• 2 min read
MacBook owners are sanding sharp edges off for comfort
Some MacBook users are filing down the laptops' sharp front edges to make typing and lap use more comfortable, including one engineer who documented the process.
Image: TechRadar
Some MacBook owners are taking a file to their laptops — literally. Complaints about the machines' sharp front edges have pushed several users to sand them down in search of better wrist comfort, a striking workaround for hardware made by a company known for obsessive industrial design.
One of the latest examples comes from software engineer Max Bretschneider, who detailed the modification in a blog post. Explaining the problem, Bretschneider wrote that a laptop is often used on a lap, where “the wrists will touch the sharp edge at an angle which is very uncomfortable.”
To soften that edge, Bretschneider said they used a metal file and progressive sandpaper. They taped off areas including the keyboard and trackpad, clamped the MacBook in place, and then started filing. While the process was “very scary,” they said it was also “far easier and approachable than it seems initially,” adding that they were able to “achieve an even level” and make the device better able to “serve its primary purpose as a tool.”
Bretschneider is not alone. TechRadar points to another example from April 2026 involving designer Kent Walters, and says MacBook owners have apparently been filing and sanding these edges since at least 2010. On Hacker News, one user said “the sharp edges have bothered me since they started with the unibody,” while another called them their “number one complaint” about the M-series MacBook Pro line.
The trend fits into a broader history of Apple hardware mods, from adding USB-C to older iPhones to building custom mechanical keyboards with Touch ID and fitting Mac minis inside old iMac shells. But sanding down a MacBook is among the more irreversible fixes — and one Apple is unlikely to endorse.
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Computing Editor
Tomas lives in the terminal. He covers chips, laptops, and operating systems with a focus on performance and efficiency. He reads kernel changelogs the way other people read fiction, and he's always on the hunt for the perfect mechanical keyboard switch. If it processes data, Tomas has an opinion on it.
via TechRadar
