

I like the smoothness of aniline leather, and the more obvious grain of full-grain leather. The company uses the vegetable tanning process traditionally used for the best leathers.Ĭhoosing between the two is very subjective, but suffice it to say I love both. This is also very high-quality leather, but you get more of a visible and tactile grain than you do with leathers used for the aniline dye process. This is very soft, smooth, high-quality leather subjected to a dye process which gives it an extremely even color. I’d describe the actual color as darker than it appears in my photos, but lighter than seen in the company’s own photos.Īpple doesn’t specify the leather used in its own sleeves, simply describing them as ‘European leather.’ However, from the look and feel, I’d say it’s likely aniline leather. It can be difficult to capture color shades accurately in photos, as exposures often involve some degree of compromise. I tend to prefer brown leather, and am a fan of both Apple and Woolnut’s very different shades. Woolnut offers a choice of black and cognac brown. LookĪpple’s sleeve is available in a choice of black, saddle brown (which I’d describe as more of a tan color myself) and midnight blue. But add in the fact that it costs half the price, and it became something I had to try for myself. So when Woolnut came up with an alternative which appeared to solve both problems – while still offering very high quality leather – that was already interesting. With a 3 pound MacBook Pro inside, I found it slightly uncomfortable to carry around with the edge pressed into my fingers. Second, it can be uncomfortable to carry.Ī secondary complaint is that the bottom edge of the sleeve can be uncomfortable to hold, because a hard edge is created where the two pieces of leather are stitched together. The conclusion is that this sleeve was simply not designed to be used while charging your MacBook Pro I find it to be an annoyance. But despite its $199 price-tag for the 15-inch version, our review found that it’s still not a perfect option, with two problems …įirst, Jeff noted, there’s the fact that you can’t charge your MacBook while it’s in the sleeve.Įven if you go against the grain (heh) and put the MacBook Pro inside the sleeve “backwards,” the USB-C ports would still be recessed too far inside the case to connect to a USB-C charging cable while completely inside. If money’s no object, you could opt for Apple’s own Leather Sleeve.

But if you want a real luxury look and feel, there’s no substitute for leather. Materials include felt, neoprene and polyurethane. If you’re looking for a sleeve to protect your MacBook Pro inside a bag, or just when carrying it around on its own, you have plenty of options, starting from around ten bucks.
