My personal cleaning tutorial/ritual/how-to for the Macbook

Introduction

Now I read a lot of forum threads where people ask the one question that is rather important to Mac owners: How do I clean my Mac? This is understandable since the Macs are just beautiful and every owner wants to keep the Mac the way it arrived. I think this cleaning issue is a special attribute of Mac owners and I don't mean it in a bad way: if your Mac makes it possible for you to work productively you should do your best to keep it clean. That's the reason why I decided to write a post about cleaning Macbooks. Keep in mind this is my personal cleaning routine I have developed using a lot of input I have found in many forums, blogs, websites, etc. This works the best for me and in my honest opinion this is the ultimate cleaning guide for white Macbooks.

Things you need for the cleaning session

• vacuum cleaner
• a can of compressed air
• cleaning wipes for TFTs
• micro-fibre cloth

To specify the list a little better:

• any vacuum cleaner should be fine for my cleaning routine;
• I suggest for the can of compressed air to go to an electronics shop and buy a product specially made for laptops (just to be on the safe side);
• regarding the cleaning wipes please be careful to choose a brand that does not include alcohol (experimenting may be necessary until you find the best wipes for your needs);
• the same goes for the micro-fibre cloth, I recommend two cloths (I'll explain later).

Once you have all these tools you are ready to start the cleaning session.

First Step: Vacuum your Macbook

Yes, you read right. Vacuum your Macbook. This is to suck out bigger dirt elements out of the little spaces between the keyboard, the edge of the screen and the vents in the back. Now how are you supposed to vacuum a Macbook? It's easy: Please, just use the hose itself and hover around an inch or two (2-5cm) above the surface you are vacuuming. You will be surprised how much dirt has settled between your keys and in the vents. Please be careful in this step not to touch the actual surface of your Macbook (obviously). Now you can go to Step two.

Second Step: Blow out everything else with the can of compressed air

Now it's time to use the can of compressed air to blow out all the other dirt elements that the vacuum cleaner wasn't able to suck out. Hold the can vertically and please try to hold the can this way because if you don't you run the risk of blowing out liquid air and that would harm the insides of the Macbook when you are blowing out the vents in the back and the keyboard. After you have completed this step there shouldn't be much dirt left in those little spaces.

Third Step: Clean your display

It's time to clean the display of your Macbook. Pull out the cleaning wipes and wipe the TFT clean. There is nothing else to it. I usually use the same wipe to go over the lid and the casing of the Macbook also to get rid of any fingerprints that may have been left by incautious friends of yours;)

Fourth Step: The most magical step

This is the most effective and magical cleaning step in my routine. It's time to use Mr. Clean's Magic Erasers. These really powerful erasers are only to be used on the topcase of the Macbook (the rough surface, palm rest, track pad, keyboard). First how to use these erasers: I usually keep a bowl of water close by, soak the eraser with water wring it out a bit and start wiping. The cleaning prowess of these little sponges are just awesome---when you use them you will see what I am talking about. I use them on the keys of the Macbook also and they look clean like when they were shipped.
Note: I recommend using the erasers only once a month. They are mild abrasives after all and overuse might not be the best thing, besides they clean the Macbook so well that there really is no need to use them more often. I always cut the erasers in half because that way they can be handled better; just use any scissors you have in your household.
Check out also this link.

Fifth and last Step: Final wipe down with the micro-fibre cloth

The last step is the same process Apple recommends on its support pages. I take one wet micro-fibre cloth and wipe down the Macbook and take another dry one and dry it off. If you have followed all these steps your Macbook should look like new and should be as clean as the day you got the Macbook.

Last words

I used to do this every week and the whole cleaning session only took me 15 to 20 minutes at the most. Recently, I only do this twice a month because I realized that the weekly cleaning was a bit exaggerated.

The end result of your cleaning session

MB-switcher