indestructible polycarbonate, so strong that you could toss it into a backpack.
      • Yep. My Key Lime was ordered the day after the Stevenote announced it. Being a later model, the plastic on the handle showed some hairline cracks, but never turned into anything more, even though I did use the handle.

        I used to be on the P1 list, and it seemed like everyone with a Rev.1 had the handles falling to bits.
        • My aunt gave me the first-gen iBook she took quite literally around the world. The handle has cracks, but that's the only thing that happened to it after almost 7 years of use. It was in great shape otherwise and after a major upgrade (30GB hard drive, a 512MB SO-DIMM bringing the RAM up to 544MB) it still is quite useful after all these years. I run Panther with all the upgrades. I could run Tiger but it would require using X Post Facto because of the lack of FireWire.

          And people still look at it as if it i
    • Don't go to an Apple rep. Most likely you went to a CompUSA (where I know for a fact this happens), met a pushy sales person who did not want to make an RMA, and were denied your rights as an Apple user. In the future, contact Apple and only Apple unless they suggest otherwise. 1-800-APL-CARE
      • That's not universally true. I know of at least one Apple dealer where if you show up with cracked plastic, discolored plastic, or whatever cosmetic issue, you will get new plastic.

        I've put in repair cases for cosmetic issues before. Apple has no problem with this.

        And if the repair part is in stock at the distribution warehouse, I can usually have your computer back in your hands the next day.

        As a side note, a noisy hard drive or fan can be covered under Apple warranty as well.
    • I have found that Apple's service has been great (I have only had an i-pod from them). I have put it through hell and they have always replaced anything that went wrong with it. My qualm with the i-pods is that the headphones after some time (2-10 months it seems), one of the buds "fails", going all fuzzy, but they have always replaced it straight away...

      Hell, they even totally replaced my ipod when after 11 months I complained about the battery life

  • Battery Recall (Score:5, Informative)

    by Ford Prefect ( 8777 ) on Monday July 31, 2006 @03:05PM (#15819449) Homepage
    ... More importantly, they're doing a battery recall for many MacBook Pros [reghardware.co.uk].

    Mine is one that's affected. Apparently, a new one will arrive in the post in a few days, and I need to send the old one back to them. There's not meant to be any safety issues, but still...
    • It's not a safety issue. The issue was the MBP logic board would sometimes "not realize" the battery was there. In particular, if you left the computer unplugged long enough for the battery to drain to zero, the notebook would stop recognizing the battery at all and would thus not recharge it. The end result of this is that you no longer have a "portable" notebook because the battery is useless. This is what happened to me, and after a quick phone call they shipped the replacement. The new battery arrived

  • Apple, the retro trendsetter, is switching... (Score:4, Funny)

    by PFI_Optix ( 936301 ) on Monday July 31, 2006 @03:10PM (#15819493) Journal
    Somewhere in California, even though the location is irrelevant--Apple's attempt at evoking nostalgia for Hypercolor T-shirts [wikipedia.org] has backfired. The color-changing palmrests, like the shirts that preceded them, have begun to "stick" in their yellow color instead of reverting to white as intended.

    When contacted for comment, an Apple spokesman said "Hi, I'm a Macintosh. I understand that sometimes people just aren't willing to sacrifice for fashion, so we're going to go ahead and switch those palmrests. But it's okay; I'm still better than a PC because I do all these things that PCs do and I don't do all the things PCs...haven't done since Windows ME was dropped like a bad habit.

    A poorly-dressed spokesman for the PC inudstry responded with "Hi, I'm a PC. Yeah I don't look as trendy as Mr. Mac over there, but then I don't change colors when your palms get all sweaty. But do me a favor and keep them off of me anyway, okay? That's just gross."
  • I guess as opposed to not fixing a clear flaw in their hardware's pretty coating. I mean it would be a PR disaster if they ignored the problem woulnd't it?

  • I wonder (Score:5, Funny)

    by krell ( 896769 ) on Monday July 31, 2006 @03:15PM (#15819534) Journal
    I've got a pretty nasty old toilet-seat I'd like to have replaced. I suppose I could send it to Apple and say it is one of those clamshell Macbooks and ask for a replacement.

  • More Macbook Surfacing Problems (Score:3, Informative)

    by schwatoo ( 521485 ) on Monday July 31, 2006 @05:19PM (#15820667)
    There seems to be a new problem with the white Macbooks reacting to the sweat in their owner's skin: See: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageI D=2819568 [apple.com] and (self link) http://toxicsoftware.com/blog/macbook-tarnishing/ [toxicsoftware.com]. I have some photos on Flickr [flickr.com] showing the damage. So far I've only found one other case like this - but i imagine there will be more. Whatever material Apple is/was using on the Macbooks they really need to test it better.
  • Now that Apple have acknowledged this pro^H^H^H issue, is it ok to believe in it now?

    Also I recently bought a new MacBook battery. Am I supposed to include this in my inventory list for my forum [macrumors.com] signature or is this still ok?

    15" MacBook Pro
    2Ghz Core Duo
    2GB 533Mhz DDR2 RAM
    128MB Video RAM
    100GB Seagate Momentus 7200.1 HD


    Also I need guidance on which items should be in bold.
    • Your forum signature is not long and/or retarded enough. You need to add more stupid details nobody gives a shit about, like the brand of your RAM. Your e-penis depends on it!
  • Apple has found that the stains on the Mac Book are usually on teh right hand side and returned customers are usually male......

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