Thinkpads Forum

My VIDEO REVIEW can be found at this YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W63yhEFrijc

PROS:
- Not expensive
- Easy to buy
- Fits perfectly with no slippage or difficulties getting on or off
- Truly spill proof and will definately keep dust and dirt off your keyboard
- Soft to the touch and keyboard feel is not sacrificed
- Also protects the screen from keyboard.
- Said to be machine or dishwasher washable which is good.


CONS:
- Red eraser mouse pointer is very difficult to use under the skin. The skin does seem to suggest a small cut out circle for the eraser which will be better OR you can use another type eraser since Thinkpad provides lots of different shapes of erasers.

- After 3 days of use the skin seems to leave an oily and white residue on the keys I use the most (IE space bar and shift key). Not sure if it is a flaw in use of cheap rubber or normal break in period where the initial preservative coating layer that manufactured use to keep rubber soft rubs off. At any rate it doesn't seem to be permanent and just rubs off.

- Long time durabilty questionable. after 3 days of use I doubt this will outlast the actual notebook. But for under $5.00 you can't really go wrong.

- Rubber skin uppers are sticky and will possibly pick up and cling to dust, pet hairs or hair from people that tend to shed a lot of body hair.

BOTTOM LINE:
For $5.00 I found this to be a good investment

It happened to me a few times that someone knocked over a glass or a cup, spilling coke or tea into my T61 keayboard. Whereas cleaning the sugar from the keyboard was a hassle, I was amazed/happy that absolutely no fluids entered any vital parts of the laptop.
In using the rubber skin, I fear that any fluids spilled on the keys might drain off on the sides of the laptop, possibly entering the MB though the small spaces between the keyboard and the speakers instead of draining through the keyboard spillholes.
The answer to this problem is obviously" "don't spill fuids on you TP" but still, just my 2cents

An interesting thing. If the goal is to protect the keyboard from the keys, then it doesn't make sense to cut a hole for the trackpoint, as the trackpoint cap is far more likely to leave permanent marks on the screen than the keys. I guess it can be a nice accessory if you only use the touchpad or an external mouse.