I’ve been using alcohol wipes to wipe my screen clean. Recently I learned that matte screens have a coating that might be harmed by alcohol wipes (I haven’t noticed any damage on my screen so far). I just wanted to get your opinion on it and see what people use to clean their matte screens (and the rest of their laptops, i.e. chassis and keyboard)
A damp cloth mostly. Plus a little soap if needed.
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Some plastics can be made cloudy over time, or even dry out/harden from exposure to alcohol. Glass is fine, but certain coatings can be harmed by alcohol.
Generally, I just avoid it, just in case. Like MJ1, I just use a lightly damp cloth. Damp, but not enough that it will drip/run while using it. If the screen/device is particularly dirty, I will add a tiny bit of dish detergent and work it into one corner of the cloth. I’ll start with the soapy bit, then wipe the soap off with the damp, non soapy bit, then dry it. Seems to work for me so far.
The other option is to just use a clean, dry, microfiber cloth. It’s surprising how clean I can usually get a screen just by buffing it with a clean microfiber cloth.
You should NEVER clean you plastic laptop screens with alcohol. This has always been the rule. And I am not aware of any laptops that would even have a glass screen to make it safe to clean in this manner.
Only use a slight bit of water on a microfiber cloth. There are also some purpose made liquids for plastic screens out there you can buy.
All clear, thanks for all your input.
If you were using alcohol then I presume you might have been looking to reduce germs.
There is a non-alcohol skin-safe sanitizer, benzalkonium chloride. It’s sold as an alternate hand sanitizer. Of course, you’ll usually find it just advertised as “Alcohol-free hand sanitizer” rather than under the chemical name. You could look into whether that’s known to harm plastics at all.
Great stuff if your skin is sensitive, or you just need to sanitize often enough where alcohol becomes bothersome. I got some years ago for my mother. The foaming ones are nice.
I use soft cloth moist with distilled water. Leaves no streaks and a small bottle lasts forever.
