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Yohjimbo

macrumors newbie
Mar 18, 2024
1
3
Metal taste in mouth can come from high static fields but that would have fried your laptop already.

Otherwise a rare allergic reaction to the paint/finish. Like others have recommended, try external peripherals and see if that makes a difference. You could try another unit in the store in the same colour and see if that causes a similar issue.
 

john123

macrumors 68030
Jul 20, 2001
2,592
1,597
It might be a kind of poisening with the coating. I would stop using it and try to get a scientific/lab/doctor advice ?
These things are not painted one at a time by Bob Ross. They come off a mass manufacturing process.

If the OP managed to get some amount of matter — food, liquid, or other particulates — inside the machine, it's plausible.

It's also possible, but still relatively unlikely, that it's a small defect with the battery.

Regardless of whether it's in the OP's head or not, OP should just take it to a Genius Bar or return it if it's within the 14 day window. Otherwise this will just remain as funny cannon fodder for the forums.
 

john123

macrumors 68030
Jul 20, 2001
2,592
1,597
lol thanks for the support guys!

i am being serious though. it's a real issue.

I have a hunch that I'm not the only one and that other affected people are not 'conscious' of it....
My previous semi-serious comment aside, this bit did make me laugh.

Are you some sort of X-Man with super smelling being your genetic mutation?
 
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Veinticinco

macrumors 65816
Feb 25, 2009
1,470
1,429
Europe
You need to go to the ER.
Whoah there Chicken Little. The E is a clue. This is not an emergency.

The OP ought to consider if they've recently initiated on new meds for anything, but after that, I'd look to get a non-urgent appointment with firstly a dentist. If no issue seen, then an immunologist, and if still inconclusive, subsequently a neurologist consult to exclude anything sinister.
 

Parowdy

macrumors newbie
Mar 16, 2024
6
4
Europe
Are you charging it while tasting it? Are you touching the metal of the top case?
 
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transpo1

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2010
1,030
1,707
lol thanks for the support guys!

i am being serious though. it's a real issue.

I have a hunch that I'm not the only one and that other affected people are not 'conscious' of it....
I believe you but have no relevant experience with it.
 

transpo1

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2010
1,030
1,707
I mean. My scientific mind would like to try ruling out variables. Stand over it without touching it for a while. Wear a gas mask. Stop chewing on it. See what works
Better yet, form a control group by having a friend or family member use it to see if they have the same result.
 

K two

macrumors 68020
Dec 6, 2018
2,238
2,997
North America
These things are not painted one at a time by Bob Ross. They come off a mass manufacturing process.

If the OP managed to get some amount of matter — food, liquid, or other particulates — inside the machine, it's plausible.

It's also possible, but still relatively unlikely, that it's a small defect with the battery.

Regardless of whether it's in the OP's head or not, OP should just take it to a Genius Bar or return it if it's within the 14 day window. Otherwise this will just remain as funny cannon fodder for the forums.
The Genius Bar can always use a good laugh. ;)
 
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ThunderSkunk

macrumors 68040
Dec 31, 2007
3,866
4,164
Milwaukee Area
Well ok. That's an aluminum alloy with some interstitial elements that are toxic on their own but encased in the rest of the alloy matrix, AND it's anodized and dyed. So when you're touching it, you're not really touching the aluminum alloy, you're just touching the oxide layer. The oxide layer is very hard, even brittle, as it resembles a porous foam that hardened as it formed, and since it formed being dipped in a vat of dye, the dye colors the inside of the little foamy bubbles, and now as light shines through those hard bubbles, it reflects the color of that dye. Sure, your skin can absorb aluminum oxide if it's loose and small enough in particles for your skins pores to take in. And dye could be absorbed if it were free to "leak" out of those bubbles. But Apple's not using Bright Dip anodizing, so in this case its not really sitting in those bubbles wet, it just coated the inside of the bubbles as they were forming. In either case, if by some strange twist in the universe your oxide layer just decided to self destruct into a powder small enough for your skin to absorb it or the dye, but also cling to itself and not fall off until you touched it, you'd immediately feel a loose powdery substance on your laptop, see it streaky wherever you touched it, and see your fingerprints where it took the dyed cells from the surface. And you'd see blue dyed oxide powder on your fingertips.

That said, hospitals see people all the time that develop allergic reactions to some random thing when the body's immune system just doesn't recognize it and decides to play it safe & treat it like a poison. Sometimes just materials, sometimes medicines, sometimes parts of our own bodies. Out of 8 billion human bodies, you can't expect every last one to get every reaction right. If watching 4000 episodes of House have taught me anything, go see a doctor that acts like Sherlock Holmes and humiliate him into giving you a diagnosis.
 
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ThomasJL

macrumors 68000
Oct 16, 2008
1,627
3,594
Isolate your hands/fingers by wearing medical gloves and see if the symptoms continue.
That is an excellent suggestion.

In addition, wash your hands with soap before putting on the medical gloves, and do not touch anything (especially do not touch your computer) before putting on the medical gloves.

Please reply to this thread after you do that and let us know what happened.
 

raythompsontn

macrumors 6502a
Feb 8, 2023
593
793
You should maybe get the Apple 70 watt charger and the Power Adapter Extension Cable which has a ground. What you are tasting may be the result of a small electrical current. The grounded power supply may solve the issue. The charger supplied with the MacBook Air does not have a ground.

If that combination solves the issue, you need to have your electrical system checked for a ground loop, reversed neutral somewhere, or some other wiring issue.
 
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