Z60m titanium cover: what should I do?

Hello! Maybe someone here can help me decide what to do.

I got a Lenovo Z60m with a titanium cover a few months ago. I was very happy with the finish of the cover. I was even thinking of getting it laser-etched until I discovered that it had developed a "mark" near the middle... about the size of a thumb, it looked the same as the rest of the cover, but this part was shiny, while the cover was matte (imagine breathing on a window and then drawing on it with your finger: that's more or less how the stain looked).

It was on the exact place where the strap of my laptop bag made contact with the cover, so I thought it had somehow "polished" that spot by rubbing against it. I tried to remove the mark, tried a pencil eraser, later I tried a wet cloth and soap. Nothing changed. Then, I tried a cloth with alcohol, and the edges of the mark faded, so I kept on scrubbing. The scrubbed zones looked shiny, and the rest was still matte. I kept on scrubbing with alcohol until the whole cover was completely shiny.

It turned out I had removed some kind of transparent coating that covered the titanium; the laptop bag strap rubbed off the coating on a spot, and the alcohol dissolved the rest. "Nice", I thought, "the mark is gone".

But that coating was there for a reason: it prevented smudges from showing on the surface of the metal. When cleaned, it looks awesome, but if any part of skin (finger, arm, wrist, anything) touches the metal, it'll leave a really ugly greasy mark, which will stay there until wiped off again with a wet cloth I can't describe how annoying the effect is; the smudges stand out a lot, it looks as if the lid was covered in oil.

Now I have a piece of cheap black vinyl covering the lid. It has wrinkles and bubbles and looks ugly, but at least doesn't show fingerprints.

Is there a way to clean titanium so fingerprints won't show? Some metal cleaner or such... I don't want to paint it if I can help it...
Other things I'm considering are:
- covering the lid with assorted stickers (it seems a shame to do that to a Ti cover)
- ordering a Schticker or something... has anyone tried these?

Thank you

 

i'd go to your local hardware store and ask about a transparent spray, that's what i did to prevent air brushed covers from getting scratched.

 

I've tried paint (spray and brush) a few times in the past, for various things, and the results were... well, they sucked. I'm no good with paint
So I just ordered a custom vinyl lapschtick from www.schtickers.com, this should protect the lid from smudges and look good at the same time.

I found a high-res version of the picture they used to paint this laptop at www.smoothcreations.com, then retouched it and sent it to get a custom schticker (I'm a big fan of Ghost in the Shell too). I'll post pictures when it arrives.

 

Good picture! I'm sure your laptop will look even better!!

 

The schticker finally arrived this morning! I already applied it. It was quite easy. I got a few bubbles, but they're barely noticeable.
It looks stunning! Judge for yourselves:



The surface is VERY glossy (you can actually use the dark zones of the image like a mirror).

I also happened to come across the original image based on which both the SmoothCreations paintjob and my schticker were made, so I'll give proper credit to the author. Someone nicknamed `zephiris26 took a screen capture from the series and vectorized it to make a wallpaper: http://www.animepaper.net/gallery/wallpapers/showcase/item1098/

 

I own a black lid version of the Z61m so I don't have this problem. Unfortunately, I also don't have the superior protection offered by the Ti lid. I'm not a gaming fan but I have to say that your laptop looks great. Good fix!

 

Nice, GITS

And I see a nekomimi figurine as well in the back