Apple just unveiled new MacBook Pros, as they undoubtedly haven’t escaped your attention, and they came with a new color scheme – Space Black – with the Mac maker apparently addressing a major issue regarding that finish.
If MacRumors According to a new report, there have been multiple tech outlets saying that the fingerprint hazard – a much-complained problem with dark finishes on Apple laptops – is seemingly a thing of the past (more or less).
Apple pointed out at launch that the black finish benefits from what it calls a “breakthrough chemistry that forms an anodizing seal to significantly reduce fingerprints.”
And as our own US Editor-in-Chief Lance Ulanoff noted, “I can report that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t leave my fingerprints on the finish line.”
As MacRumors points out, many others have come to the same conclusion, albeit in some cases with caveats.
Patrick O’Rourke of MobileSyrup commented: “I have very oily fingers and spent several minutes in the hands-on area trying to smudge the color ‘Space Black’ – it didn’t work.”
The edge (Dan Seifert) noted that after 30 seconds of using the Space Black MacBook Pro, there were “less fingerprints on it, but we’ll really have to see how it holds up in the real world.”
Jason Snell of Six Colors said the finish is “generally more resistant to fingerprints and other smudges,” but warned not to expect miracles.
Analysis: Back in black, but how black exactly?
Other observations from – albeit quite limited – early hands-on experiences with the new MacBook Pro broadly agree, so it seems Apple has settled the matter when it comes to reducing fingerprints.
However, a word of caution should be heeded, as outlined above, as we’ll need to see hours (or days) of real-world testing to be confident in the anti-smudge capabilities on offer here.
However, it seems clear enough that there is an improvement here, which is good news.
However, stains are not the only doubt hanging over the new Space Black color. Some note that it may not be quite black enough – and more of a dark grey, although that may depend on the lighting to some extent (and your perception will also play a role here, which is of course subjective in nature). In short, don’t expect a deep or tarry, rich black color.
The other concern we’ve seen relates to past concerns that dark finishes on Apple laptops pose the potential for chips and scratches in the finish to become more apparent (for example, if they happen when connecting devices to ports, and slightly missing, edges capture).
Only time will tell – it’s clearly too early to dive deep into speculative territory with the new finish. Note that you can’t get Space Black on a base M3 model of the MacBook Pro, only on models that use the faster M3 Pro and Max chips.