{"id":43146,"date":"2024-05-08T14:29:57","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T18:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=43146"},"modified":"2025-01-31T10:36:54","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T15:36:54","slug":"shiny-macbook-keys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2024\/05\/08\/shiny-macbook-keys\/","title":{"rendered":"Shiny MacBook Keys"},"content":{"rendered":"

OSXDaily<\/a> (tweet<\/a>):<\/p>\n

One of the worst things about the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro is the shiny key issue. If you’re unfamiliar, the image above demonstrates the beginning stages of the shiny key development on my otherwise beautiful six month old MacBook Air, visible mostly on the shift key, but “A” and “S” are also beginning to display the hallmark worn key shine.<\/p>

The shiny keys are unmistakable, and the wear occurs after routine use of MacBook keyboards. For some users they develop within weeks(!) and for others it can take a year or more to appear, but it seems that virtually every MacBook user who types on their built-in keyboard will eventually experience the shiny keys issue.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

There are also tons of forum posts and pictures about shiny keys, worn keys, polished keys, stained keys, people refer to them differently, but they’re appearing<\/a>on<\/a> Apple‘s own support<\/a>discussion<\/a>forums<\/a>, MacRumors Forums<\/a>, myriad<\/a> reddit<\/a> threads<\/a>, and elsewhere. And yes, it does happen with some third party keyboards and PC keyboards<\/a> too, but we’re focusing on the world of Apple laptop keyboards here.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Jeff Gamet<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Know why you can’t clean the greasy spots off your compute keyboard? Because that isn’t grease. Lots of computer keys are made from ABS plastic, which is soft and cheaper than PBT plastic. Those shiny spots are where you polished the keys by typing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Via John Gruber<\/a> (Mastodon<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\n

Those old keycaps clearly weren’t made from cheap ABS plastic. But in recent decades, Apple’s keyboard keycaps have<\/em> been made from ABS plastic (or, at least, some sort of plastic that develops a greasy-looking shine through use). I’d love to see Apple fix this problem. Apple’s just not known for cheaping out on materials.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Also, there was a discussion on ATP episode 562<\/a> back in November about keycap wear, and one of their listeners pointed out that ABS can be made transparent to let backlighting shine through, but PBT cannot. You can make PBT keycaps with clear (ABS-filled) cut-outs for the letters, but that would undoubtedly add cost and complexity. My beloved Apple Extended Keyboard II has no backlighting at all. It’s quite possible that this entirely explains why Apple sticks with ABS despite the shiny-when-worn factor.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

There are two issues here. First, the polish, which is a shame if it’s due to the backlighting, since I never use it. Second, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air keys are more susceptible to showing actual grease (from natural skin oil, sunscreen, etc.) than desktop keyboards or even some of Apple’s older laptops, which had more matte keys. Either way, it looks gross, and I’d like Apple to improve this. My top priorities for the MacBook Pro, though, would be: smaller trackpad and\/or better palm rejection, matte display, more USB ports, less sharp edge for the palm rest.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n