Sorry. Again, it was the epoxy that I was referring to when I spoke of "damage." But I still stand behind my comments in that other thread. I think THAT paint job is pretty impressive, for a paint job (which I myself would never do on my own Macs). So if you're going to paint a Mac, compared to the orange paint job, yes the Japanese job looks "spiffier" to my eyes. But again, I prefer a more purist approach to my own Macs. Also, I never really liked the body design of the CC, so perhaps my eyes were distorted when I looked at the paint job. Sorry.
quote="Dennis Nedry"]Comparing to the bottom doesn't always work because sometimes plastic turns yellow even in absence of any light. All that's required is oxygen.
I had a feeling someone was going to say that! 8-o
While that may be true, I know full well what the originally beige looked like. Part of my job is graphic design, and I know color. Therefore, I know if the bottom of a given case is yellowed. Of course, if you want to split hairs, no I cannot tell if there is only 1% increased yellowing or some similar scientific approach to determining color. But by knowing the actual color and comparing that with the bottom of the case and then all other sides, it's easy for me to determine if a case is yellowed or not.
But I will add something else. Despite the fact that case bottoms can and do yellow, the rate is not the same for all other sides unless you had the Mac sitting atop a transparent glass table. Therefore you know you've got a really yellowed case if the other sides are noticeably yellow versus the bottom.
Finally, I also know why my Mac 128/512 (I received both logic boards when I purchased it) is almost in pristine condition. The original owner died and the unit was sold by the family lawyer. The lawyer knew quite a bit about the machine, perhaps because he knew the previous owner quite well. The previous owner hardly used the machine, and I found evidence of that because the two little protruding tables on the bottom of the mouse were NOT WORN AT ALL! But I was also told this machine was used in a rather dark room, where sunlight hardly ever intered. And the owner never smoked either. The unit was used only for a short time and then put in storage, inside a soft-side Mac case. It stayed that way until it was sold to me. So it makes sense why this particular Mac looks so good. And again, I didn't pay top dollar for this. I just was persistent until I found a machine that satisfied my discerning tastes. I would therefore encourage all of you to do the same.
If you like the Mac-o-lantern, do it! Just don't epoxy anything like that article says, and I still recommend an orange cloth over painting (which allows one to change his mind later about the color). But hey, it's your Mac!