Thoughts on laptop covers - Are they a good idea?

I've been considering making a laptop cover.  I've seen some really adorable ones and I have an undying love for cozies whether they be kitschy or elegant or anything in between.  It's almost surprizing how deeply one can consider this question.  Go figure!

Are they practical?  If if's a means of keeping dust off of your laptop then yes.  I think they can be but I use my laptop pretty consistently throughout the day so for me - not really.

Do they really offer any form of protection?  I don't think so.  If I drop my laptop (God forbid!) I don't think a crocheted cozy regardless of how many post stitches or popcorns are on it will do much of anything to help cushion the fall.  A 5 pound laptop is just too heavy for a popcorn to save.


Are they pretty?  Of course.  I'm sure you'll get plenty of oooh's and aaahhh's when you take it out of it's carrying case.  Or it could be cute or silly or whatever a person's personal style would lead them to create.

Are they good for the laptop?  Hmmmmm - to me, this is the most important consideration.  I don't know but I lean towards probably not.  Yarn by it's design is made from fibers.  We've all experienced yarn that fuzzes.  I don't know about your laptop (or tablet or pad or whatever other doodads they've come up with that I'm not familiar with) but MINE has a bunch of holes (I believe they're called ports) on the sides of it.

There's places for usb cables, monitor cables, jacks for microphones and headphones and other assorted openings that i have absolutely NO IDEA what is supposed to go in them (but they come with the machine whether we know how to use them or not).

This is where my line of thinking has taken me.  I don't know of any yarn that doesn't fuzz at some point. Some are way worse at fuzzing at others.  Some, like mohair, are made fuzzy.

What are the chances that the fuzz from the yarn can get into the little port openings?

Do I really want to add another step to cleaning my laptop by having to remember to clean out each of the opening with compressed air because I added fuzzies to the situation?

Do i want to take a chance on these fuzzies getting into the openings and when I plug something in - it doesn't work because there's something in the way of the connection?

I find these thoughts to be really disappointing because I was looking forward to making a laptop cover.  I like pretty things.  I like to make pretty things.  I like to cover my stuff with pretty things.  (ok - I'm getting carried away with the pretty things thing here but you get my point, right?)

So - I find myself truly disappointed that I won't be making a laptop cover for myself.  My husband surprised me with a very boring and utilitarian laptop bag.  (It's an excellent brand and something that he wouldn't be embarrassed to carry unlike the red snakeskin shoulder bag I had my eye on).  I wanted something more 'me' for when I took my laptop out of the bag.

With all of the computer problems I've had recently including the loss of a year and a half's worth of photo's.  (I found a back up disk I made in Jan 2010 so I didn't lose 8 YEARS worth of pictures  - YES!!!)  I find myself not wanting to add any potential problems to my computer.

For those of you that have made laptop cozies or those of you that want to - by all means - do what makes you happy.  I believe that, as with most decisions in life, this is only a personal opinion and that we each need to decide for ourselves what we're going to do.  Unfortunately, I've decided not to make the cute little cover with the cables on it that I had already designed in my minds eye.

As with all my posts - comments are always welcome.  I'd love to know what you, my friends in yarn, think of laptop covers in general or in my thoughts on the topic.