Filed under: Portables, How-tos, MacBook
Clean your MacBook with toothpaste
Toothpaste is such versatile material. When I was in college, I used it as drywall spackle to fill in nail holes. As a kid at summer camp, I used it to write my name on the rafters of our cabin. I've heard that some people even clean their teeth with it.Check out this tip from Lifehacker. It seems that a dab of Arm & Hammer Dental Care Advance Cleaning toothpaste can be used to rub the nasty wrist stains clean off of a white MacBook. A reader also suggests that a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (which is free of abrasives) also works.
MacBook owners, rejoice! A cheap solution is probably in your bathroom.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
S said 8:50AM on 2-08-2008
Quite to the contrary, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is nothing but abrasives. It's a brick of melamine foam that functions as a very fine-grit sanding sponge. It works so well because it's removing the top layer of plastic along with the stain.
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TMM said 11:28AM on 2-08-2008
Good comment!
And I can only agree:
I wouldn't use the Magic Eraser on the MacBook, the matte finish of the plastic on the inside will soon be not so matte anymore.
mentalsticks said 12:48PM on 2-09-2008
I've had a lot of success using a regular pencil eraser. It gets rid of all the discolorisation.
mentalsticks said 12:48PM on 2-09-2008
I've had a lot of success using a regular pencil eraser. It gets rid of all the discolorisation.
Galley said 8:51AM on 2-08-2008
The walls in my dorm room just happened to be "mint green".
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Olaf said 8:53AM on 2-08-2008
I can confirm that the Magic Erasers worked like a charm on my old iBook. I don't have a MacBook, but my G4 iBook is sparkling white after "erasing" the stains. Never thought to use toothpaste, though.
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Peconi said 9:00AM on 2-08-2008
I wrote about this on my NeedToKnowBlog.com yesterday :)
C'mon TUAW Step it up :)
http://needtoknowblog.com/2008/02/07/dirty-stained-macbook-brush-its-teeth-with-toothpaste/
JK ;)
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taumau said 9:07AM on 2-08-2008
I have a Macbook Pro and I don´t know how to clean the screen?
What´s the best solution? :(
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Joel Rose said 9:14AM on 2-08-2008
This might be on the slightly more expensive end, but I bought a LCD screen cleaner Best Buy or Circuit City ( I forget which). It's Monster ScreenClean. It also comes with a super soft towel that you use with the spray. I use it on my entire macbook pro to clean it up.
tehpyro said 10:27AM on 2-08-2008
The liquid you use to clean glasses works well and wont damage your lcd because it is designed to be gentle as to not take off any coatings on glasses... It'll run you 4$ or less at an optomatrists office or a place like lenscrafters
Neon Jebus said 12:06PM on 2-08-2008
tehpyro is correct.
Purchasing the cleaner at Lenscrafters or Sunglass Hut is a good idea. Some of the containers they offer include free refills of the cleaner as well (I'm a former Sunglass Hut Employee).
The cleaners they use are alcohol based. I used to use one part rubbing alcohol mixed in three parts distilled water. Used it more on my Nintendo than cleaning glass though.
Glass cleaner is a big no-no because of ammonia. It causes mirrors to run (waves in the metallic back), and removes protective layers from lenses.
And use microfiber and not tshirts or paper towel!
doc said 3:13PM on 2-08-2008
Monster Screen Clean, iClean, and iKleer are all the same product sold by different vendors also sold as Audioquest and Phillips LCD Cleaner and the defunct CompUSA Blue gel screen cleaner.
Any way this stuff rocks ... No alcohol... Pretty much just water but secret ingredient is the light polymers that make the dirt and dust get caught up in your microfiber. A damp microfiber (really dryish damp) will do the same but not as effective.
This is what we used to clean Plasma and LCD TVs on our showroom floor and what the Genii at the Apple Store use as well.
It's my vote.
BTW works wonders on the exteriors of iMacs, MB and MBP computers.
Thayne Miller said 2:31PM on 2-08-2008
or you could just take it from apple and use water and a lint free cloth. Don't smudge up your screen with chemicals dude. A microfiber and a few drops of water do WONDERS.
Jon said 9:09AM on 2-08-2008
First comment is right now. Toothpaste is also an abrasive made from dead fossilized sea animals(diatoms, shrimp, krill, etc). I believe Colgate was made with Feldspar (A metamorphic mineral, which won't contain fossils) So toothpaste will be just as abrasive as the Mr Clean bar. I imagine an abrasive will be the only way to clean these suckers, so use sparingly, and wash your wrists :P
I laugh at vegitarians that use toothpaste btw.
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Matt said 9:37AM on 2-08-2008
Well, as a vegetarian, I can assure you that there are plenty of vegetarian toothpastes...you just have to do some research and be willing to experiment with some of the more non-mainstream stuff.
And now to be on topic...
I have a Macbook (ordered it the day they were announced) and have a discolored shell. It's not dirty, but discolored. I have tried everything, to clean in including the mr. clean magic eraser, regular soap, detergents, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, etc... and nothing even lightens the discoloring (and for those of you thing omg he's destroying the computer, any time I use any harsh chemical I clean it off with a lightly damp towel after I'm done to prevent extra corroding). So yeah, my hopes for a toothpaste solution are pretty low.
But for those with dirty laptops this could potentially work.
Matthew Doherty said 4:55PM on 2-08-2008
Actually, diatoms are not animals. They are in the plant kingdom. Also, toothpastes do not typically include shrimp and krill. And one last thing you mistated was that feldspar is a metamorphic mineral. Minerals are not described as metamorphic, rocks are. Either way it would best be described as igneous anyway, but it is found in nearly all rocks. Sedimentary, Metamorphic, and Igneous. If you would like to argue, I am a geologist.
hodgepodge said 5:30PM on 2-08-2008
Let's assume that toothpaste is made of "dead fossilized sea animals." I don't think that would bother many vegetarians. If they're fossilized, then we found them dead.... looong dead. You don't find a fossilized cow body to make a hamburger; you kill a cow. Elephant ivory bad, we kill elephants to make it. Mammoth ivory okay, they're all already dead. Saying that it'd be okay to just search for dead elephants and get elephant ivory that way would be okay except that greed will make you start killing them (since it's a viable option)... But you can't kill any more mammoths. I think the same thing would go for "dead fossilized sea animals" - if the supposed product were using fossils, simply going out and killing a bunch of sea animals probably wouldn't do the same job, so there's no motive to kill instead of finding stuff that's (been) dead (for a long long time).
Jon said 10:59PM on 2-09-2008
:) My father is a geologist... from many fieldtrips, you will often feldspar in many metamorphic rocks, but you are correct, it is igneous.
I'm a vegetarian too. I just think that since cows eat vegetables, they are a simple a concentrated source of grass. So basically, by eating a burger, I am eating a serving of veggies. Brilliant!
JL said 9:10AM on 2-08-2008
Another endorsement for the Magic Eraser. Works beautifully on both the wrist rests inside and the covering outside of my iBook G4. You may need a drop (I really mean a drop) of water on the sponge for best results.
Not to mention, the ME is good for other household chores (but so is the toothpaste I guess).
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DrWho said 9:20AM on 2-08-2008
Toothpaste is also great for drying out zits (use overnight) but Magic Eraser - not so much.....
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