A word of warning: DO NOT CLEAN THIS LAPTOP USING ALCOHOL

[spartan00]

I'm telling you guys all this based on experience. TL;DR: do NOT wipe painted parts of a laptop using rubbing alcohol.

Here comes a bit of a life story.

 I have 2 other laptops in the household: one made of glossy plastic and the other made of brushed aluminium. I treat my computers as sterile objects, so I would wipe them down with a microfiber cloth and a bit of 70% rubbing alcohol once every two weeks.

 I got this laptop back in late 2016 for my mom. Owners of similar laptops would know that this is a plastic laptop with a painted lid that is soft and rubbery to the touch. I really dig it in fact, even though it's nothing fancy.

 One night, I decided to give it a thorough cleaning. I started with wiping the screen: no problem. Then the deck, keyboard, sides and bottom panel. Everything was hunky dory.

 Here comes the sad part. I douse my cloth with a bit of rubbing alcohol then i did one quick wipe. The cloth has this disgusting greyish black color. I assume this was a lot of dust because I didn't do this to the laptop in the first two months. It was my mom's laptop after all.

 I continued wiping until I was content with myself. Next morning though, I noticed something that feels different about the surface. It has an uneven shine on the lid and said parts lost its rubbery texture. That's when it hit me: s***. I wiped the paint off. I covered the lid in a vinyl wrap and i constantly hoped my mom won't notice to this very day.

 That's all. I hope y'all don't have to learn a lesson the hard way like I did. Have a nice day 🙂

p.s.: How much for a replacement lid?

[Huffer · Accepted solution]

Turbo silver lid part number....there are about 7 or 8 different colors so let us know if you need a different color:

854987-001

$53.74 and I am surprised a little it is not more:

https://parts.hp.com/hpparts/Search_Results.aspx?mscssid=336F9431BD80430DB57E20D3785E20E6&SearchIn=P...

The other colors are likely the same price. 

Manual

This is found in the User Guide:

CAUTION: Avoid strong cleaning solvents that can permanently damage your computer. If you are not sure that a cleaning product is safe for your computer, check the product contents to make sure that ingredients such as alcohol, acetone, ammonium chloride, methylene chloride, and hydrocarbons are not included in the product.

Post back with any other questions and please accept as solution if its the info you needed. Thanks for sharing the cautionary tale.