DBrand Skin Review for the Razer Blade 14" 2014/2015

So just posting some quick impressions of the black leather skin for the Razer Blade 14 from DBrand. If you aren't familiar with the brand, they offer some of the most precisely cut vinyl skins for smart devices, laptops and tablets in a variety of finishes with varying textures. As aforementioned, I have the black leather skin though you can also order brushed metal, wood, matte, etc all with respective textures. All skins use 3M vinyl which is a little thicker than the cheap stuff but returns a more tactile texture, better conform-ability under heat and less residue upon removal (from personal experience).

Decalrus skin with border
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Opening up the packaging, DBrand provide the skin for the Blade in three pieces, one for the top and bottom faces of the laptop along with a skin for the touchpad/buttons. All are individually configurable through their online tool, for instance you could have a wooden top cover and a matte black bottom cover. The three skins are supplied on wax paper, DBrand have some a helpful Youtube video outlining the install process for the Razer Blade Stealth, though the steps are identical to the Blade.

Edge to edge DBrand skin
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Coming from a brushed metal Decalrus skin what immediately strikes me is the much more precise cut. whilst the Decalrus skin had several mm of gap around the edges and cutouts, the DBrand skin fits almost perfectly.



The top cover in particular was spot on with an edge to edge reach and no gap at all around the Razer logo (they also have an option to cover the logo). The skin conformed brilliantly to the ridges on the top, retaining that signature aggressive sculpted look.



The bottom wasn't so flawless, I had a hard time lining up all the screw holes and ultimately was unable to achieve a perfect fit even though the skin did reach to each edge; perhaps this is a small deviation in the vector itself.



Unfortunately the DBrand kit doesn't come with a palmrest vinyl nor a vinyl for the bezel of the display which are perhaps most useful to prevent oil marks. The slightly cheaper Decalrus skin offered full coverage at the cost of an inferior fit and certain textures used non-3M vinyl.



The install was simple enough using DBrand's online tutorial video as a reference. One would think that, being cut to suck a tight tolerance, it would be difficult to nail the position, but in reality it's quite the opposite. With the Decalrus skin, I had a hard time compensating for the smaller dimensions of the skin to give a uniform border around each edge whereas the DBrand skin goes right up to the edge, I simply line up two sides and smooth diagonally. I did need to use a hair dryer to smooth down the curved corners, I recommend gently padding the rippling down rather than rubbing it as such abrasion causes kinks to form on the corners.



Overall, I'm really enjoying the look and feel of the skin, the leather in particular really makes the Blade look that little bit more professional over the usual flashy carbon fiber or brushed finishes. I actually wouldn't recommend the brushed skin since it scratches very easily, even running your fingernail against the brushed finish leaves a permanent mark, the carbon and leather skins are far harder wearing in the long run. Whilst the texture is a little more shallow and less supple than the real leather on my Oppo HA-2, it feels far more authentic than one would think from what is essentially a basic vinyl sticker.

As an added note, I picked up this skin for around $35 USD during DBrand's 30% off sale, they have such sales whenever a new texture is released so be on the look out or subscribe to their newsletter. Without the discount the price is definitely quite steep for a skin but at $35, the perfect cut and convincing texture are well worth it when compared to competing models from Decalrus. Any comments, compliments and questions are welcome, thanks for reading!

 

How does the skin hold up with the heat from the razer blade?