MBP Accessories.

I am looking for some accessories for my MBP such as:

a) Matte screen protector - does it really help reduce the gloss? Do the screen colors and quality go down?

b) Shell for MBP - clear case?, hard case? not sure what would be better.


Any recommendations? Thanks for your help.

 

Got mine from here.... http://www.xgearlive.com/catalog/for-macbook love the leather case. Its hard plastic, but with a leather coating, access to all ports, doesn't stop cooling of the laptop, etc. Love it, wouldn't have my macbook without it; stops it getting a mark on it.

 

I tried a couple of matte ones on both the Glarebook Pros and the Dell XPShiny 16, and while it did make the screen more viewable outside under certain conditions it was not a good effect - even after the bubbles almost all went away. By all means try it, it's the only surefire way you will know if it works for you, but wasn't for me.

Shellwise, I'd say a sleeve and invisibleshield. Unless you're doing it for the vanity - and I am, with the recently-ordered Vaja Ivolution Silver for the Air's, here's a less leathery one for the 13-inch and 15-inch, if that tickles your fancy - it seems rather pathetic to be casing a laptop that the fanbois say is better built than anything else (ha) in another (rather fugly) case.

 

Nice choice on the Vaja Ivolution Silver, but $600?! I thought I made an extravagant choice when I got a Vaja Top SP for my iPhone 3G which was $85

Does anyone actually have the carbon fiber shell from xgearlive.com? I'm interested in maybe getting one but was wondering if it's real carbon fiber or just "carbon look". I have a leather shell case for my 13" MBP from Macally, got it for $25 on Amazon, it's similar to the xgearlive.com leather shell case except it doesn't have the whole/window for the Apple logo.

 

@Vogelbung - wow u r super duper rich ..nice choice tough. I had invested $50 in a leather case for my iphone a year back. Its one of the best investment, my phone still looks as good as new....touchwood!

@pjshots - you have the black one? I saw this online but didnt know of any good feedback...

@snork - is maccally really leather or faux leather?

 

The Macbook Pro Vaja cases are much cheaper to my knowledge. About $250?

 

I have the red one. When you first get it, doesn't look like much, but is quite a good product, wouldn't be without it now.

 

Vogelbung...yeah I saw some of the Vaja shell cases start @ $280, which isn't that bad IMHO, they are awesome quality and custom as you know.

KingDude...the macally shell is real leather, it's thin (what do you expect for <$30) but it is padded and fairly durable. I will say it is a good quality shell case and I leave it on my MBP 24/7. I can't find it on Amazon anymore, they only list it for the regular MB and Air.

HOWEVER, I will give the following warning. Even though the inside of the shell has a felt lining, I recently took the cover off and and I have a few very slight friction scuffs from it Even though it fits quite tightly, there must be some wiggle causing the scuffing. Nothing major that anyone would notice by casually looking at it, but I'm rather anal about my laptops and it does bother me that my pretty aluminum unibody MBP has a blemish I think this would happen over time with ANY shell case though, it's the nature of the beast being so tight fitting.

 

The scuffing is potentially a major problem, in that once you wear off the anodising all you have is aluminium underneath. Unfortunately as snork says it's pretty unavoidable for a very close-fitting shell. The closer fitting it is (i.e. in constant contact) it's more likely to cause this type of damage as it's not a shell fitting a laptop that's been designed to be cased and you can't avoid movement. It might be possible to mitigate the damage with a coating on the interior of the shell, but so far I haven't seen any low-profile shells with it.

One possible alternative is to see if the shell will fit with an invisibleshield. If it fits, the shield can take the abrasion damage and be replaced when the wear is looking high. All of my Air's / 17-inch ubMBP's are IS'd (took me the best part of half a day to shield six machines properly, swearing all the way...), and so far they've done a good job of shrugging off everyday wear. It is also possible that the 'tack' from the shield plus the additional thickness will further prevent movement of the laptop. In either case however, it is absolutely ridiculous and indicative of the complete lack of 'superior build quality' fanboi logic that we have to bolster these - and really, only these - machines in such a way so as to survive daily use without giving them the glass slipper treatment.

 

Hah, you are 100% correct! My MBP is my 5th laptop (2 HPs, 1 Dell, 1 Averatec) and is the ONLY laptop I've ever felt the need to "protect" during daily usage I even spent quite a bit MORE money when I got my Dell XPS optioned up at the time.

 

I found the macally case I got on Amazon, only $23.92...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

 

I bit the bullet and got the xgearlive Shadow "carbon fiber" shell from Amazon for $65.99 (vs. 79.99 from xgearlive.com). It's a pretty sweet case. Fit/finish is just as good as my macally bookshell2 case but the carbon fiber weave is much better looking than the smooth leather IMHO. I also like the cutout for the glowing Apple logo (vanity I know ). The case is padded and essentially the same as the macally, so if price is a factor the macally is a way better value @ $23.99. Also the "triple layer carbon wrap" is carbon fiber FABRIC, it is not a hard-to-the-touch carbon fiber shell.

 

I have a clear Speck case for my MBP 13'', and it is fabulous. It was easy to put on, and it's easy to remove (both the top and the bottom). The price was a bit steep (around $50), but it has definitely paid for itself! I think it's a great value if you don't want to pay too much. The case is also available on Amazon for around $30, but because I needed one ASAP, I had to buy it from Best Buy for the full price!