Need Your Thoughts on Sleeves/Shells/Skins for My Blackbook Situation

[Val-kyrie]

I recently purchased an early 2008 Blackbook - it is on its way - and now I am trying to purchase any protective accessories that I will need. So a few questions:

(1a) How badly, if at all, will the black case fade or be marred without external protection (liner or shell)?
The Blackbook is in excellent condition and already has a Marware palmguard on it, but that is it, and I treat things well but it will be used and transported quite a bit between home and the research library.

(1b) Is a keyboard cover necessary to prevent the screen from showing the outline of the keys?

(2) I currently own a Brenthaven padded laptop backpack, but it was designed for a 15" MBP, so I have thought about purchasing a high-impact resistant sleeve to fill up the space in the laptop compartment. Necessary?

(3a) Also I have read about the cracking issues and wondered if a hardshell from InCase would provide extra strength for the Blackbook case. Thoughts?

(3b) If I purchased an InCase hardshell to use on my Blackbook, would it provide much if any additional impact resistance in addition to the Brenthaven liner or should I get a sleeve irregardless?

(4) My only concern with a hard shell is that I hear the temperature of the MBs increases as a result of the shell and this causes the fan to spin up more often and thus shortens battery life. I have looked but cannot find any "scientific" testing for this. Is this true?

(5) Additionally, I just purchased 4GB of RAM with CAS latency of 4 from Corsair through NewEgg. I am concerned this may run a bit warmer than the standard RAM and do not want to overheat and thus shorten the life of the Blackbook. Does anyone here have any experience with this lower-latency RAM?

(6) Lastly, I have considered the various skins. Any drawbacks apart from application? Do they really change the texture and look of a Blackbook that much?

I am reading through the threads, but your experience here would be appreciated.

 

[TxMacAddict]

Your first stop should be Radtech and order their "sleevz" to protect your finish if thats important to you. I love that blackbook finish when its not scratched up. There is a promo code on the MR forums to get 15% off your order.

I would skip the Incase hard shell personally but if you like it.. go for it. I usually have buyers remorse with the incase products lately. I've read reports that the shells do more to harm to your finish than protect it. But I still like some of their stuff. I wish they still had the little green leaf on their logo... all white now.

 

[Val-kyrie]

Your first stop should be Radtech and order their "sleevz" to protect your finish if thats important to you. I love that blackbook finish when its not scratched up. There is a promo code on the MR forums to get 15% off your order.

I would skip the Incase hard shell personally but if you like it.. go for it. I usually have buyers remorse with the incase products lately. I've read reports that the shells do more to harm to your finish than protect it. But I still like some of their stuff. I wish they still had the little green leaf on their logo... all white now.

Would you recommend a Radtech sleevz over a Zeroshock III or other protective sleeve given the fact that it will be in a padded laptop compartment in a backpack?

 

[TxMacAddict]

Sounds like the radtech sleevz is perfect since you will be putting it in the padded laptop compartment of your backpack.

I like the sleevz because it lets me put it in my bag without worrying about my zippers scratching the finish.. And it's nice to have when you don't carry your back pack with you.

Just my preference... but you may have another idea.