Charger Cable leaving residue on Brand New MacBook

Hi all, I’ve just plugged in my new 12” MacBook to charge it for the first time, and noticed some white smearing on the back of my screen. 

While the MagSafe cable on my old device felt like it was made of a stretchy rubber-like polymer, this new cable almost feels organic. 

I’m wondering if this is just residue from manufacturing or if something else is at play. 

I’ll try wiping down the device, along with running a moist towelette along the length of the charger cord, but this is, well, interesting, to say the least.

As I found it:

Attempt 1: Wiping the device with a dry paper towel has removed most obvious of streaks, but what was now a bright white has just turned into a smeared grey, if not still white in places. I fear whatever this is, it may embed itself in the anodisation. (Feeling it now, this device is quite a bit smoother than what apple’s put out in the past, but that just means smaller gaps for things to get stuck in.

Result:

Attempt 2: A slightly moist towelette has done, well, very little. Vigorous rubbing in certain areas seems to do a little, however not much, and again, I fear embedding the residue further in the metals.

Result:

Attempt 3: I was very cautions here, as I do not know what material it is I was dealing with, but was left with no other option: 100% isopropyl alcohol.

I sprayed a small amount onto some paper towel, and wiped it on the device, checking to see if there was any iso on the device, if not adding slightly more to the towel, and repeating until I finally saw some iso left on the metal.

This worked beautifully, and removed the residue with little effort at all.

I wiped the casing until I could see trace amounts of Iso, then immediately wiped it dry with a second cloth. Simply dissolving the material in Iso, then letting the Iso evaporate is not enough, as the residue will still be there. Once dissolved in iso, it is important to remove the original Iso, then rinse with some fresh iso and wipe it off as well.

I’m not sure what this stuff is, but I’d rather not risk having this happen again, as if anything sits on the case too long and gets rubbed, well, if my MacBook Air (2014) was anything to go by, you’d need a pressure washer to get it back out.

Result:

As far as I’m concerned, the device is restored to normal, but I’ll be giving the length of the charger cable a thorough rubbing with a wet towel and then some Iso before I let it anywhere near my laptop again.

I hope this helps someone looking for a way to clear this off, or simply avoiding such an issue in the first place.