iLounge

Early Words on NLU’s BodyGuardz for MacBook + Pro

By Jeremy Horwitz

Editor-in-Chief, iLounge
Published: Monday, December 22, 2008
Category: Backstage

Our mini-series on protecting the MacBook family continues today with a few words on NLU Products’ new BodyGuardz for MacBook ($50), which we’ll follow up soon with a more detailed article and additional information on the MacBook Pro version. You may recall last week’s mentions of InvisibleShield for the MacBook, which we’d previously noted was a good start on protection, but not quite enough, particularly for the $50 asking price. Well, we wound up pulling the InvisibleShield off of the MacBook entirely; after three weeks of use, some of its edges were attracting lint and other debris, and one of the strips was losing clarity and junked up underneath. It wasn’t completely satisfactory, so we tried Speck’s SeeThru Satin, instead. That one’s thick and attracts oily fingerprint smudges.

So, for the time being, the SeeThru Satin is off the MacBook, and NLU’s BodyGuardz is on. We were contacted by NLU, which said that its version covered more of the MacBook than the InvisibleShield, including half of the side with the ports, the top surface above the DVD drive, and more area around the keyboard. It also said that the clarity of the film was better, and didn’t go yellow or orange. We also found that the holes seemed to be a bit more precisely cut, which was nice.

Other than that, it looks like the two options are going to turn out roughly par on coverage. Unlike the InvisibleShield, NLU doesn’t cover the Apple logo, the battery release hinge, the rear antenna cover, or the side battery indicator lights—of these, the omission of the Apple logo, which the company claims is due to a risk of damage to the logo, bothers us the most. We’ve removed stickers like the InvisibleShield from the Apple logo with no issue, but we can guarantee that the logo will get scratched up if nothing’s covering it. And while Zagg may have coloration issues, the NLU set—otherwise much more nicely packaged—was covered in black specks of something when it arrived, which needed to be dusted off. We’ll have to see whether any got under the film during application.

Neither of these options come with two full sets of film; they both include only one set, so you’d better get the application right the first time. Similarly, neither company protects every millimeter of the MacBook’s edging, and both fall short of properly covering all of each side. Pictures of the initial application process are included here, and by clicking on Read More below; we’ll have more to say when we’ve done the MacBook Pro application and given both a full opportunity to dry. Will it be a tie, or will one alternative be decidedly better than the other?