How can I remove stickers from the lid of my MacBook Pro?
Just peel off the stickers.
The best thing for removing the residue is Teatree oil. You can get it from Walgreens in the US, and most chemists in Australia.
Just soak some cotton wool (or other soft cloth) in the oil (so you don't scratch the surface of your MacBook) and wipe until no residue is left.
Because the oil is viscous I would make sure that your TimeMachine backup is up to date before use. Don't kiss your brand new looking Mac as the oil is poisonous if ingested.
I first peeled off the paper sticker and then rubbed softly with alcohol wipes. It came off surprisingly fast. I can see the shiny apple again.
Some stickers are made with a water soluble glue, others with an organic soluble glue. Peel what you can off first, by hand. Once you've pried an edge up, pull slowly and carefully, not letting the angle between laptop surface and label get too large. That encourages separation of lable and glue layer. If it comes off clean, great! If not, fingernails, or a guitar pick can often get the last bits off without surface damage. If you've still got some residue, try soapy water. Give it some time to work, then go with the fingernail/guitar pick. If no joy, the glue is probably organic soluble. Any of the Limonene based orange oil cleaners should take care of that for you. Orange cleaner is available in any hardware store, and most grocery stores.
I've found it most effective to use a combination of hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol. They hydrogen peroxide may seem a little weird, but it does a much better job at cleaning up large clumps of goo (in my limited experience). My process:
- Peel off as much of the sticker as possible
- Pat a paper towel (or another cloth) with hydrogen peroxide and rub away large spots of goo
- Pat another paper towel with rubbing alcohol and rub remaining streaks away for a nice polished finish