Whether you want to believe it or not, your MacBook Pro keyboard will likely get dirty. From the oils on your hands to the dust in the air, you'll need to spend some time every few weeks cleaning your MacBook. If you don't, you risk gunk and grime getting into sensitive parts of the hardware, which could cost you money to repair.
The best MacBook is a clean MacBook. It doesn't matter how great our review of the MacBook Air with M3 chip makes the computer out to be if you let it get dirty and stop functioning correctly. If you want to avoid repairs and keep your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro looking clean and tidy, here are some essential tools for cleaning your MacBook.
Note: Before using any cleaning product on your MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro, make sure you have powered down the laptop.
Essential Tools for Cleaning your MacBook
Best overall
Microfiber cloths are great for cleaning a ton of different surfaces around your house, and they can even help you with your Mac. If you lightly dampen a microfiber cloth and gently wipe your MacBook Pro keyboard, you should be able to remove a decent amount of grime from the keys. You can also eliminate smudges on the screen.
Best for screen cleaning
Here's a terrific all-in-one solution that offers 70% Isopropyl Alcohol cleaning. It is perfect for anything with a glass screen, including your Mac, iPhone, and iPad, while its pocketable size makes it easy to take on trips.
Best for dirty keys
Apple suggests you use a pretty simple product to remove dust and dirt from underneath the MacBook Pro keys if you find the keyboard to be unresponsive. By holding your laptop at an angle as you spray the compressed air in a zig-zagged pattern, this product removes dust, lint and other contaminants.
Best keyboard cover
Instead of looking for products that can clean your keyboard, why not focusing on keeping it clean in the first place? This extremely thin, clear, and softcover fits right over your MacBook Pro's keyboard and is easily removable when you need to clean it. It even covers up the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro. It also doesn't interfere with the sensitivity, so you can rest assured no grime is getting anywhere it shouldn't.
Best disinfectant wipes
Apple has said that gently wiping down the exterior and the screen of your laptop with 70% pharmaceutical-grade ethyl alcohol wipes will not do any damage to your computer. You might need to use a couple of these sheets to thoroughly wipe down the exterior each time you clean, which is why getting 100 at once is a smart idea.
A few cleaning tips
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Cleaning supplies aren't the first thing you probably think about when considering MacBook accessories. And yet, having them available is very important. Cleaning your MacBook regularly helps prevent any annoying issues down the line and ensures you aren't spreading germs and bacteria as much as possible.
Apple recommends that the only cloth you use to clean your Mac laptops is lint-free, soft Microfiber cloth. They are the must-have cleaning tool in your arsenal. Make sure when you use them, you only get the fabric lightly damp and do your best to keep moisture away from any ports.
Of course, keeping your keyboard clean is of the utmost importance. The butterfly keyboards on Mac laptops have been known to have issues with crumbs getting underneath the switches. Compressed air is some of the best stuff to use to blow out unwanted dirt and dust from your keyboard keys. Apple has a handy guide to using compressed air on your Mac laptop. The key is to ensure you don't use the compressed air too close to the device.
