Thursday, September 18, 2014

Blurred Keys on the MacBook Air

Nope, your vision isn't blurry.  It's my keyboard:


The letters have slowly started wearing off my MacBook Air.  Much as I'd like to attribute this to the hours I spend typing my novels--a number that's not insignificant--I suspect there's another cause.  I don't wear any lotions, oils, etc. on my hands.  I don't clean the keyboard with anything caustic.  Any Mac aficionados who know what could be causing the worn keys?  Or--better yet--anyone have a fix?

For the record, this isn't my first worn-out keyboard.  I wore through three keyboards on my iBook about eight years ago.  Apple told me it was a freak occurrence.  In that instance, I was able to take apart the iBook and replace the keyboard myself.  Can't do that with an Air.

Anyone else experienced this?  Ever discover the cause?  What was your solution? 

13 comments:

belz said...

I have exactly the same, asde are almost gone

Nicole Burnham said...

I found a place online that sells new keys and replaced them. HOWEVER...take yours in to the Apple store. They will replace them and it's cheaper.If I have to do it again, I'm going to the Apple store.

Vox_Cupiditas said...

This is weird - I went Googling to see if anyone else had this phenomenon, because I have done this to every Mac laptop keyboard I've owned. The Genius Bar people said they'd never seen anything like it, and I was told it was also a freak occurrence. I'm also a novelist, typing a verbiage-heavy historical, but I have a lot of author friends who dash out even more genre stuff, and their keys are fine. Do we have particularly acidic fingers? Are we superheroes with shitty powers?

The world may never know, since it doesn't seem to be a prevalent experience…

Raoul Teeuwen said...

Have had the same with multiple Mac laptops ... also had the response from Apple 'they had never seen it ... and maybe it was my acidic sweat'... For me, that is typical Apple: first deny everything and blame the user.

Nicole Burnham said...

I'm on my second MacBook Air, an 11" laptop. Thankfully, I haven't had any issues with this one. I'm cautiously optimistic.

J.E. Nickerson said...

I have a Smart Keyboard. Bluetooth. I am very careful with it and love it because it makes my ipad into a macbook. Well after a few months of use the different keys started wearing off. Have never had this happen before. I don’t use hand cream when I type and my fingers are quite dry. But this situation was alarming to me. Don’t know why som keys don’t wear off and others do. Thought I was nuts until I ran across this blogpost. Sad to say that my keyboard when from looking like a professional laptop to something that was well, embarrassing I am also a blogger and use my ipad for blog posts and books I am writing. You can see my work at wearewisethinkers.blogspot.com. Anyway, glad to see that I am not the only keyboard user that this has happened to. 🙁😢

Nicole Burnham said...

I'm happy to report that my second MacBook Air, one of the last 11" models produced, still doesn't have the blurry/worn off letters on the keyboard. However, my late-2012 iMac Bluetooth keyboard has faded E, S, and A keys. Not too bad, considering it's nearly seven years old. However, after my experience with the iBook and my first MacBook Air, I'm careful to keep my hands completely clean, dry, and free of any lotion, etc., before I sit down to work.

Caio said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Caio said...

Hello, unfortunately this is still happening with new MacBooks. I've shared your blog post here among others if you don't mind:

https://caio.ariede.life/macbook-blurred-keys/

Unknown said...

i am experiencing the same issue. Letter "A" has started getting worn off.
Not sure what exactly is the reason.

Pattom Rajesh said...

I have the same issue with keys for A and S. Now C also started getting little blurry :( . My model is 2018 - 13 inch Retina Macbook Air. I had similar with my previous Macbook Air as well (2014 model)

Unknown said...

I have the same issue with my mac book pro. Letters E R T and S are the most affected. I will try to get Apple to fix it for me. I will let you know how it goes.

Unknown said...

Letter N is wearing out on my MacBook Pro (2019 - 13 inch). How much does Apple charge to fix it?