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Tricericops

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 22, 2009
5
2
I ordered my first new Mac in 8 years this week and am pretty excited to finally upgrade. I noticed that there are no protective cases available yet for the new 14" or 16" MacBook Pros. I searched my heart out and cannot find any information on when these may released by third parties.

Does anyone know, based on past MacBook releases, how long after the announcement accessories such as hardshell cases and screen protectors become available for the newest models?
 
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MacGizmo

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2003
3,217
2,516
Arizona
There is, and never has been, a "screen protector" for any model of Mac that I'm aware of. Are you thinking of iPhones and iPads? Because there are of course a ton of them available for those products.

As far as cases go, the only reason you should get one for a laptop is if you're looking to customize the appearance of your laptop, as it will do little to "protect" the laptop if you drop it. Further, the value of the laptop is based on its age, and whether or not the screen is cracked or not. A few scuffs and scratches on the case isn't going to affect the value (extreme damage excluded).
 
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Scipster

macrumors 6502
Aug 13, 2020
307
924
I think it’s nice to have some protection for an expensive device like the new MacBook pros. In the past, I’ve used hard shell cases and soft/leather sleeves, and found the sleeves work just as well if not better than the hard shells. I think they’re more stylish, allow you to feel that awesome aluminum build, and avoid pitting the device. Apple currently has sleeves available for the previous generation:


I sure hope they update them for the latest MacBook Pros, but I have no idea when. Perhaps someone has more insight?
 

biopig

Suspended
May 15, 2014
131
39
Screen protector is necessary if you don't want the screen get scratched. There's always some dust in the air, and if you live in an area close to dessert, like part of California, Nevada, then you really want to keep your screen - any screen including phone, laptop - away from tiny floating sands in the air. Because when you wipe your screen, the sands with dust will definitely scratch the screen, and you will notice it when under sufficient light. That's why screen protector exists.

I found a screen protector for 16 inch M1 MBP:
Glossy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09JXQCSJ9/
Matte: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09JXZ6W94/
 

bradl

macrumors 603
Jun 16, 2008
5,952
17,447
There is, and never has been, a "screen protector" for any model of Mac that I'm aware of. Are you thinking of iPhones and iPads? Because there are of course a ton of them available for those products.

As far as cases go, the only reason you should get one for a laptop is if you're looking to customize the appearance of your laptop, as it will do little to "protect" the laptop if you drop it. Further, the value of the laptop is based on its age, and whether or not the screen is cracked or not. A few scuffs and scratches on the case isn't going to affect the value (extreme damage excluded).

Not necessarily.

Unfortunately around November of 2011 my house was broken into. The idiots tried to take my TV, did take my Playstation 2, my Canon Eos Rebel T1i, a few games, and tried to unplug my PC and Linux box to take those (but couldn't figure it out. In our living room we have 4 bookshelves full of books: historical books, kid's books, SciFi/Fantasy books, the lot. None of them were touched. And that was a good thing...

Why? Because both my wife's 2008 15" MBP and my mid-2011 13" MBA were on those shelves hiding in plain sight:

twelvesouth_bookbook_macbook_cover_4.jpg


They literally thought they were books, especially since she had dropped $2100 at the time on her MBP and I dropped $1900 on my MBA. When you have the security by obscurity premise of hiding your tech in plain sight, especially when it comes to theft prevention, a case may be your best friend and more than just eye candy. That's why I went with the BookBook by TwelveSouth. They don't have these out yet for the latest Macs, but when they do, I'm guaranteed to get one.

Side note: We didn't get back the camera or the PS2, but that's okay: insurance covered all of it, so we ended up getting the next camera up (Eos Rebel T2i) and the PS3 that had the PS2 backwards compatibility chip in it to play native PS2 games.

BL.
 

MacGizmo

macrumors 68040
Apr 27, 2003
3,217
2,516
Arizona
Not necessarily.
...That's why I went with the BookBook by TwelveSouth. They don't have these out yet for the latest Macs, but when they do, I'm guaranteed to get one.
Those aren't SCREEN PROTECTORS, those are just cases. Screen protectors are those clear plastic (or glass) pieces that "stick" to the device screen to prevent scratching.

As @biopig pointed out, they do exist (I had/have never seen or heard of them before). Considering how difficult it is to get one of these things on your phone without any dust getting in and making sure it's lined-up properly, I can't imagine how difficult a 16" laptop version would be!
 
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bradl

macrumors 603
Jun 16, 2008
5,952
17,447
Those aren't SCREEN PROTECTORS, those are just cases. Screen protectors are those clear plastic (or glass) pieces that "stick" to the device screen to prevent scratching.

As @biopig pointed out, they do exist (I had/have never seen or heard of them before). Considering how difficult it is to get one of these things on your phone without any dust getting in and making sure it's lined-up properly, I can't imagine how difficult a 16" laptop version would be!

You may want to examine the post again. You stated:

As far as cases go, the only reason you should get one for a laptop is if you're looking to customize the appearance of your laptop, as it will do little to "protect" the laptop if you drop it. Further, the value of the laptop is based on its age, and whether or not the screen is cracked or not. A few scuffs and scratches on the case isn't going to affect the value (extreme damage excluded).

That was the basis of my post.

BL.
 

JahBoolean

Suspended
Jul 14, 2021
552
425
Those aren't SCREEN PROTECTORS, those are just cases. Screen protectors are those clear plastic (or glass) pieces that "stick" to the device screen to prevent scratching.

As @biopig pointed out, they do exist (I had/have never seen or heard of them before). Considering how difficult it is to get one of these things on your phone without any dust getting in and making sure it's lined-up properly, I can't imagine how difficult a 16" laptop version would be!
It is a pain, and short of having a clean room there will be some inevitable misshaps.

Sadly it still is the only way to get the "matte" finish on mbp screens.
 
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