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Space Black Color Durability Issues
- Thread starter FrankySavvy
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Better safe than sorry. If you drop a MacBook on concrete on your commute in a slim sleeve is not going to survive. If you drop it with this it will survive. Just like my s23 Ultra is in an Otterbox Defender case in a holster on my hip. It's hit the concrete floor twice since I have bought it and was saved both times. I am in the restaurant and hotel industry and it's a punishing environment cause **** happens sooner or later. But I don't see the bulk being any bulkier transporting it than a huge backpack on your back.
I know it would hide the outside of the Space Black case that some of us chose, because of the nice color, but... Have any of you put a skin on to prevent scratches/scuffs?
I had one on my lask macbook pro, and it kinda feels naked without it. Every time I set my metal rimmed eyeglasses down on the case or keypad, I wonder if I am going to scratch the surface. I am worrying to much?
I had one on my lask macbook pro, and it kinda feels naked without it. Every time I set my metal rimmed eyeglasses down on the case or keypad, I wonder if I am going to scratch the surface. I am worrying to much?
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Use the computer.
Aluminum anodization is only a few thousands of an inch thick (0.001" to 0.004" in, about 0.025 mm to 0.1 mm). It's a process that turns the outer layer of aluminum into harder aluminum oxide, and in the process, opens pores in the metal, which you can deposit color dye into (in this case, black). Though the finish is durable, it's still relatively soft, and even something softer like your skin will wear through it with enough time and pressure. Especially in areas like the sharp corners on the palm rests - rub your hand/arm against this every day for enough time, and it will wear down the surface - taking the anodization (and the color) off first, since it's just under the surface and very thin. On non-color anodized aluminum (the silver "color" Macbooks) this wear is almost unnoticeable besides the texture change - the rougher bead-blasted aluminum becomes polished smooth by your skin.
As you use the space black Macbooks with enough time and wear, eventually almost all of the corners will look or start to look like that. The middle area of the palm rest will look especially rough after many years, polished back down to bare aluminum, not to mention all of the small scratches your macbook will get. The added contrast of dark black color against bright white aluminum will make it look much worse than the relatively small contrast of space gray to bare metal.
You see a similar effect on military weapons - they are also anodized black, although much thicker (type II hardcoat). They get heavily used, and eventually the black color wears through. Your Macbook probably sees more handling than a military weapon, and in more areas (a weapon is always held the same way, a Macbook gets handled in many positions) . The difference is the anodization of a weapon is seen as a sacrificial protective coating, whereas the anodization of your Macbook is seen as its permanent color. Much like the paint on a forklift or tractor compared to the paint of a car.
Space black's durability is going to vary based on your use patterns and length of service. If you upgrade often, it's not gonna matter too much. But if you intend to buy and keep it for a long time, even more so if you are a power user using it hands on, just be aware the black finish will wear noticeably. If you care about that, maybe go with the silver instead.
This why deleting Space Gray as an option was the dumbest idea imaginable. It’s gray enough to look super cool but silver enough to barely show any wear & tear. Space Black is a disaster waiting to happen the moment you unbox it ☹️
Agreed. Even the most heavily worn Space Gray Macbooks I've seen on eBay and the like have looked acceptable to me. As a power user (3+ hours a day) using it mostly as a laptop/hands on, I really wish Space Gray was an option as I frankly just don't like the silver. Just another item in Apple's long list of inexplicable decisions.
100%
It’s egregious enough to stop me buying. The straw that broke the camel’s back, as it were. Typically anti-consumer as I’ve come to expect from Apple. They literally deleted a bunch of buyers. Unbelievable.
Same problem. Only friction with clothes and skin.
Working everyday on the laptop. But for 4900€ it should not happen
I can see this becoming the next 'gate' before long when 2+ year old Space Black MacBooks start to look like they've been dragged through a hedge backwards. Repeatedly. And I wouldn't be surprised if they also pull this trick with the upcoming iPad Pro.
My 14” space black has a barely noticeable amount of wear on left hand lip from my metal clasp on my apple watch ultra rubbing it.
Years ago as a kid it would have bothered the hell out of me. Now it’s just character. The machine is a tool, it had character now haha. I don’t care at all if it gets marks here and there, it doesn’t impact how it functions.
Years ago as a kid it would have bothered the hell out of me. Now it’s just character. The machine is a tool, it had character now haha. I don’t care at all if it gets marks here and there, it doesn’t impact how it functions.
I don't babysit my 16" but then I don't necessarily abuse it either. For half a year I cannot find noticeable chipping anywhere on the surface and even along the edges. And I wear stainsteel Apple Watch band when using the MBP.
HOWEVER; the ports are a different story. Probably not even one month in, the corners of the HDMI port already shows obvious chipping, probably larger than 1mm of silvering. I sometimes have to yank in a HDMI cable in the dark so that is that. The 3 TB4 ports are also slightly worn but nothing out of ordinary, my space grey MacBooks looked worse after 6 months of usage if I recall.
But I concur with the above that we should not be bothered by this. You know how the Leica enthusiasts like seeing chipped off black paint that shows the copper side the top wheels and plate? Yeah it shows character in a good way.
And I have to mention this: compared to the metal chassis, the shinning of the black keycaps is the real problem here, and it is across all MacBook models and colors not just this space black MBP. I feel that mine got shined at a much faster rate than the MacBooks before and I don't like how it goes, after some years the black paint may wear enough to show the translucent keycap body underneath and can't contain the backlight.
HOWEVER; the ports are a different story. Probably not even one month in, the corners of the HDMI port already shows obvious chipping, probably larger than 1mm of silvering. I sometimes have to yank in a HDMI cable in the dark so that is that. The 3 TB4 ports are also slightly worn but nothing out of ordinary, my space grey MacBooks looked worse after 6 months of usage if I recall.
But I concur with the above that we should not be bothered by this. You know how the Leica enthusiasts like seeing chipped off black paint that shows the copper side the top wheels and plate? Yeah it shows character in a good way.
And I have to mention this: compared to the metal chassis, the shinning of the black keycaps is the real problem here, and it is across all MacBook models and colors not just this space black MBP. I feel that mine got shined at a much faster rate than the MacBooks before and I don't like how it goes, after some years the black paint may wear enough to show the translucent keycap body underneath and can't contain the backlight.
A company of Apple's purported technological excellence really should have addressed this historical problem by now. It's a common theme on all keyboards and of course is always more prominently visible on black, but if any company can reasonably be expected to develop a hard coated keycap of some description then it should be Apple. I had always hoped that they would some day be the first to fix it but sadly I think those times are long gone and Ebenezer Cook is more likely to seek to save one cent per keycap than spend a dollar more than necessary to improve the product.
I think their insistence to use "environment friendly" material has contributed to this. Similar issue can be seen on the white cables they use, the silicon is known to fall apart sooner or later, if not becoming way too sticky even just after a few weeks.
As far as keycaps go, we can reference a bit from the mechanical keyboard scene, the "right way" to ensure a keycap doesn't shine is to use PBT material, with the darker parts not painted but be actual plastic. The lettering are usually casted inside the keycap with another color of plastic so there is no paint or dyeing involved and it never wears out in decades. In the case of current MacBook key design with backlight, they could easily have used a translucent inner structure, then cast a black outer layer so the light can shine through (this technique called double-shot). I supposed Apple may think this makes the keycaps way too thick though, but with their engineering ability I am sure they could pull it off.
Thanks, that's interesting. But I'm curious because surely the plastic still loses its surface texture and becomes shiny as the skin wears it away? In my thought experiment I was thinking more along the lines of a hard coating. Like, say, the nano-textured glass on the new iPads. I realise it's not a trivial matter to implement such things into the structure of a keycap but it would certainly prevent the shining.
PBT is like polycarbonate, it is supposed to be abrasion free from human body oil at least for years if not decades. The shining we see on MacBook kaycaps is largely due to the plastic being used is ABS. In fact even on Magic Keyboards that aren't black, the white ABS keys are easily worn as well, just harder to see. There are legit technical, economical, and ecological reasons for laptop keycaps to not use PBT, however, in the face of MacBook keycaps smoothening this soon this easily I think Apple needs to adjust against that balance.
But your imagining of using a coating is actually very much inline with Apple's usual thinking. Use of PBT or dual layer keycaps surely will increase the thickness of the keys can create other engineering issues. So the approach of using the current ABS keys that work, but instead just apply a protective coating over it, may be the smart thing to do. Point is Apple probably doesn't think it is worth the trouble, after all they pretend to be eco-friendly but actually prefers you replace devices as much as possible.
I went for silver on my 16" M3 Max. I came from a space grey i9 2019 16". The space grey on the whole survived very well, no obvious discolouration after 4 years of being used 4+ hours a day. It did receive some nicks on the edge of the lid which annoyed me as they showed up, but it got replaced under AC+ as the screen developed bright spots down the line.
Never really loved it tho like I love the silver... timeless classic.
Never really loved it tho like I love the silver... timeless classic.
Use my space black 14 inch couple hours daily since I got it when it first came out. Seldom travel with it but do carry it to another room a couple times a week. So far still looks brand new. Maybe the keys are a little shinier but maybe that is my imagination. Once I laid it on on the bed and went into the bathroom. I heard it fall to the hardwood floor. The dog had jumped on the board. I was mad at myself and looked closely at it. I was surprised to see no dents or scratches. I gently wipe the whole computer including the screen with a very slightly damp (distilled water) cloth once every couple months and that’s the only time I closely look for marks/scratches etc.. Maybe I am just very lucky but it still looks great with no marks/scratches. I don’t obsess about it but I marvel how nice it looks compared to my other appliances after that many months of use.
another reason why i'm sticking with silver despite it being the 'boring' color.. my concern with space black
1. using usb-c/thunderbolt plugs, if you're not precise and blindly stuffing it, it will show on the sides well easily over time. other poeple have already shown it above which reinfores this point.
2. as the space black is an anodized coating... it will wear off. silver i presume is the original color of the aluminum unibody which in this case even if it were to wear off one would have to use a m icroscope or a sharp eye to discern the differences [apart from dropping and denting it lol]
3. ive tested the space black, its still not wildly fingerprint resistant, and i have clean hands [no oils, made sure to do a hand cleanse prior to testing].
kind of ocd to marks which is why i never have a black phone or black computer unless if it was a standalone pc/plastic thing.
1. using usb-c/thunderbolt plugs, if you're not precise and blindly stuffing it, it will show on the sides well easily over time. other poeple have already shown it above which reinfores this point.
2. as the space black is an anodized coating... it will wear off. silver i presume is the original color of the aluminum unibody which in this case even if it were to wear off one would have to use a m icroscope or a sharp eye to discern the differences [apart from dropping and denting it lol]
3. ive tested the space black, its still not wildly fingerprint resistant, and i have clean hands [no oils, made sure to do a hand cleanse prior to testing].
kind of ocd to marks which is why i never have a black phone or black computer unless if it was a standalone pc/plastic thing.
Holy cow! I kinda miss space gray sometimes, but I’m even more content with my decision to go silver over space black now (no offense).
Yep! I don’t understand the decision making at all. I think sliver is a great, classic look on the new MBP, but I still somewhat prefer SG, and I’m certainly not getting a base model just for the color.
I never even considered a hard shell case on any Apple laptop since Pismo G3 Kodiak OS X days til now. The exterior of all the silver and space gray MBP's I've owned and been dealt at work held up really well.
The new space black finish is not nearly as durable. Dings and scratches are far more likely to occur and significantly more visible. I'm contemplating the Spigen Urban Fit protective hard shell case which is on sale during Amazon Prime days (today and tomorrow) for my M3 Pro 14" MBP.
The new space black finish is not nearly as durable. Dings and scratches are far more likely to occur and significantly more visible. I'm contemplating the Spigen Urban Fit protective hard shell case which is on sale during Amazon Prime days (today and tomorrow) for my M3 Pro 14" MBP.
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