How do you clean the melted exterior of the Alienware M14x-R2? Searching google did not yield any results as to what this melted exterior is or how to clean it.
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This is not your fault - Dell has known issues getting this right on the 2nd gen laptops, all the way up until Ivy Bridge. Even some of the Haswell/Broadwell machines had problems. It’s one of the reasons I began to like the aluminum HP Commercial products once they removed the WLAN WL, and why I put up with some of Dell's poor QC on the machines up until Haswell, outside of pre Haswell HP. Anything newer can go either way as Dell has had fewer issues with it now, but generally HP>Dell.
This is generally just a coating that went bad, with actual plastic underneath. What you need is to get denatured alcohol to clean it (either take the laptop apart or cover EVERYTHING you do not want this to touch - it’s not fun to clean when it spreads in large chunks - taking it apart is best). You'll need a throwaway cloth as there's just no good way to wash it afterwards. Test a small area first and see, and if it comes up then you can salvage it. You may need a new palmrest if it doesn't come up cleanly.
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Looks like a solvent of some type was spilt on the case.
Just replace it:
Alienware M14x-R2 (P18G) Keyboard Housing and Trackpad
or
https://www.amazon.com/Alienware-M14xR2-...
Have a search. good luck.
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It's not due to solvents - during the 2st gen-5th gen laptops, Dell had issues here and there with rubber coatings on the palmrests failing like this. The 3rd gen laptops are bad, bad bad.
It hasn't been as bad since they ditched the EX models and went to the 3000/5000/7000/9000 series - and most of them finally ditched it outside of the 7000 series but yeah this is one of the reasons I dodge ANYTHING DELL from the Sandy-Ivy era with this crap - it always happens. That, or I budget the palmrest into the price knowing the odds stink and I'll be doing it soon.
Curious. I guess QC on this model was asleep.
@aactech They were asleep for the E6X30 series as well. The 6X30 series is just as infamously bad. The 6X20 series is prone but less of a cursed situation. Anything from the 3rd gen era was when they were in a deep sleep, basically. This is for the 6230, but basically all of them from that era suck. Soft touch plastic is a pile of suck.
Baby powder is a band-aid fix.
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