Cosmetic Modification Resources

COSMETIC MODIFICATIONS

Whether you want to advertise your company, secure bragging rights, express yourself, match your décor, or prevent theft almost everyone can find a reason to doctor up that plain jane grey notebook.​

If you have had experience with any of the companies let me know so the ratings can be as accurate as possible. Do you know of a great Company or DIY project not here then post it up and I will add it here.

Got a great cosmetic mod? Post up some photos in the SHOWCASE.

The ratings are from 1 to 5 with 5 being the best.
I initially rated the companies based on reviews I read. I will periodically adjust the ratings as people report their experiences.

Paint:
Painters are rated on final quality, customer service, and overall experience.


Aftermarket Painters:

Smooth Creations -- Moved to retailer section.

Notebook Design USA -- Malias review of http://www.laptopdesignusa.com Located in Dearborn, MI.
Quality – Service – Overall
5 - - - - - 5 - - - - - 5

Visual Tonix -- Circa69’s experience with [email protected] Located in St Louis, Mo.
Quality – Service – Overall
4 - - - - - 5 - - - - - 4

Kzak Airbrush -- http://www.kzak.net/Web Located in Vietnam.
Quality – Service – Overall
? - - - - - ? - - - - - ?

Custom Paint by Daneen -- Rey’s experience with http://www.customairbrush.com Located in San Jose, CA.
Quality – Service – Overall
? - - - - - ? - - - - - ?


Retail Painters:
At this point many (most even?) retailers are offering custom paint options. Please let me know if there are any unique ones missing.

Xotic PC -- Custom paint available. http://www.xoticpc.com
Quality – Service – Overall
? - - - - - ? - - - - - ?

Smooth Creations -- Duke’s review of http://www.smoothcreations.com They are no long accepting paint jobs, only painting what they sell.
Quality – Service – Overall
5 - - - - - 4 - - - - - 5

Alienware -- Limited choices of paint. http://www.alienware.com
Quality – Service – Overall
5 - - - - - 4 - - - - - 4

Sony -- Limited choice of graphics. http://www.sonystyle.com
Quality – Service – Overall
4 - - - - - 5 - - - - - 5

Voodoo PC -- Selection of colors with a tattoo(black graphic on the lid). http://www.voodoopc.com
Quality – Service – Overall
5 - - - - - 4 - - - - - 4

Cyberpower PC -- Sticker or Limited choices of paint. http://www.cyberpowerpc.com
Quality – Service – Overall
4 - - - - - 5 - - - - - 4

Falcon Northwest -- Unlimited color choice included. Custom Paint is available. http://www.falcon-nw.com
Quality – Service – Overall
? - - - - - ? - - - - - ?


Stickers:
Sticker Manufacturers are rated on sticker quality, customer service, and overall experience.

Schtickers Chaz’s review of http://www.schtickers.com
Quality – Service – Overall
5 - - - - - 5 - - - - - 5

DecalGirl Homer J's experience with http://www.decalgirl.com on NBF.
Quality – Service – Overall
4 - - - - - ? - - - - - 4

SkinIt Tim’s review of http://www.skinit.com
Quality – Service – Overall
4 - - - - - 4 - - - - - 4

PolyGFX http://www.polygfx.com
Quality – Service – Overall
? - - - - - ? - - - - - ?

Aspoke.com http://www.aspoke.com
Quality – Service – Overall
? - - - - - ? - - - - - ?

designerskins http://www.designerskins.com Website could use a little work.
Quality – Service – Overall
5 - - - - - 5 - - - - - 5

lkingsvs' review of http://www.shieldzone.com - clear protective shield for your gear
Quality – Service – Overall
5 - - - - - 5 - - - - - 5

More skins: istyles.com


Other:
Hyperkore http://www.hyperkore.com/ Laser Etching, also sell notebooks snd desktops.
Quality – Service – Overall
? - - - - - ? - - - - - ?

JohnDBoone's info on Laser Etching in this thread

Laser Etching

Laser Etching on a black Thinkpad

iSpazz plugin for iTunes on OS X controlls the MacBook Pro/PowerBook backlight keyboard and optionally the display backlight.

LapStyle -- Furry notebook covers Andrew’s review of http://www.lapstyle.com/
Quality – Service – Overall
2 - - - - - 5 - - - - - 3


DIY:

Bad Haze’s DV1000t

jack53’s dv4000

Circa69's Averatec 3270

biiscit’s stickerized Macbook

Illuminated Dragons on a C640

Presario V2000 painting tutorial

Dell Inspiron 1100

Zenith 320L moonlight mod

Great writeup on respraying your HP Omnibook

The LED Mod

Gingerbread Laptop

XBox 360 Notebook

roswell's Screen Mod Not Recommended


Got a great cosmetic mod? Post up some photos in the showcase.

 

Do you know of any UK based companies for the Smoothcreation type custom designs rather than stickers? I have been searching online but have come up trumps

 

Sorry, no. I hope somone finds somebody for you guys over there. I recommend finding someone who does custom motorcycle painting. You will need to disassemble yourself or make sure they (or you) mask the notebook very very well.

 

Theres no mention of designerskins.com and I feel they should be added to the list. Excellent for service, speed of delivery and cost. Skin quality is good but the design of the website is awful. Still, nothing can be perfect!

 

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the links.

 

Done
Thanks for the input.

 

I recently bought a skin from istyles.com. Never had a skin before. I am beyond pleased - looks like a paint job to me.

 

I'm new in that field but I'm looking to be Professional, so could you please specify some website or retails for buying paints?

 

it's DIY not DYI

 

Thanks, typo

 

Hey,

I was wondering how i would use some of these websites. Do i just choose a skin and then mail my computer in? Or do i buy the computer off of them?

 

Depends on what you want....
Retailers - Buy a computer from them with a custom paint job
Aftermarket painters - Send in your computer for painting
Skins - These are stickers that they mail to you and you put on the computer yourself

 

I have two completed jobs from Smooth Creations... 5- 5- 5 and 5 -5 -5

proof:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=81247

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=122892

 

nice list of sellers. I noticed that u list a group from my country vietnam. http://www.kzak.net/Web.. They're pretty famous there in VN. Their work are widely featured in news paper and receives a lot of support. Most of their work done by hand with highly skilled and equipment. There are no spray paint printer are used in their stuff so overall it's pretty cool to have a some unique picture painted by hand ( not printed) on ur notebook lids.

Hope they can do someth to come over the states. Sending laptops to paint over there is hard cause of customs declaration and stuff which cost u shipping and trouble.

 

Without making any advertisement here but actually there is a company in the UK customizing notebooks, it's called Laptop Studio.
Check out http://www.laptopstudio.co.uk
Hope that helps!

chris

 

ooo.. there's www.skinweaver.com too. Has anyone else tried it? I've only got a laptop skin once and from this store, so I've got nothing to compare their service against. But I love my skin! In the end it's about whether their designs match your taste I guess. Assuming good quality and affordability of course!

 

I would like to customise mine myself, but a bit afraid to lose the warranty. Obviously i'll have to take the lid off... Any ideas or suggestions? Has anyone come across getting customized stuff repaired under waranty? Any problems?

By the way, nice skins service from Surrey, UK www.lapjacks.com

 

Sorry for the long delay.....

see the link in my sig for some good warranty info (USA only)

 

i just found 1 more, they have a good website..
but i dunno if they can paint all laptops..

www.colorwarepc.com

^^

 

www.colorwarepc.com will paint the laptops offered on their site and do any custom paint jobs, and keep you updated every step of the way. From what I've seen, they do a completely flawless job. You can see pictures of custom painted computers, media players, phones, and a lot more in the "prototypes" section.

EDIT: Heh, the person above me posted the same thing.

 

Are these guys new? Or is the guide out of date? I saw them.. tempted to get my ipod painted.

 

They've been around since at least the early 2000s. Google some reviews on them, their paint jobs look really nice.

 

hello~
do you know some information concerning Painters in china.
I am now in peking,china, want to get my asus F3Q72JP-SL painted,
yet I can not find any Painters..

 

I'm looking for someone who does chroming. Piano black lid with chrome palm rest and screen bezel sounds good to me.

 

Any in New York ?

 

If you like Disney they have stickers for you laptop lids manufactured for you lid. Approx $15, + s&h.

http://disneyshopping.skinit.com/devices//laptop/

 

www.nvouspc.com is another laptop painting company.

 

what about carbon fibre? anyone tried?

 

I am using carbon fiber as we speak. I will hopefully have it done in a week or two...

 

can you show how it went?

 

Very cool stuff, how do you find all that.

 

do these stickers or design stick well on Aluminum ? such as the msi m-1651 i have.

 

it might wok f the adheasive is tacky enough

 

Any Designs or Stickers for Alienware Laptops ?

 

Any for Australia?

 

I've posted this in a couple threads so far, but I figured I'd post it here.
You can save money on skins for your laptop by trying a local sign shop that does vinyl work.
Ever see lettering on the side of a truck advertising a business? That's vinyl.
Anything that can be put on a vehicle can be put on a laptop.
The vinyl comes in rolls and is cut using a plotter. A plotter is basically like a printer, but instead of squirting ink on a piece of paper, it uses a blade to cut the vinyl.
I used to work at a sign shop and we always had stray pieces of vinyl laying around. I'd imagine most sign shops are the same.
In addition to that, there are also some shops who will have a large format vinyl printer. Ever see a vehicle completely wrapped with pictures and or logos? That's done with a large format printer. They essentially print an image on vinyl which then gives you what is for all intents and purposes a huge sticker.
Those will be more expensive since the vinyl material is pretty pricey.
The shop I worked at made street signs from time to time using the same ScotchLite material used in stop signs. That I think would make a cool skin or even a logo on the back or your screen.
Check it out, you might save yourself some money.
Now, I'm not 100% sure, but I do believe that they now make printable sheets of vinyl that will work in your average home printer. You might be able to make your own skins and save even more money.
Oh, and btw, ask about high-performance vinyl at your local shop. Your everyday garden variety vinyl is the same stuff that bumper stickers are made of. High performance vinyl is better quality. It's the same stuff they use to make pin-striping and logos on cars.
Good luck!

 

I've been looking for this for a while..thanks

 

I've been waiting for so long for somebody to post something here that I can do to my laptop to make it awesome(r)....I'm so sad every time I come here and see nothing for me :'(