Half the staff at Stitch Media are Mac users. The other half, PC users. I belong to the former half, and consider myself a relatively new, yet avid Mac fan. At least once a week while working on a project, I’ll pop my head up from my computer and declare ‘i love my mac’. It’s speedy, its precise, its efficient, it protects my work from viruses – all and all, it is a brilliant machine. However, if I have one gripe about using a Macbook – particularly a white Macbook – it is the filth factor. For over a year I tried, with varied success, to keep my palm rest clean. I tried dry scrubbing them down with static sheets and javax sheets, dry and wet paper towel, and various computer cleaners, all to no avail. I even tried out some ‘preventive measures’ – like sticking post-it-notes to the palm rest – but gave up on that idea when i started using the post-its to write messages. I eventually conceded to the fact that I would have to make a compromise: if I wanted a great computer that looked sleek on the outside and worked beautifully on the inside then I would have to learn to tolerate my laptop’s dirty (re: grimy) secret – and there was nothing I could do about it.
Until today. On a tip from photographer Will Lew – who’s Macbook, I am told, is in pristine condition – I went out and bought some white erasers from a local craft store to see if they would take care of my ‘little problem’. Apparently using liquids runs the risk of removing the white paint on the Macbook, and using post-it-notes as a filth deterrent may having multiple, practical uses, but in reality, just looks silly. I’m happy to say though, that the white eraser method is a quick and harmless way to keep your palm rests looking fresh. Sure, using an eraser requires a little bit of elbow grease to unearth the beautiful white plastic that made your eyes sparkle and mouth water when you first saw it at the Apple store – but the few minutes of scrubbing are totally worth it. The white eraser works like magic and only cost a couple bucks – being quite possibly the cheapest, easiest, and most harmless solution to cleaning your Macbook.
