[Mike the Knife]

I've got a new 15" Macbook Pro on the way It will be my 4th in the powerbook family, but my first time using a Mac in the last 1.5 years thanks to my Windows-loving company. My question is... what sort of protection do I need besides the standard padded bag?

Do these still leave keyboard marks on the screen after awhile like my 12" PB did? Does the metal rub off from sweat where your wrists lay? I see all these sort of accessories but I'm not sure if they are necessary or not anymore. I also saw some new keyboard protection clear-film on the Apple Store site I was curious about.

Thanks in advance!

[brokenjago]

Originally Posted by Mike the Knife

Do these still leave keyboard marks on the screen after awhile like my 12" PB did? Does the metal rub off from sweat where your wrists lay?

I'm pretty sure the answer to both of these is no, but I don't own an MBP, so I dunno.

[stew]

Originally Posted by Mike the Knife 

what sort of protection do I need besides the standard padded bag?

An AppleCare Protection Plan.

Do these still leave keyboard marks on the screen after awhile like my 12" PB did?

Yes. But don't spend a dime on any add-on products for that problem. You can either put a sheet of paper between the keyboard and the screen or you do what I do, which is cleaning your screen every now and then.

[peeb]

Not in normal use - I just use a sleeve, no problems.

[Mike the Knife]

Originally Posted by stew 

An AppleCare Protection Plan.

Yes. But don't spend a dime on any add-on products for that problem. You can either put a sheet of paper between the keyboard and the screen or you do what I do, which is cleaning your screen every now and then.

Great advice. I have AppleCare which is good. I've always been pretty good with keeping my screens nice and clean but somehow on my 12" PB the keyboard marks still came. As for the aluminum finish wearing off on my 12" PB where my wrists were, it happened after only about 5 months of use which bummed me out. Hopefully that's fixed!

[Timetheus]

I've been heavily (i.e. 5 hours a day on average) using mine for a little over a year (it was on of the first gens) and I haven't had any finish issues. The screen will get dirty, but I just clean mine every week or so.

Definitely get a padded bag or sleeve if you plan on traveling w/ it though! I didn't have any significant padding in the first backpack (I'm in college) I used with it and I'm pretty sure that contributed to my first (and thus far only) major repair from by Apple. For the record I've since bought a backpack with a padded section.

And Applecare is a must! The aformentioned repair took Applecare all of 4 days - They overnighted me the box, I overnighted the MBP, they fixed it by the next morning, and then overnighted it back to me. Very impressive - esp. since the rep said it would take a few weeks.

[onlyone-jc]

I just use the sleeve that came as part of the packaging. Combined with iKlear every now and then, it does the job nicely.

onlyone-jc.

[ghporter]

I still use the foam sheet that came between the screen and the keyboard with my MBP. It doesn't prevent all markings, but it's pretty good, and cleaning both screen and keys helps too.