Laptop skins.....and modifications.

Sometimes a laptop is more than just a device. Using laptops over years, some of us tend to develop a genuine affection toward their little companions. We take care of them, putting them in a nice hand-made fabric, spicing them up with some fancy outfit and providing them with a personality using laptop skins. That’s not as bad as it sounds, and there are many ways to use laptop decoration (or laptops decorated by other people) as a source of inspiration. Call it laptop art. Apparently, Apple geeks are far more emotional when it comes to accessories for their laptops. In the selection below many of the presented ideas are used on Macs.

Laptop Skins and Engravings

Shalgo Laptop Designs
This Dutch company offers a number of the so-called mozaikits which you can place not only on your laptop, but also, for instance, on walls. Stylish.




Awesome Designer Laptops
Well, these are indeed… unusual. And it is damn hard to make something like this on your own.




HP Pavilion dv2800t Artist Edition
An artsy laptop manufactured by Hewlett-Packard.



Computerlicious Designer Laptops
Engadget shows off some pretty beautiful designer laptops, decorated with fabric and leather.



MacBook skin
In most cases you can use your own skin designs and let some skin printing store print them out for you. That was the case here.



Apple Art
Stylish. And pretty cool.



Laptop Decoration
Laptops can also be decorated with a… well, simple pen.



Powerbook, engraved
Ode to the Apple. You can watch the video of how it’s been done.



Laser engraved Black MacBook
A masterpiece by EngraveYourTech.



Rhinestoning a laptop
Have you ever thought about rhinestoning your laptop?



Laptop Bags and Sleeves

Built Cargo Laptop Sleeve
With plenty of people using laptop sleeves as their main computer carrier, one wonders why they never seem able to carry anything besides a laptop. Built Cargo Laptop Sleeves ($37-$47) offer neoprene construction and three external slip pockets, letting you carry a mouse, portable drive, or whatever you need along with your laptop. A great solution for those of you who use a sleeve with a messenger pouch instead of a "real" laptop bag.



Designer’s Bag Case
This is sexy. A notebook-bag case for “thin” laptops.



Pinguins Leather MacBook Sleeve
Folds around the laptop. Unfolded it functions as workspace with an integrated mousepad.



Giles Miller’s corrugated cardboard laptop case
Sturdy, stylish, and sustainable. This cardboard is 100% recycled. You can also personalize it with custom designs such as one’s initials (or an apple logo — as shown here).




Orion backpack and messenger bag
The Alienware Orion backpack keeps all gear secure and protected on the go. It features a heavily-padded, subdivided main compartment large enough to accommodate two 17” laptops.




Zerg messenger bag
The Starcraft® II Zerg Edition Messenger Bag is designed for gamers who want to keep their gear protected, stay comfortable, and look good doing it. With its weather-proof heavy duty construction, it acts like a Sunken Colony against the elements and the hazards of everyday life. Open it up and you’ll find space for your laptop, gaming peripherals, and anything else a Zergling would need in the field. Now you are battle ready wherever you are.



E.square 60s-style laptop bags
Laptop bags weren’t around in the 1960s, but if they were, they would possibly look like these E.square 60s-style laptop bags. Price: $54.95. [via retrotogo]




Thorn Berry’s Laptop Sleeve
A hand-made laptop sleeve with a layer of wadding between the outer fabric and the lining. And with the designer’s name on it. Gorgeous!




A juicy laptop case for geeky girls out there. Price: $125.



Laptop Decoration: Sweeties and Cuties

Sometimes simple decoration isn’t enough. In fact, you can not just put a skin on your laptop or engrave it, or even use some fancy sleeve to give it a new outfit. No, you can go far further, use spray paints, decals and feather boas. You can also simply get some sweet accessoires for your old friend as well.

Monster Laptop Sleeve
“Handmade and available in four different colors, the case reminds us of a fanged cousin of cookie monster. Plus, it looks more like something that would hold a Fisher-Price computer, as opposed to a Sony or Apple — keeping would-be thieves guessing.” Price: $65. [via Uncrate]



Pink Hello Kitty Laptop
“How to make a PHKL (watch out the pronunciation!) — ‘Pink Hello Kitty Laptop’. This is a project for two people, you and a friend, with notable guest appearances by your meddling boyfriend. Boyfriend is optional. “



Laptop Cozy
Well, now it feels cozy.



Getting ready for OSX Leopard
Leopard patterned (furry) plush. If you have an external hard drive lying around, such a plush will cost you around $10.



Stickers
Stickers are always extremely subjective and that’s why also very personal. If you’d like your laptop to reflect the unique personality of its owner, stickers might probably be the easiest way to go and therefore a first option to consider. Besides, often they are simply cool and it’s a lot of fun to observe strangers reading them. You’ll find many more stickers in the LaptopStickers Flickr Pool.

Jedibook w/ Technorati sticker





Tantek Çelik’s stickers
Unfortunately, NBR isn’t sticked here.





Experimental ideas (Don’t try this at home!)

Datamancer’s Steampunk Victorian Laptop
This may look like a Victorian music box, but inside this intricately hand-crafted wooden case lives a Hewlett-Packard ZT1000 laptop that runs both Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux. It features an elaborate display of clockworks under glass, engraved brass accents, claw feet, an antiqued copper keyboard and mouse, leather wrist pads, and customized wireless network card. The machine turns on with an antique clock-winding key by way of a custom-built ratcheting switch made from old clock parts. Video is included.



Dave Veloz’s Steampunk Monitor & Keyboard Remake
This is a wedding gift. The intersection of technology and romance is possible. Dave Veloz created this beauty for his soon to be wife in time for their recent wedding. [via Cool Hunting]




SattaMac - 1991 PowerBook 100
No, this Powebook doesn’t work any longer. But it looks pretty fancy. Painted Apple machinery.




Xbox 360 Laptops
These posts also include a video of laptops in use.





Steampunk Monitor For Chic Geeks
Steampunk one more time.µ



Atari 800 XE Laptop
Designed by Ben Heck.



Duke Nukem Laptop
This one is kind of freaky, but pretty unusual. It used to be a NEC.



Cassette Tape Tote Bag
OK, this one is not for laptops. But it looks pretty amazing.



Chocolate Laptop
Mmmm, tasty. Ok, one more and then it’s time for a coffee break.



Digg Case Mod
For Digg lovers.



More skins and others





Laptopwallet
Laptopwallet is designed to hold the laptop really snug. The slim design keeps a laptop safe and enables you to carry it, either using the wrist-strap, in your hands or in a bag without being bulky. Currently sold out. [via Thisnext]





Special concepts and innovative ideas

The Siafu concept notebook, designed for the blind by Jonathan Lucas, omits a display altogether. Images from applications and Web sites are converted into corresponding 3-D shapes on Siafu’s surface.” [ via PCWorld ]



Cario notebook from Anna Lopez can be carried around by its handle, positioned like an easel or placed on a car’s steering wheel. When the car’s not in motion, the Cario can project maps, video conferences and more onto the windshield. [ via PCWorld ]




MacTab
Being portable, MacTab is the complement to MyBook in the high-end. The thin wireless keyboard is used as a protection cover for transportation. On the back of the computer a hinge allows it to be put in a vertical position so you can use it on your desk.




Sungjut TangoX Nano UMPC has a DVI output and a detachable, integrated Skype phone. Weight: under 1kg. Unbelievable. [ via Gizmodo ]



Dialogue is going to release the Flybook V33i series with a laptop screen which can be moved across its axis. A nice alternative to a static laptop screen we’ve seen over the last years




The Vaio Zoom notebook takes everything we know about holographic technology and squeezes it inside a thin glass form factor. When off, the screen is completely transparent and the keyboard goes opaque. Turn it on and the touchscreen holographic festivities begin. Even the mouse buttons are holographic! [via Gizmodo]




Music Stand Laptop
Use the pedal to turn digital sheet music or just touch the screen. It also throws in some computer functions by allowing on the fly scoring, note taking, and collaborative writing. When you need a real computer, a keyboard slides out from underneath the screen and use the foot pedal as a stereo to enjoy the music you just played. Designed by Sungho Lee.




LG e-Book Laptop Concept
LG introduced e-Book, an ecological laptop concept that uses fuel cell batteries and features organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology. This concept notebook received a Red Dot Award nomination for “Best Concept Design”



Felix Schmidberger’s Compenion laptop has a OLED touch screen. The computer itself has an OLED touchscreen, where you can directly work on, much like with a umpc or pda. The whole screen is a slider, as it can be moved forward to reveal a second OLED touchscreen underneath, where you can have a keyboard or working controls, similar to a setup with 2 monitors.



Purity Notebook: right now the in thing with notebook computers are clean lines, and minimal design features. The Purity Notebook takes that to the extreme but manages to throw in a few of its own unique touches like the high lacquer finish.




MacBook 0801 is a laptop concept by Isamu Sanada. The keyboard is transparent and ultra-thin.




“ Laptop Made Of Wood. Yes, that’s right, wood. Nevermind the weight and horrible heat insulation characteristics of the material, it’s supposed to look refined and sexy, at which it does.”



Sung-kyu Nam’s DesCom laptop integrates into the desktop surface. And what do you have to do once the laptop is dead or should be repaired?



Lenovo/IBM’s Thinkpad is coming back, in a new outfit: Thinkpad reserve edition. The laptop’s components are separated; dual-monitor can be placed on the surface allowing multiple people to observe what’s happening on it.



Satellite Navigation Laptop is Nikita Golovlev’s concept for travelers. Using an e-ink display, the ‘Traveller’ is a GPS enabled navigation system for pedestrians. The design incorporates an internal drive for storing any photos you take along the way and will tag the with GPS data, so you know just where you took them.



Solar-power laptop is supposed to save you the trouble of charging batteries by plugging them in. The notebook is powered with the help of powerful batteries that are recharged by wide Solar Panel attached to the computer (currently offline).



Axiotron’s Modbook, the MacBook-based, Wacom-modified laptop is the world’s first OS X tablet. Price: $2,290.



myBook might be the lightest portable Mac ever. Small, light and semi-rugged, It roots deeply in Alan Kay Dynabook’s dream. The touch-sensitive screen is readable in bright daylight thanks to the use of a new transflective generation of LCD screen. The screen rotates 180°. In that position, keyboard and trackpad are inoperative and the screen goes in portrait mode.




ps: This is an article based on a selection of other articles.

 

Wowsa! Thanks for sharing this..I enjoyed looking at some of the Artwork (designworks/skins) on the cover's of the lappys... And yeah, some of the other work..yeah......


Cin...

 

Thx and i added some concept ideas.

 

+1 To you this stuff is really cool!
I really like the concept ideas!!!


Cin...

 

I like the vaiio one.... Now that would raise eyebrows.

 

That one is sweet! I'm intrigued by the Siafu one! It's ornate looking to me. I would love to get ahold of that one for a little while!

Thanks again. I like being able to look at this thread at home on my own "lappy" vs. work. Our computers are...meh (even with dualing monitors)..

Cin....

 

es i didnt even think of that yet

Maybe ill look around for some more skins if there is interest. Maybe add some tutorial videos.

 

Yes,

The skins are pretty cool. I think anything you can find to add that is creative & conceptual like above would be a really neat!


Cin...

 

MacTab = the bill in a mcdonald's restaurant

 

I added the alienware orion backpack which i own. By far the best backpack i ever bought.

 

LOL on the cassette bag, love the "tape" straps, hell of a design

 

Hi everyone..
Guys i bought new PS3 slim last week and i need some good looking gaming skin on it.So could anyone here please suggest
me some websites providing nice gaming skins.

videogame skins