tibook screen smudged by keyboard

travelgz

Registered
Hi,
Does this happen to anyone else? It happens to my keyboard as well as that of a friend of mine. After having used the tibook for three weeks now, I notised that there are areas on the screen that look like they were made by the keyboard, or prints that resemble the shape of the keyboard. Does this happen to anyone else? Is there a cause for worry or is there a rememdy?

thanks!
G
 
I've heard of this happening with replacement keyboards on iBooks .. but nothing about the TiBooks (until now). It definately should not be happening, call Apple and complain .. they may offer you a new screen/keyboard or something.
 
I've seen this with several models; TiBook, Bronze and Wall Street G3's, 540, 5300, and 2300. They all have been marred by keyboard keys scraping up against the screen when the powerbook's lid is closed. The problem seems to be exaggerated the more the powerbook is taken on journeys. At first I would try to re-engineer the keyboard, but as the models became more compact and dense, the effort became futile. I've since resorted to using a soft piece of non abrasive cloth between the keyboard and screen when traveling with good results.

travelgz, I have never tried going to Apple about this issue as it seems to be part of the normal wear and tear of a powerbook as it was designed (poorly in these respects).
 
Gee, that's part of the wear-and-tear? I had this laptop for only two weeks and saw the "signs". Never owned anything that wears and tears so quickly. Especially for a screen that, according to my salesperson, costs $100/in2 to repair. Expected more from the apple people (first time mac user, me).

OK, I will find myself a non-abrasive and lint free cloth somewhere. Thanks everyone!

G
 
I own both a Sony Vaio Laptop and a Titanium Powerbook, and they both have scars caused by the keyboards. It's usually noticeable near the center of the screen where the screen is less rigid and more prone to being pushed up against the keyboard... It's not an Apple related design flaw... Notebooks are made to be portable, and this is just one of the prices of portability.
 
i place a full sheet of 'thick' paper (bristol paper) over my keyboard/mouse so it wont affect my screen. had my pbti for like 5 months now, and my screen is still cleeeeean and perfect. :)
 
Most of the time "scars" are just finger/hand grease offset printed from the keyboard to the screen.

It does take some effort with eyeglasses cleaner (soap or alcohol based; I avoid alcohol) to get them off, because they are very dry grease.
 
They're scars. I checked. And as I mentioned, they were there when I got it.

No, I didn't try to get a refund or replacement or anything. After hearing people complain about not getting replacements when an "acceptable" number of LCD pixels were bad, I didn't think I had a chance with just a scarred/smudged screen.

I only notice it at certain screen angles.

-Rob
 
I read the maintenance section of my Tibook manual before asking this, even if it is a dumb-sounding question.

How do I clean my screen? Someone said use alcohol and soap water. Before I risk destroying any coating on the screen, anyone know what I can use to clean?

Thanks for the tip on "bristol" paper; I will go to a camera store to see if such a "bristol" paper exists in New York.

Later!
G
 
i just used bristol paper b/c i had some around me. it's also kinda thick, so it wont fold up and tear easily. i kept losing my looseleaf paper cover :)
 
You can buy a protector for your keyboard.

http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=3814&Item=LSPTIG4

check it out. This is only the second day I have had my Tibook that I purchased used but was hardly used and got a heck of a deal on it... I also have the smudges. Mine come off with some care. My ex-bosses pismo was really bad... i think he was just a dirty person and he had a lot of crap on his fingers that transferred to his keyboard then to the screen in transport. I have had two toshiba laptops and never seen this problem. But now everyone knows how to prevent it so it shouldnt really be an issue.

If I bought a brand new Ti and the screen was messed up I would not take no for an answer and would expect it to be replaced. If it wasnt I would simply contest the charge on my credit card through my cc company. When you are paying that much money for a machine there is no reason you should have to settle for one that has the screen screwed up right out of the box....
 
I have the same issue and have tried cleaning with alcohol and dry screan-wipes which only really take the edge of the smudges but don't really clean it. I also did the keys while I was there.

So there I was last w/e cleaning my G3 tower with Windex and figured that the stuff would do just as well on the Ti and Lo and Behold!... I now have a clean screen. And I don't mean a semi-clean one, I mean CLEAN .

So I also gave the keyboard a damned good seeing to and waddaya know... that is clean too.

:D
 
I had 2 dead pixels on my iBook when i first bought it. They aren't really noticable but I went to the store and bitched anyhow...the girl that was helping me pulled her powerbook from under her bench and showed me that she had 2 dead pixels as well...and it made me feel better, plus You really can't see them very well, even if you look for them. Anyhow, I bought one of those keyboard leather pad things, thanks for the link :)
 
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