Weekend Project: DIY Vinyl MacBook Cover

I was inspired by this post about applying vinyl as MacBook covers and I decided to create my own version of it.

This was what my MacBook looked like prior to modification:

I found myself scratching a lot of the polycarbonate surface of the MacBook, particularly if I had something on my wrist, like a wristwatch (although I don't wear it anymore recently). Not only that, the said surface is also a real fingerprint magnet and I always find myself wiping it off every fifteen minutes or so. I thought that covering it with some kind of a protective layer would definitely be a good idea. I had considered purchasing Garskin, a decorative protective skin for MacBooks, but they cost more than Rp300,000 apiece—a price way beyond the reach of my shallow pockets! I was quite lucky to have stumbled upon the aforementioned blog post.

So I procured a one-meter square orange adhesive vinyl (locally known as polet motor or simply polet) from a street vendor for just about Rp15,000 (which is pricelessly cheap compared to Garskin), gathered the required tools (a box cutter and a ruler) and started the project.

Following the instructions from that blog, I adjusted the width and length of the vinyl with the keyboard side of the MacBook so that it would fit, and extended the size a few centimeters to make the application process later easier.

At this point, I felt that to cover the whole keyboard side was too risky, so I decided to cover the area around the trackpad, a.k.a. the palmrest, only, so with the box cutter, I cut off just the part of the vinyl that I needed and stored the rest for future use.

I took the back paper off of the vinyl and carefully applied the vinyl along the palmrest. Once it fit, I cut off the extended vinyls. This was the most difficult part, especially along the rounded edges and the trackpad: first, because it had to be recut many times to make it look neat; second, because I had to take extra caution not to damage my MacBook. However, with a little bit of a patience and also help of my box cutter and the ruler, I managed to get it done.

It took me about fifteen minutes… and here's what my MacBook looks like now:

It's not much, I know, but I'm quite satisfied with the new look of my MacBook. Not only had it added a little bit of style and personality to my MacBook, the method had also saved me from having to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a Garskin. The best part is the color orange which is really striking (because I love that color).

Now that I'm comfortable with the whole process, I'm planning on covering the area around the keyboard later as well, although I'd perhaps leave the screen part alone. We'll see how it goes.

p.s.
I wish I had documented the cutting-and-pasting process. But the instructions for it are very well covered in the blog that I linked in the beginning of the post. Next time I'll be sure to add pictures and more details in my future DIY projects though, if any.