Out of the 3 things I bought to protect the PB:
- A microfiber 'sleeve' which isn't a case as such but fits the PB like a glove and protects it from scratches when you're carrying it around / leaving it lying about etc and makes it feel really comfy to carry kinda like a soft furry book
- A keyboard 'condom' is the best I can describe it, basically a rubbery thing that's specially shaped for the PB keyboard and protects the keyboard from being contaminated by greasy fingers, crumbs etc that always seem to make it into keyboards no matter how careful you try to be. It's specially designed not to impede your typing experience and works remarkably well.
- The little bit of microfiber cloth that cost about £20 and has 'Powerbook' printed on it, screen protection for the use of.
Out of those 3, the screen protector cloth was definitely the worst in terms of value. It's just a thin bit of cloth! But I still decided I'd rather use something that's definitely the right thickness and not going to cause stress on the hinges trying to squeeze it between the screen and keyboard, already specially designed and tested for the purpose etc. £20 ($30ish?) really isn't much of a price to pay for that extra peace of mind, having just spent such a large amount in the first place.
If you do just buy a bit of cloth and cut it into shape, my personal advice would be to:
- Make sure it's that soft 'microfiber' type cloth. I'd imagine that any old cloth can be abrasive and damage the screen more than if you didn't have it (grease can eventually be cleaned off with IPA, scratches can't)
- Make sure it's as thin as possible. You don't want some big, thick layer of cloth putting unnecessary force on the hinges. I actually found some foam similar to what was originally shipped between the keyboard and screen - which is also a good answer btw though it might need a trim - and cut it into shape. But it was about twice as thick, and there was actually a noticable effort closing the lid that last couple of millimetres, suggesting that the foam was too thick and therefore causing stress on the hinge. So I abandoned the idea.