Sticky Intel badges get new look, are still a b*tch to remove

Michael Quinn (New user):

eucalyptus oil is the best thing to get rid of sticky residue

djsflynn (APC staff):

Yeah, I'm a fan of eucalyptus oil for removing sticky gunk. It _does_ make the laptop smell a bit, albeit in a nice sinus-clearing way (but is there a risk of waking one morning to find a bunch of feral koalas chowing down on your laptop?)

techdribble (User):

It will also want to self install version 9.10 of ubuntu

Raindog (User):

I'll add another affirmation for eucalyptus oil. With a timely reminder that sticker removal should be the very first task for a new machine.

New tatt is easier to peal away than well worn and CPU cured tattered tatt.

The other suggestion I have is aimed more at the manufacturers. Could you guys consider covering all exposed surfaces of faux silver metal notebooks with the material used for Intel stickers? Field testing has proven it to be far more hard wearing than the cheap paint.

Tin (Regular user):

Best tactic to remove the Intel badges is to simply buy an AMD based box to start with ;-)

Or build your own PC and just leave the sticker in the packaging.

TV Bis (New user):

Best tactic to remove the Intel badges is to simply buy an AMD based box to start with ;-)

Best tactic is to leave the badge there. Is it really a problem????

agami (New user):

Quoting Tin:
build your own PC and just leave the sticker in the packaging.


I tried, lord knows I tried. I look at the sticker and the sigil upon it, the metallic sheen mesmerises me, I think of the craft and the care it took to design it. I stroke my thumb over it's surface, it's a hefty aluminium coated stock, the Teflon coated backing beckons to be removed, it wants to show of how easily it curves off and then detaches with an affirming snap. The PC case has this empty square indentation on the front, it's subtle but somehow it's the first thing my friends notice when they come over, they don't say anything but the glances they exchange speak volumes.

As I brush my teeth in the morning I look in the mirror and I try to convince myself "It's better this way, millions of people around the world don't apply the sticker", my wife enters the the bathroom with an benign question, I snap and she retreats. She's silent at breakfast and decides to bury herself in the morning paper.

It's my turn to drive the kids to school. My son complains about how his game had issues on the new PC, he's really talking about the missing sticker. "Is it intel or AMD, ASUS or Gigabyte, ATi or Nvidia, which one is it dad?!"

It's 3am, I'm getting something to drink, so thirsty. I can hear it, inside the box on the bookshelf in the study. It tosses and turns, its purpose unfulfilled. "Fine, I'll stick you on, but not in the provisioned square, not even the right way up". I tried, lord knows I tried.

FostWare (New user):

Zippo lighter fluid.

Best removal liquid for labels and old arctic silver.

djsflynn (APC staff):

Quoting FostWare:
Zippo lighter fluid.


Just remember NOT to light up a cigarette near your laptop for a day or two...

Raindog (User):

Ignition may well be one key step in that removal process.

The Penguin (User):

This week on Mythbusters... How to remove stickers from the front of your computer... and perhaps most of the computer with it.

Potoroo (User):

Citrus cleaners make short work of things like glue. However, they can also make short work of plastics too. Use with caution.

Your Average Joe (User):

'YUK-OFF' at hardware stores.
This stuff gets old chewing gum off footpaths.
As with all solvents, test on plastics first !

Raindog (User):

STICKERS WHY!!!!

AND WHY CANT THEY
PUT THE BEGGARS
ON STRAIGHT !!!

For those purchasing retail
make sticker removal
a condition of sale

Hemma (New user):

Toothpaste is the answer to everything.

Raindog (User):

Q: When is your birthday?

A: Toothpaste!

It appears their are some flaws in that assumption.

agami (New user):

An eraser and some elbow grease. No discoloration, no texture alteration, no smelly chemicals.

Dan Warne (Regular user):

I wonder if those chemical-free magic cube things you can buy at the supermarket to get anything off anything would work. However, I probably wouldn't attempt using them on a shiny plastic surface because they are bloody grippy.. may well scratch the surface.

djsflynn (APC staff):

I think we need to do a hands-on mega-test workshop in the next issue of APC - best ways to remove stickers and clean up the gunk - as long as a vendor can lend us a dozen notebooks that may come back with the plastic panelling scatched, scuffed or eaten away by chemicals!

Potoroo (User):

Quoting djsflynn:
as long as a vendor can lend us a dozen notebooks that may come back with the plastic panelling scatched, scuffed or eaten away by chemicals!

Just ask them for returned units they intend to throw away.

Raindog (User):

Quoting djsflynn:
that may come back with the plastic panelling scatched, scuffed or eaten away by chemicals!

Not a problem! Just put a sticker over it!

djsflynn (APC staff):

Quoting Raindog:
Not a problem! Just put a sticker over it!

There's something delightfully Escher-esque about that idea... :>

The Big Baboo (User):

Quoting Dan Warne:
Replying to
Dan Warne
Heh heh :) I stuck my AMD badge on my bass guitar pickguard and it looks pretty cool and when some of my friends ask about it,I tell them I'm a cool processor of quality music.
PS: Dan :)Can you maybe look at my post "Upgrading Vista to XP" from 07/03/09 and perhaps suggest whyI sometimes have that problem posting?

plutonium210 (User):

Quoting Dan Warne:
.. may well scratch the surface.

That's why there's a warning on them not to use on polished painted surfaces. They are a very fine abrasive.

 x  (User):

20ish POST AND I CAN'T BELIEVE NO ONE HAS SAID THIS..

Use a heat gun, hair dryer would probably work too.
heat the sticker, remove it and it's gunk it one step.
do this all the time at work.
if you're quick enough (well... if you're not slow), you can replace the sticker, if you want to straighten it, or stick it on you phone, or fridge, or clock radio, or door bell.

and the really special bit.
it works a treat with M$ license stickers.

BTW, I like the new stickers. though they should have shading across where the "peel" is supposed to be, through the middle of the i7 and across the top of the intel logo. So that it actually looks like it is pulled back.

me22 (New user):

buy a mac, problem solved

djsflynn (APC staff):

Last year I peeled the Intel sticker off my Windows notebook and affixed it to a corner on my new MacBook, and told a few Mac-minded friends that due to some new arrangement, Apple was now shipping all Macs with Intel stickers. The poor things almost choked on their espressos...

Dan Warne (Regular user):

hahahahha!!! Good practical joke. That really would be the pits if Apple started festooning their devices with all sorts of logos and blinking orange and purple lights..