I don't have any cleaning product right now at home, and the only alcohol I have is vodka.
Can it be used to clean my keyboard and trackpad, or will it damage my laptop? (I think that alcohol is often used to clean computers, but I'm not sure that it's the same kind of alcohol)
The type of alcohol is less important than what other contaminants are in it.
Even strong vodka is 50% water and unknown contaminants.
After many comments & other answers on what may or may not be in vodka -
From The Chemistry of Vodka – Structure, Additives, and Impurities
The final factor is additives. Though we think of vodka as just ethanol and water, it’s actually permitted in a number countries to add small amounts of other additives. Mostly, these are to improve the smoothness of the vodka, so they’re likely to be found in higher amounts in cheaper vodkas containing more impurities. Compounds used for this purpose include citric acid, glycerol, and sugar.
I'd wait until you have something better to clean it with, like perhaps a micro-fibre cloth [3 for a pound/buck/shekel in any supermarket] Get the general purpose fluffy ones with little loops of fibre rather than the smooth ones specifically for glass, as they're a bit hard for plastic.
Wet under the cold tap, then wring out as dry as you can possibly get it. It should be dry enough that you can barely tell it wets the surface... no dribbles.
Wipe gently, repetition is better than force.
Cheaper than vodka too... & you're even less likely to want to suck the cloth afterwards ;-)
See also Will alcohol or soap damage plastic or rubber? from Chemistry Stack Exchange for another good reason I recommend nothing more than water & a micro-fibre cloth.
Vodka is distilled, the fermented sugars are left behind from distilling. There are zero sugars in vodka. I don't know where "Tetsujin" got his statistic that it's 50% unknown contaminants. Vodka is mostly ethanol alcohol plus water and a bit of glycerol.
There are different kinds of alcohol produced from fermenting. Ethanol alcohol is the most drinkable kind. There's other alcohols that can be poisonous or give a rough taste, but the amount is very small. The better vodkas have been filtered to remove these, so they taste smoother. However for your purposes, this doesn't matter.
It's probably better than water for cleaning. Find out for sure by spraying/wiping some on glass, and see if there's a residue. The alcohol is a bit more of a solvent, and will evaporate faster than plain water.
OF COURSE you can clean your keyboard with vodka. However, the keyboard may show ill effects after the treatment just like anyone having vodka, and - if excessive amount is applied, the keyboard (and notebook) will die.
In contrast with humans, the keyboard won't suffer so much from the alcohol within the vodka. It is the water, sugars and other constituents of vodka, that have ill effects on keyboards.
For cleaning keyboards, the best is to use a paper towel or cloth, damp (never wet or dripping!) with very mild detergent, and light cleaning movements. If you have patience, then after 3-5 minutes of such cleaning, you'll have a shiny keyboard.
I hope this helps!
Vodka still contains a significant amount of water - and while water is good for you and alcohol not so much, the reverse is true in case anything gets into the computer.
Be aware that some apple products contain water damage detectors that could be used against you in a warranty case even if you didn't cause the actual problem with your cleaning.
I once tried cleaning a keyboard from a white MacBook, circa 2008 vintage, with alcohol (not sure if ethanol or isopropyl). This irreversibly damaged the key contacts and half the keyboard stopped working, which was only fixable through replacing the keyboard.
A lightly water-damped cloth is a safer bet.
50% isopropyl alcohol works great, but it does have high water content so try not to let too much run down the keys into the keyboard. You can try 90% isopropyl to reduce the amount of water for the aluminum base and/or stubborn stains on the keys.
In general, no, you should not use vodka on your lappy. You probably should even be careful using isopropyl alcohol solution on laptops, too, given that it can destroy certain rubbers and plastics.
You really ought to use a product designed for this purpose. I mention such a product over on Retro in an answer for cleaning edge connectors, but it is safe and suitable for any electronics with or without mechanical parts.
The brand name I am most familiar with is "CRC QD Contact Cleaner". To quote the datasheet:
Ideal for telephones, PCs, relays, edge connectors, tape heads, buss bars, circuits, contacts, printed circuit boards, switches and circuit breakers
But I've worked at places where it was used to clean keyboards (for example, on PCs or CNC machines on a shop floor), too. You spray liberally and let the excess boil out (it has a much lower boiling point than alcohol) taking all the gunk with it.
Similar products are found industry wide, and your Mac was probably sprayed with, or dipped in, something like it several time during manufacturing and shipping. If you must use some sort of solvent on electronics, this is the stuff to use.
There is a variety that has a light lubricant used for wipers and potentiometers, which you don't want. Other than that, any of the well-know industry standard solutions, now easily fetched from online stores, will work.
I don't know is it possible to clean or not, but with VODKA answer for sure is NO. It's not worth it ;)
