Will an insect getting underneath the keyboard cause problems?
Hi! An ant crawled underneath my keyboard and I didn't see it come out. Is there a chance that it will reach the internal components of my unit and cause damage/problems in the future. As of now, I haven't noticed any issues. Thanks for your help.
Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Yes, insects can cause problems. It also indicates possibly that food was around the keyboard one too many times. My college 16 years ago was adament not to allow food or drink in the computer room, because of having to constantly replace keyboards. You can imagine how much more sensitive notebooks might be, especially if they have backlighting.
Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Yes, insects can cause problems. It also indicates possibly that food was around the keyboard one too many times. My college 16 years ago was adament not to allow food or drink in the computer room, because of having to constantly replace keyboards. You can imagine how much more sensitive notebooks might be, especially if they have backlighting.
Insects inside computers and other electronics are a well-known cause of trouble. It's unlikely that a single ant would be likely to do substantial damage, but ants rarely travel far from other ants, and they leave pheromone trails for others to follow. The warmth of the electronics attracts them, and the electrical fields may add to the attraction. Ants can cause corrosion and short circuits, impede cooling, and Apple has even been known to refuse to work on machines that are heavily infested with bugs.
Thanks a lot for your responses. It made me feel better knowing that a single ant may not cause serious damage. Being a new Mac user, I'm curious though -- is the MacBook Pro designed to keep insects and other materials (e.g. dust, dirt) from entering the inside of the unit through the keyboard? I haven't decided on whether to buy a keyboard cover and would want to know if I need to get one. Thanks in advance!
No, the computer isn't designed to keep insects out. It can't be: it has to ventilate itself. Even with a keyboard protector on it, all the port openings and the intake and outflow vents along its back edge (mostly hidden by the display hinge) would be wide open, offering unobstructed routes into the heart of the machine. A keyboard protector will, however, keep crumbs and dust out of the keyboard, and though this is my sixth Apple notebook and I've never used a keyboard protector before, I put one on this MBP the moment I took it out of the box and haven't typed a keystroke without it in 23 months. There isn't so much as a single fingerprint on my keyboard. I decided to use a protector on this machine because it's so much harder to clean underneath the keycaps with the aluminum grid covering the spaces between them.
