A friend once said to me that the difference between a PC user and a Mac user is as follows… a PC user buys a piece of kit and gets down to using it straight away, whereas a Mac user will always have protecting their precious kit as top priority over using and enjoying it. I had to laugh to myself, as I have behaved exactly like that myself. I even went so far as delaying the use of my iPod by a day, waiting for a case to be delivered for it. An even bigger investment is a laptop, and being able to protect it from scuffs and scratches, without spoiling the design asthetics or adding too much bulk is also important. Well, the kind people at Speck Products sent me two of their SeeThru cases to review. One for the 15-inch and the other for the 17-inch MacBook Pro. Of note, they also make these hard plastic shells for the 13-inch MacBook too.
The SeeThru comes supplied nicely packaged, and once unwrapped you can see that it is supplied in two halves, one for the base of the laptop and one for the lid. It is made of hard plastic, which is either completely transparent, or has a colouring to it. I had the pink one, which is really suited to the fairer sex, alongside the transparent 17-inch version. At first glance it is easy to see how much thought has gone into the design and quality, so I was really keen to get the case onto the MacBook Pro. Fitting is easy, simply placing the base into the case and giving it that extra little push to snap it into place. It is held on by little tabs, that are hardly noticeable. The lid for the back of the screen is fitted in the same way.
What makes the SeeThru so good, is that it hardly adds any thickness to the MacBook Pro. It also has cut-outs for all of the ports and superdrive, even a small hole for the battery test button on the base. The base also sports vent slots, to help dissipate any heat that in generated. You can keep the SeeThru in place for everyday use, and I am happy to say that it made no real difference to temperature of the laptop, maybe one degree here or there, but this was virtually impossible to measure. When closed the edges meet nicely, and it is nice to see that the beautifully designed MacBook Pro, still looks great.
In conclusion the SeeThru hard shell case from Speck Products is a superb way of cheaply protecting your MacBook or MacBook Pro. You can go for the transparent version, or add a splash of colour back into your (Mac) life, with black, blue, green, orange, pink and red to choose from. The SeeThru is well made and should be high on your shopping list.
Product: SeeThru case for MacBook Pro
Price: $49.95 (regardless of size)
Average UK Price: £29.99
Supplied by: Speck Products
Contact: info@speckproducts.com