With the increasing amount of time that people are spending on their computers these days, be it for work or pleasure, eating and drinking in front of the computer is commonplace. With this comes the risk of spilling that coffee or cup of Diet Coke (Judie :P), or dropping crumbs of that cookie into your keyboard, where they will literally put a spanner in the works.
Enter the iSkin ProTouch, a product designed to help keep all those nasties off and out of your vulnerable keyboard.
The iSkin is a rubber cover that sits on top of your keyboard that does not prevent you from using the keyboard at the same time.
The thin rubber does not obstruct the keys, and is moulded perfectly to almost wrap around each key. Every square on the iSkin has the original markings from the key it protects.
On the edges it will sit up a little bit, but nothing major.
The backlight on the MacBook Pro/Powerbook shines through nicely, with the cool effect of framing each key.
The green Caps Lock and Num Lock lights show through brightly as well.
In practise it works pretty well. I can still type normally with the iSkin, although slightly slower. I actually quite like the feel of the iSkin which surprised me. Typing is also quieter. While I wasn?t game to test it with liquid, I did during the course of the review eat over it, and it caught everything and kept my keyboard nice and clean. The only issue I can see with it is if you spill something on it, it will likely run into the speakers which aren?t covered. But, you still have a better chance that if you didn’t have it at all!
There are also several colours to choose from, to give you Mac a unique look.
I am very happy with the iSkin, and will continue to use it. I doubt I will use it all the time as I love the feel of the naked MacBook Pro keyboard, but the fact that it feels comfortable to use will draw me to use it when I?m eating over my computer.
Unforunately at this point in time the iSkin is only available for the MacBook Pro, MacBook, Powerbook, iBook and Apple Keyboard, so users with laptops from other manufacturers can?t get one.
The iSkin is available directly from the manufacturer at iskin.com
MSRP: $24.99 (all models and colours)
What I Like: Adds protection from dirt, food and liquid (to a degree) for your keyboard
What Needs Improvement: Only available for Apple laptops, liquids could run off into the speakers if spilt
[eminimall]