[Le Flaneur]

At some point Apple reduced the amount of exterior metal in the iBooks even further and now they have white plastic where one's palms rests. My girlfriend, who otherwise likes the iBooks, prefers the aluminum case of the PowerBooks.

How dirty does the iBook palm rest area become in the course of heavy use over a couple of days? Does it require constant cleaning?

[gkrykewy]

I have no problem with dirt on my new iBook's palmrest after roughly two weeks of pretty frequent use. When were they ever metal? Unless you don't wash your hands after eating or will be using the iBook at a construction site or something, you shouldn't have a problem.

[Le Flaneur]

Originally posted by gkrykewy:
When were they ever metal?

When it had a G3 processor, with a clear plastic shell on the outside.

[pat++]

Original G3 iBook picture
New G4 iBook picture

[Davidarm]

The palm rests have always been plastic - they just changed color. I'm typing on an 800/Combo with the older grey palm rests and they are most definitely plastic.

[BobVB]

Originally posted by Davidarm:
The palm rests have always been plastic - they just changed color. I'm typing on an 800/Combo with the older grey palm rests and they are most definitely plastic.

Yeah I just sold my original 500 MHz dual USB iBook and they palmrests were plastic.

As far as dirt though the main problem for me is the trackpad - even though I use mine minimally (I have a Bluetake Bluetooth mouse I use 90% of the time) I already have a little circle of faint darkness on my new 1 GHz G4 iBook I got a couple weeks ago. Maybe my skin oil oxidize or something but in sunlight it is quite noticable. Will try some iKlear on it when I get home and see if it goes away.

(working hard to keep this iBook in better condition than the last one...)

[Stinkysteve]

When at home I tend to use an Apple Pro Keyboard and Optical Mouse to reduce wear and dirt on the iBook. Plus with the Pro Keyboard i have a little more slack on the mouse cord on the right side.