Sheath Your Macbook

In the days when laptop computers were more accurately termed "luggables", molly-coddling your machine wasn't really an option.  Once you'd heaved it out of the boot of your car, suspension hissing loudly in relief, you half-manhandled, half-dragged it to your desk and battered away at recalcitrant keys for the day.  Now, of course, we're used to pretty little slices of over-designed portable computing, the pinnacle of which is undoubtedly anything bearing an Apple logo.  And so crafty, niche-spotting manufacturers pander to our extreme fear of letting anything mar those brushed aluminium surfaces or slip between the slender keys; enter, stage-left, the iSkin ProTouch Keyboard Protector.

Gear Diary's Mitchell Oke has been playing with this computer condom, to see just how well it can shield the keyboard of his MacBook from crumbs, bits of sandwich and other detritus, although he stops short of spilling any sort of liquid over its rubbery hide (poor show, Mitchell!  Throw the bugger in the bath!)

Mitchell concludes that while the iSkin does as good a job at keeping much out as you'd expect from a solid piece of rubber, it also allows for decent (if slightly slowed) typing.  However, given that the speakers either side of the keyboard are unprotected – and in an ideal spot for runoff liquids to douse – it's certainly not perfect.  At $24.99, I guess it comes down to just how overprotective you are.

iSkin ProTouch Keyboard Protector Review [Gear Diary]