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Can anyone tell me the best way to clean a laptop keyboard? I'm thinking Q-tips and some sort of solvent would be ok as long as I don't drip...

Anne, are you talking about the tops/sides of the keys or under or both?

I've found a bendy butter knife for popping the keys and some method wipes to be handy for the keys, and somewhat underneith. Cotton swabs for the rest underneith.

If you pop the keys off, do NOT do it while sitting on a chair or sofa.

I speak as someone who had important bits of the assembly under the key pop out and fall down into the innards of a club chair in a way that made it impossible to fish the bits out. This is not cute, not funny, and not covered by warranty.

Until that happened, I was doing really well at getting crap out from under the keys, though.

(This happened a couple years ago, not in response to kate's advice!)

Oh I just mean the tops of the keys, they seem ok underneath but I put lotion on my hands and sometimes eat at my desk (bad!) so they just need a surface clean. I'll try the Method wipes first, thanks!

a little bit of vinegar (no pun intended) and water. don't use any solvents, as they'll both harm the plastic and potentially wipe the letters off the keys.

anyone have any suggestions as to where i can find a class/workshop on taking better digital video? thanks.

joeq - One place to look is your local community college. They often offer classes that are for community members looking to learn something in a few sessions. Also consider asking a local specialty camera store (or two or three, depending on how many stores like that there are near where you live).

Let us know if you find a good resource!