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Wiskedjak · Feb 19, 2005, 10:51 PM

When did the iBooks go to a grey keyboard? I didn't much like it when they went from silver/translucent white to flat white, but this flat grey is REALLY ugly.

megasad · Feb 19, 2005, 11:05 PM

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
When did the iBooks go to a grey keyboard? I didn't much like it when they went from silver/translucent white to flat white, but this flat grey is REALLY ugly.

Can you post a photo? I've not seen any grey iBook keyboards...

Wiskedjak · Feb 19, 2005, 11:15 PM

Sorry, no pics. Saw them when I was in the Apple Store today

nbn22385 · Feb 20, 2005, 12:11 AM

Since the ibooks have contrasting colors, white being on the bottom, i guess the top could be considered gray, which matches the keyboard.

Wiskedjak · Feb 20, 2005, 12:34 AM

They are definitely different from the keyboards on the first Snow iBooks.

teknopimp · Feb 20, 2005, 01:36 AM

it happened when they went to the G4.

i agree, it's quite ugly and from what i've seen it retains dirt as well. i'm very happy with my 900MHz iBook, the last G3 ever made.

ghporter · Feb 20, 2005, 12:14 PM

We got my wife's G4 iBook just over a year ago. The keycaps are exactly the same color as the palmrests. I think pictures of the "gray" keys would be appropriate here...

sminch · Feb 20, 2005, 02:48 PM

yeah, the new ibooks definitely have grey keyboards, the same shade as the palmrests, trackpad, and the frame around the screen. they're white on the outside, grey on the inside - i don't have any photos, but you can see it pretty clearly at http://www.apple.com/ibook/

sminch

ghporter · Feb 20, 2005, 06:37 PM

Ok, I see what you're talking about. I'd call it beige in person. And yes, they are indeed different from the outside of the case.

tooki · Feb 20, 2005, 11:27 PM

Beige implies a mustardy tone, which Apple's hardware hasn't had since 1987. (All the "beige" Mac sold until 1998 were really a light gray Apple calls "platinum".)

tooki

ghporter · Feb 21, 2005, 11:32 AM

Ok, how about "off white," or "ecru" for the fancified. It just doesn't look gray to me.

Anyway, wasn't there a problem with people complaining that their translucent keyboards got dirty very quickly? I would think that would be very likely.

KianD · Feb 21, 2005, 04:58 PM

Originally posted by ghporter:
Ok, how about "off white," or "ecru" for the fancified. It just doesn't look gray to me.

Anyway, wasn't there a problem with people complaining that their translucent keyboards got dirty very quickly? I would think that would be very likely.

they do get dirty very quickly. And they have to be cleaned by abrasion of some kind - a pencil eraser works fine.

As goes 87-98 machines being 'platinum' - my 5400 is most certainly beige. It has spent a lot of time in direct sunlight though, and I think the former owner may have been a smoker..

jlgrandam · Feb 23, 2005, 12:26 PM

My girls ibook G4 just came last week and it has a white keyboard. Sure its not glassy white like the case but it is definitely not grey.

sminch · Feb 23, 2005, 01:25 PM

okay, this is a little off-topic but i've been meaning to ask it for a while - when you clean the keyboard / trackpad / palmrests with a pencil erasor, how do you stop the grubby little chunks of detritus going all over the place incl under the keys on your keyboard? do you guys sit there with a your erasor in one hand and a dustbuster in the other or what?

just curious cos i'll need to do this soon and don't want to screw up my keys...

sminch

tooki · Feb 23, 2005, 11:07 PM

Originally posted by KianD:
As goes 87-98 machines being 'platinum' - my 5400 is most certainly beige. It has spent a lot of time in direct sunlight though, and I think the former owner may have been a smoker..

Well, they left the factory platinum!

Many of those plastics did go distinctly yellow after a few years' exposure to sunlight.

tooki