iSkin laptop skin review

Remember back when your parents got their first computer, and the device had an awful dust protector that came with the keyboard, monitor, and printer? Man, I hated those things. Having to remember to put them on when you were done using the machine was such a pain in the rear.

Thank goodness technologies have evolved since then, and we now get keyboard covers that stay on your devices twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Trust us, it’s a good thing. You don’t realize just how much crap gets into your keyboard until you pull off one of iSkin’s keyboard covers. Man, things get nasty.

iSkin has three product lines for MacBook, MacBook Pros, and the MacBook Air. I’m preferential to the ProTouch Classic model, which is 100% transparent, and after using one for a couple of days, you rarely notice you’re even using one.

The other two models are for those of you who would like to add a little bit of color to your keyboards. The ProTouch FX edition comes in solid colors (Red, Purple, and Black) and glow in the dark when the lights go off. The cool thing about this model, and the ProTouch Classic, is that the skins are transparent where the letters are on your keyboard, so you can see the keyboards backlight when they’re turned on. It’s a pretty handy feature, but it’s not available on all of their skins.

The ProTouch Vibes model, which is funkier looking, lacks the backlight option. It does, however, come with larger fonts printed on the keys, so if your eyesight isn’t all that it once was, you may want to pick up this model.

All of the models feel great under your fingers, and in some cases dampen the clickity-clack of the keyboard keys, which is great if you use your laptop in bed. Significant others tend to get annoyed when you’re pounding away on keys while they’re trying to sleep.

Another benefit to using one of these covers is that they’re easy to clean. You can wash the skin with some water and detergent. It’s a lot easier to clean one of these skins than it is to clean your laptop keyboard, so keep that in mind the next time you’re hovering over your keyboard with a coffee and scone. Better yet, just go buy one, they aren’t that expensive, and it’s better to be proactive in protecting your machine than it is to fight with an Apple Genius about your Apple Care warranty.

The Classic model comes in at 24.99; The ProTouch FX is 29.99; and the ProTouch Vibes is 34.99. You can usually find them pretty cheap On Amazon (at the time of writing they’re listed at just over $17.00).

Joshua is the Content Marketing Manager at BuySellAds. He’s also the founder of Macgasm.net. And since all that doesn’t quite give him enough content to wrangle, he’s also a technology journalist in his spare time, with bylines at PCWorld, Macworld and TechHive.