Laptop Cases

A sleeve protects the laptop and nothing else. That is the whole idea, and it is the right call in two situations: when the laptop travels inside another bag, and when it only moves between rooms.

If the laptop is the only thing you carry and it goes outside, you want a bag with a strap instead. Those are on the Laptop Bags page. Buying a sleeve and then carrying it by hand in the rain is how most laptops get dropped.

A sleeve should be snug enough that the laptop does not slide when you tip it, and loose enough to pull out with one hand.

Measure the closed machine across its width and depth and match those to the internal dimensions listed on each product. MacBook sizes are the usual reference point, but a Windows laptop with the same screen size is often thicker, so check the depth as well as the width. Leather relaxes a few millimetres in the first weeks and then holds.

The inside of a sleeve matters more than the outside. Ours are lined with suede or soft felt, because bare leather can hold grit and grit is what puts fine scratches across an aluminium lid.

Turn the sleeve inside out and shake it once a month if the laptop travels in a bag with keys or coins. It takes ten seconds and it is the difference between a lid that stays clean and one that looks sanded after two years.

Some of the covers here pair wool felt with leather trim rather than being leather throughout. That is a deliberate choice rather than a cheaper one.

Felt absorbs a knock better than leather of the same thickness and weighs less, so it suits a cover that is carried inside a rucksack all day. The leather goes where the wear happens: the opening, the corners and the closure. The two materials age differently, and the contrast tends to look better with time rather than worse.

Will it fit a tablet as well? The smaller sleeves take an iPad Pro comfortably, and several people buy one for exactly that.

Is it waterproof? No. Leather handles a shower on the way to the car. It does not handle a bag left out in the rain, and nothing here is sold as if it does.

Can a charger go in with the laptop? It fits, but it will press a mark into the lid over time. Keep it in a separate pocket.