A case for colorful tech gear

As the weather continues to heat up the metro in merciless fashion, special attention should be paid to your gadgets in order to keep them functioning well. My trusty laptop, a year-old Macbook Air, is my constant travel companion and I have been remiss in taking care of it. Wear and tear is one of my lappy’s biggest enemies and with more travel looming in the near future I decided to shop around for something to keep and carry it in. I needed something that would ventilate it properly, protect it from different surfaces and (oops) the occasional drop and, well, keep it looking pretty.

I was spoiled for choice, it seems, as soon as I put out the intention to find something. First, for everyday use and to brighten up the workplace, there were the transparent hard shell cases from XDoria (if you like that look) for P2,000 or the carbon-finish version that looked a bit more grown up (P2,200). Made out of polycarbonate, they are harder to crack and are great to protect the edges of your laptop especially if you irresponsibly just throw your laptop into your bag like I do and then throw the bag into your car forgetting that part of it is sticking out. Color-wise I leaned towards the purple and made a mental note to tell my more corporate-bound friends about the more conservative version in black. I had mental images of me tapping away at my keyboard while at the beach, with my laptop case being a perfect match to my cover-up and other accessories. Sure, it may sound a little contrived but would still be a really cute photo.

With my case choice closed, what was next on the list was a bag. I now had to decide on flexibility and functionality of the product. The slimmest was the Thule Sleeve (P2,500) that had semi-rigid foam padding for protection and an additional fold where it opened to create water resistant defense (perfect for our now very unpredictable weather). Since it also had no seams there was no danger of your laptop getting scratched when being slid in and out of it. The next was a Case Logic Pouch (P1,400) which was like a mini-shell. Although I liked the sleekness of both, I was thinking it may be more practical to get something that could also carry my charger and other accessories if I needed. The apple green color of the Dicota Dee Slim Case (P2,450) was very appealing to me and I liked that it had different compartments on the outside pocket and a security strap inside to prevent your laptop from accidentally slipping out. For a true travel warrior then, I had to consider the Promax line (P1,990- P2,700) which looked like a mini-knapsack complete with compartments, padding and an adjustable strap.

The temptation to buy a case, a sleeve and a bag just to keep my laptop fashion-forward was overwhelming so it took a couple of days for me to justify my purchase. A cheap thrill runs through me when I see my new accessories in the brightest colors available. Okay, cute summer outing picture, here I come!

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XDoria cases available at Apple Resellers (The A.Shop, Switch, iStudio) SM Appliance Center and Gadget stores (Mobile 1, Technoholics, Inbox). All other laptop sleeves and bags are available at Tripologie stores in Eastwood Mall and Alabang Town Center.

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For more Soul Train visit: www.thesoultrain.net.