Brand new Macbook smells like mildew

I returned my horrible mold smelling brand new MacBook Air the next day and got a new one. Opened it up and yup, same smell, but MUCH MUCH less intense. I couldn’t get anywhere near the first one the smell was so bad. I decided to keep the lesser smelling one and I cleaning the cord (yes the problem IS the cord) with water and dish detergent and hung it to dry and air out. The smell is almost gone.

I had the same issue you are having: brand new MacBook 13", horrible mold smell. I got a return label, but they can't just send me a new one. I have to return this one and wait for them to refund the credit card and then order another one after the $ goes back to my card. They could not even guarantee that I could return the item in an Apple Store (thereby getting an instant return credit). The people at the Apple Store told me that sometimes the returns are blocked from processing in-store if the unit was bought online. So I'm sending this one back through the mail. There was no desiccant in the package, which surprised me. I did think there were scratches on my computer too, but they turned out to be blemishes on its plastic sleeve only. I'm not sure why they packaged these without desiccants, but I would guess that is why this happened. Really surprised that Apple didn't anticipate this and hope they address this error soon for all their MacBooks, or it will develop into a huge problem.

I found out it was the USB-C power cord. I ordered a new one and it too had the smell. It is a new manufacturing process apparently. It is a horrible smell. Toxic. The cord stunk up the entire computer box as it was sealed within it. It is the cord. And nobody at Apple cares.

We pinpointed the problem as the power connection cable.

It is made of some material that reeks of mold. This one thing has permeated the box with the smell. Once removed, and the box and it's other contents are aired out, the smell goes away on them. The cord, however, is another problem entirely.

We tried laying it outside in the sun, soaking the wire part (not the connectors) in a baking soda paste, washing the same part of the wire with Dawn and warm water. Nothing worked.

So I ordered another one. When this cord arrived, it had the same smell. I sent it back.

My boyfriend found the only solution. He took black electrical tape and wrapped the entire cord, sans the charging ends. It covered the offending plastic and the odor went away. FINALLY.

Contact them again. Be sure to use the Get Support link, and not the results of a web search.

Update: Definitely the power cable. I put it in a ziplock with some bleach water. Could smell it through the ziplock and bleach, added 2 more layers of ziplock and threw it away. I felt like an environmental terrorist. I feel sorry for the critters at the dump. Bought a 3rd party cable and it works, and smells, fine.

Can you correlate the odor with its power cord?

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I agree you should not be inconvenienced, but such knowledge may spare you the hassle of returning what may be a perfectly good Mac. They probably won't want you to return just the power cord though; that's the way they are.

To my knowledge Apple has never included a desiccant in any of their packaging, at least for products shipped to the US. Whatever the stink happens to be or how it smells, there is no reason to suspect it is mold or anything else that can be exacerbated by moisture.

I had to drive an hour to get a replacement yesterday. This one stinks too.

I broke the box down and I think it is the glue. The genius manager said it was the "environmentally friendly" material they are using now.

Hogwash! Midew/mold odor is not "environmentally friendly. In fact, NO ODOR is acceptable.

I had to even order a new USB-C charge cable because I couldn't get the smell out.

[Edited by Moderator]

Not to pile on, but I have the same moldy-basement smell on my brand-new Macbook Pro. It is almost unbearable. This is the same smell you get when items spend a bunch of time in a hot and humid port trapped in a container with high humidity. I am hoping that it is just the power cord and will try to find a 3rd party replacement. Nearest Apple store is a 3 hr drive.

That is indeed unheard of; at least from my experience. I've never heard of Apple shipping any Mac in that condition, new or refurbished.

I would not be surprised at all if that Mac had been sold by Amazon or a Best Buy (never set foot inside a Best Buy) but not Apple. Somebody screwed up and I agree you should tell them.

Your only recourse is to return it. Your geographic location is a pain, we all get that, but Apple's return policies are not based on any one's proximity to and Apple store.

Your always have the option to ship it in but now days that's pretty risky as to delivery dates and good schedules.

My son's neighbor had that problem and narrowed it down to the charging cable. I suggested he wipe it down with a cloth dampened slightly with Lysol spray. Apparently that worked.

His Apple store was a 3 hour drive round trip so he was good with a little home remedy.

Yeah, I know .... but sometimes it's just better to fix it and move on.

We did everything to get the charging cable to stop smelling. NOTHING worked. It is the plastic used. So we covered it up with electrical tape. From beginning to end. Now no smell. But Apple did a bad thing here. And refuses to admit their problem.

Thank you, NannyGM123 for posting this. I returned mine at the Apple store. I exchanged it for another one that had less smell- and yes - cord is the smelly thing. All reps on phone I’ve spoken to and store people say they never heard of this. Even if they did know, they would not be allowed to admit it. Smell caused breathing problems.