I wish Apple would think about MacBook screens when the lid is closed. Too many times I've had to wipe clean the display after opening because the keys leave shapes on the monitor.
I've gone back to using a thin waxed paper (like the ones you find in shoe boxes) between the keyboard and the screen when closing the lid.
It's a bit annoying, but I'm sick of getting delamination after 1 year. I got this M1 Max with the thought that it will be relevant for app development for at least 5 years, and I still want to be able to work outside in the sun until then.
YMMV, but in my experience this happens mainly when the MacBook has been sitting under something else or packed tightly in a bag. I never see it if the laptop has been closed with nothing applying pressure on the lid.
Not that this isn’t a design oversight, but it might be mitigable until Apple makes design tweaks to fix it.
It's been a thing for 10+ years, I don't think Apple has any interest in design tweaks. I have seen the marks on my new MBA M2 after just closing the laptop and carrying it in my hand for 2 minutes. I wasn't gripping it tightly or anything, just carrying it like a normal human would carry it.
Interesting. I wonder if maybe the smaller models (Air, 13" and maybe 14" Pro) are more prone to this? I've had very little trouble with it on 15" models from 2015 onward or with the 16" M1 Pro.
I got the marks all the time on my 2016 13" MacBook Pro, too. I even had the keyboard (and by extension battery) replaced in that machine, and Apple "professionally cleaned" the screen. There were still some permanent keyboard marks on the screen after the cleaning. It's not just oil, but permanent abrasion marks after a while.
I don't think there is anything to tweak. It's probably designed to have less than 1mm when closed normally and the pressure of being in a book bag will easily flex the aluminum that much, if not bend it. As other said leave the original packing cloth in it and use a hard shell carrying case that won't put pressure on the laptop.
I found this with my first MacBook Air. Ever since, I keep the little paper insert that comes with a new MacBook. It stays in my laptop case, solves this issue perfectly.
I'm curious, what do you propose here? The keys leave imprints because the screen flexes from pressure applied presumably in your bag or similar. MacBooks already have some of the most rigid screens on the market. This is pure physics at play and the imprints come from your oily fingers. What's your suggestion?
Too many compromises were made to make macbook thin (unreliable keyboard, cooling, power delivery, battery, ports, non removable SSD...). Apple should make a model that is a bit thicker without those compromises!
And my Asus does not have key fingerprints on screen...
Does your Asus have a glass screen? Do you carry it in a backpack where there is pressure on the screen? Mind you, this isn't a well known issue. I've had it happen to me once in a decade of owning and frequently traveling with these and my backpack was stuffed to the point that it might damage the screen.
I disagree about making it thicker. The newest MacBook Pros are already extremely thick and heavy. I don't want to be carrying around a brick just because some people don't wash their hands or clean their keyboards every once in a while.
Screen on my Zenbook has touch layer, that makes glass a bit thicker I guess. And yes I keep it in stuffed in backpack and sometimes drop it. It is a tool, not museum exponate!
I had other laptops that left fingerprints. But Macbook Air had glass so thin it would randomly pop from temperature difference (well known issue)!
Nobody is forcing you to carry brick around. But some people like to carry brick and Apple should make a new model just for them (MacBrick). Is "wash your hands before use" mentioned in macbook manual?
And how do you even clean keyboard on Macbooks? That thing falls apart with a bad look, and it costs like $800 to replace. I can not imagine removing key caps just to clean it up!
Apple has made excellent portable dev workstations in the past. After the release of the Unibody Macbook Pro though, the focus of their hardware and software focues far, far away from developers. The new 14"/16" lineup is a good return to form, but in the context of how developer-unfriendly modern MacOS is it feels pyrrhic.
If you don't relate to someone's opinion, you don't have to justify Apple's stance against it.
This is where you lose me. Go to any tech company with pockets deep enough to afford whatever hardware its employees want and the vast majority will have MacBook Pros running macOS.
Sure, and I've seen it. I've also been responsible for writing the Mac-specific workarounds, and it's not very fun sourcing the correct version of bash from the incorrect install location, or fighting Homebrew consistency across different arches.
MacOS is simply shit for development. Even garbage proprietary Unix like Oracle Linux come with uniform packaging and up-to-date coreutils. MacOS had it's chance to be a developer platform (Xserve) and it just highlighted the most greedy, dysfunctional parts of Apple. It needs tough love to improve, because as-is it feels like Apple is ignoring the industry.
I do agree with you that pretty linux is the only sane developer environment, but it’s not exactly rocket science to make proper linux available for OSX, while still benefiting from the all-around apple ecosystem.
God I'd hope not. For programming, I cannot think of a single reason you'd want a glass display over a matte one. Maybe if you program in direct sunlight? Even still...
I'll go ahead and agree with the other commenter. Part of why I no longer buy Apple hardware is because of these compromises that they assume I want. Trying to bridge the gap between a "creator-class" laptop and a programming machine hasn't worked out hardware-wise (see: Touch Bar). Paying $500 extra for nano-textured glass that shatters the same from a waist-height fall isn't a solution, either.
I program and I prefer glass displays. It's more uniform, easier to clean, colors are more vibrant, and is easier on the eyes. I opt to not use an external display because most reasonably-priced ones are matte/non-glass and have awful color uniformity.
I find the glare and reflectivity of glass displays to be more difficult on the eyes and less uniform. Also, since I don't do much color-sensitive work, I've never really run into calibration issues. If anything, it makes the device much harder to use in low-brightness scenarios.
It doesn't bother me since other manufacturers fill this gap, but I'd like to see more options regardless.
