Best MacBook Pro Accessories?

My husband and I both recently bought 13" MacBook Pros, and with his birthday coming up, I thought about getting him an orange cover and an orange keyboard cover, but with all the brands and choices on Amazon, I wasn't sure what the best and especially if the keyboard cover is annoying and just for looks.

Any favorite brands? Anyone have colored covers they like?

I just picked up an Incipio Feather. I'm not sure if they make it in orange, but I like it better than the Speck See-Thru Satin that it replaced (it'e a lot less bulky).

But each of the covers seem to have their drawbacks. The Speck was pretty solid, but one of its clips failed (cracked off) after awhile.

cwa107 said:

I just picked up an Incipio Feather. I'm not sure if they make it in orange, but I like it better than the Speck See-Thru Satin that it replaced (it'e a lot less bulky).

But each of the covers seem to have their drawbacks. The Speck was pretty solid, but one of its clips failed (cracked off) after awhile.

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Did you remove the cover semi frequently or did it just grow brittle from daily opening and closing and crack off? I'm wondering because Ijust bought the same cover for my new 13" Pro yesterday.

EDIT: To keep this from being a total thread jack I have heard that the silicone keyboard covers can be annoying though I have personally never used one myself. If you can find a good one though, I would say to go for it as it will keep tiny bits of hair etc. from getting stuck in the keys and if you spill a little water it should provide some protection. I have the Speck enclosure that CWA is talking about, and I like it so far, though it is a little bulky (not too bad though) but I have only had it since last night so I really can't give a full report

19birel said:

Did you remove the cover semi frequently or did it just grow brittle from daily opening and closing and crack off? I'm wondering because Ijust bought the same cover for my new 13" Pro yesterday.

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About once every 2-3 months I would pop it off and clean any cruft out that had accumulated under the front most lip of the bottom piece. It seems there's enough of a gap that you can collect stuff beneath it.

The Incipio is pretty much the same way - but it has even more of a gap at the front palm rest area. The difference is, the Incipio doesn't have quite as narrow of tabs keeping it in place (and it has less of them).

I don't think there's an ideal snap on cover for the MacBook Pro to be honest. They all have little compromises. It's just a shame that the manufacturers don't seem to put all that much thought into how they fit and work over the long run.

Yeah, when your paying $50 for these pieces of moulded plastic it woud be nice for them to be better designed. How long did yours last?

19birel said:

Yeah, when your paying $50 for these pieces of moulded plastic it woud be nice for them to be better designed. How long did yours last?

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I'd say about a year. I think I paid about $35 for the Speck from Amazon. So, definitely shop around.

cwa107 said:

I'd say about a year. I think I paid about $35 for the Speck from Amazon. So, definitely shop around.

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I guess a year isn't too bad considering my iphone case is already disintegrating and it's only 4months old. And I didn't think to check Amazon, I'll definitely check there next time before I go to the Apple Store.

I'm a recent switcher and so far I've picked up a black Incipio Feather case and a GTX black keyboard cover. I haven't had too many issues yet, but with the Feather case other than some sharp edges around the close latch and palm rest area, and also fingerprints. I'm pretty happy with this case so far, and it doesn't give any noticeable weight. I purchased the Incase hardshell before the Feather and it felt like it added a ton of additional weight to the computer. I also noticed scratches where the little clips would latch onto. It was a nice case, just didn't like the weight.

I would definitely do some shopping around as these cases getting pretty pricy pretty quick.

As far as the keyboard cover goes, I have no issues. It does what its supposed to. If you use your keyboard back light, I would probably steer clear of the one linked above. You can see the lights around the keys, but the letters do not light up. I've taken this thing off maybe once to wash it and it was like new again. As far as the keys go, having a cover does make the keys a little harder to push, but after awhile you get used to it. I make little errors here and there, but overall I'd highly recommend purchasing if your looking for protection.