Filed under: Accessories, Odds and ends, Macbook Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air
BookBook: A classy way to protect and hide your MacBook
This time, it's a wonderfully unique sleeve for the MacBook line, the BookBook. This US$79.99 sleeve looks like an antique leather-bound book, but it wraps around your Apple-made pride and joy to give it a level of class it hasn't had since it first shipped from the factory in China.
The attention to detail is, as usual for TwelveSouth, incredible. Not only does it have the distressed leather appearance of an old book, but the leather zipper pulls look like bookmarks. The BookBook comes in red (seen above) and black, and in both 13" and 15" sizes.
It's practical as well as beautiful. The rigid spine provides crush protection to the MacBook, the hardback covers protect the exterior of your laptop, and the unique look provides a level of stealth that could keep your MacBook from being stolen. After all, who wants to pick up something that looks like an old book that you picked up at a library sale?
TwelveSouth is going to be sending one of these beauties along for a full review and giveaway, so keep your eyes open for a future post where you can win a BookBook from TUAW.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
THJ said 7:12PM on 1-21-2010
Big fan of their iMac Backpack, really well engineered. Bluelounge has similar odds and ends as well.
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Eye Strain said 7:15PM on 1-21-2010
Fantastic idea!
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Anthony H. said 7:32PM on 1-21-2010
Too bad it doesn't have a closed-seam for the zipper. The sides of the MacBook will get scratched all to hell! Thats a deal breaker for me.
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Dave said 10:29PM on 1-21-2010
Zipper looks like it's made of nylon, I can't imagine this company not taking this into account. At the very least I would e-mail them your question and verify before posting your possible inaccurate conclusions.
Todd said 10:02PM on 1-21-2010
I think the zipper is plastic - and I don't think plastic can scratch aluminum because aluminum is harder - but I'm not sure about that.
Boon said 1:22AM on 1-31-2010
I've had my old MBP scratched by the plastic zipper of my STM neoprene sleeve and that had a thin in-seam buffering the zipper...so I'm with Anthony if he's correct.
And though the teeth of the zipper may be plastic, the pulls are still metal and can cause scratching.
Logan said 7:48PM on 1-21-2010
Er... $80?
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Felipe said 8:21PM on 1-21-2010
I just purchased one! :D
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pierce han said 8:44PM on 1-21-2010
only problem is what color should i get?!?!?!?!
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Jeff said 5:24PM on 1-22-2010
Red! Definitely.
john said 8:58PM on 1-21-2010
This would be even better for the new iTablet (ebook reader).
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BenS said 10:24PM on 1-21-2010
Oh man, I want it... all my nerdy desires combine. Technology, history, bibliophilia...
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Doc Rock said 5:24AM on 1-22-2010
The name is kind of bad as it is a Racial Slur against Filipinos.
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Thomas said 8:16AM on 1-22-2010
racial slur? never heard of that.
nano said 3:03PM on 1-24-2010
LOL
Thomas said 8:15AM on 1-22-2010
This looks so neat. I have lots of hardback books and this would work well. Wonder if it's in any stores yet?
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David H. said 10:22AM on 1-22-2010
Very cool, but at $80 it's kind of spendy. And how can it be described as "stealth" with the words "Book Book" on the spine ?
Time for someone to start making these out of REAL old books and selling them on Etsy ;)
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Mechageo said 10:33AM on 1-22-2010
I wish they had one of these for the iPhone...
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cycladic said 11:28AM on 1-22-2010
Wow! Props to the company for a clever and engaging design. It's subversive and well-crafted and just shows a both a lot of thought and a sense of humor. It seems perfect for all of us who balance precariously between the digital and the analogue.
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Mark Miller said 3:39PM on 1-22-2010
Like Thomas, I've never heard of 'Book Book' being a racial slur against Filipinos, which Doc Rock commented about.
I was a bit curious about this, as many of my friends are Asian, and figure that if I ever buy this for my unibody MacBook, I wouldn't want to risk offending any of them.
So I researched this on Google and found a racial slurs database online called 'theRacialSlurDatabase' (www.rdsb.org), but I couldn't find a racial slur specifically called 'Book Book' on their web site. However, based on an different link I found in Google, there is a racial slur in this internet database called 'Buk-Buk', which apparently:
- Is an insult that originated in Hawaii
- Is a slur on how their language sounds to non-Filipinos
- Sounds like "book-book."
This must be what Doc Rock was referring to, but apparently the racial slur is not actually called 'Book Book' but 'Buk-Buk'.
So I can see what Dock Rock is saying this product name is bad, but I don't think it's as bad as we might think it to be, since it sounds like 'Buk-Buk', and I guess the only time you might run into offending someone with it is if you tell the name of the product to any of your Filipino friends, as all they will be hearing is the pronunciation of the 'Book Book' product name, which to them sounds like 'Buk-Buk'.
Thought I would share this tidbit of info with the rest of the TUAW world.
Will this stop me from buying the 'Book Book' product?
Probably not, but it's not an item I foresee myself purchasing in the near future, as I'm currently unemployed, and so $80 is too much money for me to spend on this right now, not considering that I'm in some debt to my parents, which I would need to pay off first.
In the meantime, it's not like I have no carry-around protection for my unibody MacBook. A while back (before I got laid off from my most recent job), I bought a backpack manufactured by Skooba Design (www.skoobadesign.com), specifically the backpack model called the 'RoadWired Skooba Shuttle Laptop Backpack', and that, by the way, is a fantastic backpack for carrying laptops, and it will hold even the 17" laptops -- it was pricey, though: I think I bought it for $118.00 from Buy.com, but IMHO it was well worth it, as it does a great job of protecting your laptop(s), and in the blue/black color, it's a really sharp, nice looking laptop backpack. By the way, this 'Shuttle' model has been discontinued, but you can still find it on the internet -- Buy.com no longer carries it -- and probably for less money -- Amazon.com is selling it right now for a little over $105.00 in the blue/black color combination, but you might find it elsewhere for less, and maybe for even less money depending on the color combination.
Skooba Design is selling a new laptop backpack called the 'Checkthrough Backpack' for about $130.00, and it looks to be just as good, if not better, than the Shuttle model backpack, but it appears to come in only all black (no color combinations like the blue/black Shuttle that I have). Skooba Design, by the way, has a great warranty on their products.
And if you don't need a laptop backpack and are just looking for a protective sleeve to carry your laptop in, they have some great laptop sleeves that offer superior protection (I also have one of these sleeves).
By the way, just in case you're wondering, I am not a sales person for Skooba Design, and I am in no way affiliated with them -- I'm just a happy and satisfied user of their products.
That's it -- sorry for the novel, everyone.
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