With a name like Optimist Prime, it's gotta be good
Recently, I gave a big thumbs up to the ShaggyMac screen protector as a highly effective way to prevent smudges, prints, and damage to the glossy LCD screens that are so commonplace on mainstream laptops. Often, if we’re in the trenches, we spend our time just keeping things running and don’t take a lot of time on basic maintenance of equipment.
Your doctor will tell you that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and that certainly seems to be the case with these relatively inexpensive screen protectors/wipes. Having seen my review, the folks at ShaggyMac were good enough to send me a bottle of their Optimist Prime cleaning spray and a Swiper cleaning cloth to test as well.
While the Transformers allusion would have probably sold me anyway, the fact that the product actually works without any volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ammonia, alcohol, or even a scent makes it a no-brainer for your PC care toolkit.
While the screen protector I reviewed last week, if used religiously (and I do use it religiously, having joined the ranks of rabid Mac users who really love their laptops), minimizes marks on most LCDs and does a nice job of wiping off the stray smudge, Optimist Prime (I just love that name) seems to work everywhere that the screen protectors can’t.
A user who moved on to greener pastures returned his laptop on Friday. I brought it home this weekend to wipe and restore it for redeployment, but also found that it needed a good cleaning. The screen (not even glossy, as this was one of HPs business models) was well smudged and had tell-tale keyboard marks. Fortunately, Optimist Prime was waiting for me at home, having just been delivered that day.
The mist is incredibly fine and can be sprayed directly on the screen, but I chose to spray it on the microfiber cloth that ShaggyMac had also supplied. Within a moment of “buffing,” per the instructions on the bottle, the screen was as good as new.
I moved on to an LCD television that the kids had already managed to smudge (they haven’t been able to tear themselves away from the latest Super Smash Brothers long enough for a snack so foodstuffs have been migrating to the living room). Again, clean and dry with no streaks in short order.
The mist claimed to be safe for all optics as well, so I hit my glasses, cell phone camera, and video camera with the same results.
No doubt, there are other products that are just as effective, but the utter lack of harsh chemicals or scents (I have two asthmatics in the house who are really sensitive to that sort of thing and plenty more asthma and allergy sufferers at school) makes this an ideal product for cleaning the grimy optical surfaces at your school. Besides, with a name like Optimist Prime, how can you go wrong?