Black MacBook's paint flaking off?

Hello Chi,

the only "real" report of this, which every other report leads back to, is the one at http://marklem.com/mlem/?p=8

This didn't involve a customer's computer at all, but a demo model in a store. Its not "paint" in the one in the store that the author says is flaking, either. Its plastic.

It looks to me as if the computer may have been dropped or rubbed against something, and then someone has attempted to clean up the damage with polish or some other chemical, causing more problems than were there to begin with!.

No doubt we will hear this story repeated over and over again by commercial opponents and Apple haters, but it looks to me as if there is nothing "real" in it. There isn't any paint to flake!

Cheers

Rod

The paint or coating on my black Macbook has flaked off. I'm no Apple-hater either.

It's flaked on the curved edge on the outside of the lid at the top of the screen. It's an area about 4mm x 3mm. Underneath it looks like black metal so it's not that obvious. Very annoying though.

I haven't knocked it or scratched it so I don't know what's happened here. It hasn't been in a case or even out of the house.

I paid a premium for black and now I wish I'd bought white. 8-(

Apart from that, I love my Macbook. If you buy one, get a white one.

Regards.

I'm currently using a 4 yr old windows PC. I've been using a mac at school and have seriously been thinking about getting either the macbook or the macbook pro. but with all the problems I've been reading about, I'm really tempted to wait for a while... what with flaking of the black macbook, discoloration on the white, mooing and noise with the macbook pro and heating issues all around... Any ideas if apple will acknowledge these as problems and try to fix them or is there no hope??? Any advice needed since I need to get a new computer before going back to school in fall...

Thanks

Man I wish that were true. I Switched to IBM Thinkpads because I cant stand a white or silver portable, when the MacBook black came out my prayers where answered, I was convinced that it was solid black, heck, why would they paint the **** thing if they could make it out of black plastic right??? WRONG!

The soft cover of my MacBook has a zipper which scratched the underside and I see now a big FAT white line! I'm seriously upset!

Hmmm, apart from the paint issue it's perfect! Does ages with the battery, plays Warcraft without problems, has the best keyboard I have ever typed on, iSight is great. etc etc

I just can not understand why they choose white plastic. If they had used black plastic and painted it then I could have scratched it and you would not noticed.

Man I wish that were true. I Switched to IBM
Thinkpads because I cant stand a white or silver
portable, when the MacBook black came out my prayers
where answered, I was convinced that it was solid
black, heck, why would they paint the **** thing if
they could make it out of black plastic right???
WRONG!

The soft cover of my MacBook has a zipper which
scratched the underside and I see now a big FAT white
line! I'm seriously upset!

that means that there are THREE layers: the outermost rubber layer, the shiny black plastic underneath and the white plastic underneath that. Maybe the white is just the scraped off black? You know how it can sometimes look white...at least I'm hoping that that's the case.

The blackbook is black on the inside too, so it doesn't make much sense that there would be white in the middle.

I agree: what a great computer! Only let down by the outer shell material. I mean, somebody (Steve ?) decided that it should be matte and I guess they couldn't figure out a way to make matte plastic without the rubber surface? Just look at the old Pismo laptops - that would have been much better than putting the layer on. Oh well....

You are right and I'm a idiot. I decided to open the battery compartment and make a deep cut into the inside plastic (dont worry, you cant see it) and she's black to the core.

The white effect is from the transparent protection layer. So if push comes to shove in a few years from now I will take her apart and take the defective layer off completly.

I think somebody (Steve?) who decided to make it matte probably did so because of the debacle with the black iPod Nano. When those came out and they started showing scratches all **** broke loose. Now I think they are just trying to cover their butts....although I didnt get the BlackBook cause I ran my fingernail across the one at the Apple Store and it left a scratch that I couldnt rub out. Theres always going to be some problem, somewhere, with some computer. Theyre never going to be 100% perfect, not even from Apple. If stuff goes wrong...have Apple fix the problem, simple as that.

this started to happen to me about a week ago, I now have a big chunk flaked off on my case.

I've not been bothered to take photos yet, maybe I will later tonight. Apple are replacing the lid.

So..dunno..whatever.

but with all the problems I've been
reading about, I'm really tempted to wait for a
while... what with flaking of the black macbook,
discoloration on the white, mooing and noise with the
macbook pro and heating issues all around...

Dude! Remember where you are. This is a support site. That means if anything goes wrong, people come here for help. But people who are happy and content with their computers don't come here.

I don't know what percentage of problems the Macbooks are having. They are new, and Apple can't test out what everyone everywhere will do with or to their computer...so when people start doing whatever they do, problems appear that were not anticipated. In addition, this is electronics and with electronics, there is a percentage chance of lemons--that's for any electronics that come out from any company no matter how reputable. So no group of electronics is going to ever be trouble free.

This question is, have there been more problems with the MB than expected given this percentage and given that it's being field tested in mass numbers for the first time? If there are more problems...why and were they taken care of? There was reportedly one bad batch. From what I understand, there are no more of that bad batch so you're good to go on the latest ones--or so I've heard. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

My opinion, the MacBook is a FANTASTIC laptop and you should get one. The keyboard can't be beat, the trackpad is great, the screen is wonderful, the built in camera is fun. It is an AMAZING laptop.

No computer is ever guaranteed problem-free forever--and certainly none are ever going to look pristine forever. Like a new car, you will eventually get that first scratch or dent or flake. Laptops take a lot of wear and tear even if you baby them and keep them wrapped in protective covers. Nature of the beast. They go places and get scratched and bumped. But at least this laptop has a magnetic plug, so you know you won't be likely to jerk it off a table and have it crashing to the floor when you trip over the cord.

And you WILL trip over the cord. I did the first week I had it. The magnetic plut pulled right out and the laptop remained undamaged.

Laptops are more delicate than desktops. Again, nature of the beast. Go to an Apple store, test out a MB. If you want it and like it, get it. Cost-wise, it's a great deal for a laptop. Buy Apple care and you'll have it covered for 3 years pretty much no matter what happens.

I agree that they will never be perfect, but this was completely avoidable and a mistake that Apple, as an experienced manufacturer, should never have made. There are lots of materials that don't flake/peel and that look good so how could they be so stupid? It just makes no sense to me.And to charge more for it! What nerve!

If they wanted a rubbery feeling there are numerous PC laptops that have thicker rubber that feels really good and can endure everyday use. Apple could have chosen a thicker rubber coating.

The good news is that even after several months most people seem NOT to have any problems. Maybe it really is isolated? I do think that with time the issue will only get worse. Maybe somebody will come up with a way to strip the blackbooks and make them completely shiny...

Would you please post a picture? It seems many people don't believe this is a problem/potential problem. Apple replaced my whole computer because of a small peel, said they wanted to capture it for engineering review. Wonder how many new peeling cases we will see over time....

The reason why I can now show you pictures is because I sent off my Macbook last week and it came back yesterday. They went ahead and replaced my perfectly functional keyboard(which had absolutely no problems at all) and left my flaking top lid right where it was. I could not have been more descriptive when I talked to Apple Care about this, not to mention you can't miss the flaking when you open the computer. It's right there under your thumb. I am in awe. Apple Care's phone line is was closed tonight when I got home so I'm sharing this with the discussions forum first. The thing that makes me the most angry isn't the fact that they replaced the wrong part but when I opened the box today I found about 6 scratches in my already peeling lid. Infuriating is all I can say about it.

Pictures are here

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/1809410



black macbook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Just wanted to say that my black macbook is flaking right where you open the lid and also on a random spot on top. I was at an Apple Store today and they told me to bring it in so that they can look at it. They had not heard of such a thing.

For those of you that have had this issue, has it been taken care of?