ibook smell

I just searched all the Apple Discussions postings for 'smell'. Smell problems aren't being reported for other Mac keyboards, just for the iBooks.

Further evidence that this is a problem caused by the construction materials of these keyboards, not the users, is that none of my other keyboards ever smelled. Even my old PowerBook, whose keyboard stayed hot all the time and was full of cracker crumbs and who knows what else, never smelled bad.

Rosie

I suspect that Apple made the iBook keyboards from a defective or unsuitable plastic, and now it's beginning to break down.

If so, it is probably only with some iBooks. I've had mine a year and a half, and I only smell, as I mentioned, a clean plastic odor. I just had my husband check, for a second opinion, and he said, "It smells like... nothing."

I'm not discounting what others are saying at all. Clearly, some of your keyboards have an unpleasant smell. But clearly other iBook keyboards do not, after as much time.

Curioser and curioser....

For what it's worth, I have an Airport card, installed for the whole time I've had the iBook (1-1/2 years), and no smell. (Just data for troubleshooting, researching, and statistical analysis. 😉

"ooh, ooh that smell, can't you smell that smell? the smell that surrounds you!"

As was already suggested, this could be some sort of mildew odor that would occur in very humid/damp areas, as I live in Nevada and it is dry in my area, and I never experienced what anyone here has unfortunately "got a whiff of" -my wife surely would have noticed on either her older 500 MHZ or this newer 700 MHZ, as she has a very keen sense of smell.

It might be interesting if everyone having this problem would post what part of the country they live in.

Doug M, you live in Seattle (probably the mildew capital of the world) - Do you have this problem?

Where in nevada? Carson? reno? Las Vegas?

I'm in Colorado, also very dry, and don't have any odor problems. You might be onto something.

Reno (the biggest little city in the world, I've been told)

I like your profile now - "fully maxed"; now you're a true switcher/Mac addict.

Thats cool, i live in carson city. yeah, it was too easy.

I'll see how mine goes in winter, assuming we have some rain by then. The long range forecast is good rain from March (our autumn) so winter may be humid.

Anyone living in the tropics may be able to comment on whether they have a problem.

I live in Stockholm, Sweden and I can't say I noticed any odor from my keyboard. I'll snff it when i get back home. 🙂

But I noticed that my CD smells funny while in use, that "new computer" smell. Same thing with the fan on the back (by the hinge). But I guess it takes more than a month and more usage before that smell goes away.

My iBook is quite new. I bought it from CompUSA and it has this kind of plastic smell, but not a bad smell. I live in Washington (pretty cold). I hope the smell doesn't start happening for me, I have my iBook on all the time for programming and I wouldn't stand it. If it does start happenning, I won't be a happy switcher. I won't be happy with Apple either.

I've always had an Airport card, and the smell didn't start until about a year and a half after I had been using the computer. So, I couldn't attribute the smell problem to it.

I'm in upstate New York which is pretty humid in the summer, but before that I was in Wisconsin -- FAR more humid. And now it is the winter, and is terribly dry and the smell persists. Besides, if it was a mildew/mold problem, wouldn't it have been eliminated when I took the keyboard apart and cleaned it vigorously?

And, besides, having vast experience with molds/mildews (growing vigorously underneath our apartment's kitchen sink) this isn't really a moldy smell -- it's sharper. More animal than vegetable.

Interesting hypothesis, though. I'm curious to see whether other folk who have the smell are in humid areas too.