MacBook Pro :: Speck Satin Versus Incase Hardshell

this topic has come up in discussion a few times. I know that that I was looking feedback originally but all the research lead me to believe that it was a 50/50 between the two. My girlfriend and I both have the 13" MBP. She has the Incase Hardshell (the one for the previous generation) and I recently picked up the Speck Satin 13" for MBP because of the recent discount.

At first glance, they seem the same. But after further inspection, they do differ and although it may be subjective, this is just what I see.

INSIDE OF THE CASE

When I first received the case for my Speck, I opened the package up excitedly. It was nice to find a small piece of cloth in the package to wipe down the case and the laptop. However, I found small surface scratches on the inside of the case. The sides of the plastic are sharp as hell! Not sure if it's suppose to be like this. There was even excess plastic sticking out. The Incase did not have a cloth, but everything was clean and all the plastic was scratch free smooth.

BOTTOM VENTILATION

Nice lined pattern but only 1/4 of the grille is actually open for heat to escape. This opened area is located on the top left corner. Given this is where I find the majority of the heat to be, I would much prefer if the whole thing was open. They have the grille design in there already, why not just open it up? The Incase's vents consist of small holes that span the majority of the bottom. My personal feel is that more ventilation, the better.

BATTERY INDICATOR

The button to check battery power on the Speck is a little off. I can't tell if I hit it or not. The Incase actually has some feedback, I know that I have pressed it. Now I am not sure if it's the colour choice, but I can't see the battery indicator lights. This could be the fact that I have a deeper darker colour. I have the red and my girlfriend has green. I can see her's clearly in any light but I can barely see mine even indoors in low light.

OPTICAL DRIVE

Now the Incase was nice in that the whole right side of the case is covered except for the slot where the cd/dvd is suppose to enter. The Kensington lock is covered but the Incase is meant for the UMB. The Seck case seems like they took the easy way out. Rather than cutting out a slot for the optical drive, they just took a whole chunk out. Not a big deal when it comes to functionality, but it's just nice.

FEET

Speck has plastic feet, Incase has rubber feet. When I placed both laptops side by side on a table. The Speck moves so easily as there isn't enough friction. The Incase does move as well but you need give it a little more force.

SLEEPING LIGHT

Not sure why but the Incase's cut out for the IR is larger than required. I can only assume they did it to not impeded the sleep light to shine through. My Speck is cut out only where the IR port is, the sleep light is covered but is bright enough to shine through the case.

CONCLUSION

I think the Incase is better built, and is the perfect balance between form and function. I am actually thinking about returning this and getting the Incase when they release theirs, but I hear they take forever to release redesigns. On another note though....I think that the Speck case was sharp at the sides and had excess plastic because they used their old 13" UMB stock and put it back into a machine to make the cut outs larger to accommodate the ports. Cannot confirm this and I am bad at articulating it but what I am trying to say is that I don't think they went back to the drawing board for this. They essentially said, we need to make the cut outs larger and rahter than making a new die/mold, they make alterations on their old cases, if so...that is not cool.