It’s not everyday you see a case like Silva Limited’s bamboo Macbook Pro case. Hand assembled, hand finished, made from sustainable bamboo — it’s obvious these handsome cases have been crafted with love and a ton of attention to detail.
Available for your 13 or 15 inch Macbook Pro, the Silva cases are also a bit of a departure from normal Macbook cases. While most cases are meant to be carried in a bag or from a strap on your shoulder, the Silva’s are more akin to a Macbook suitcase. They’re felt lined, hug your Macbook snugly, and instead of a shoulder strap there is a very nice hand-milled leather handle sitting atop the case. It’s obvious, Silva’s aren’t meant to be your like-every-other case, but showpieces.
There are a couple of things I thought worth mentioning about these cases that worried me a bit, though.
First, the top of the case (the part with the handle) connects to the bottom of the case (the part holding your Macbook Pro) with two simple snapping buttons. If you accidentally didn’t snap one of the buttons and then proceeded to pick up the case, you’d send your Macbook flying straight to the ground.
Second, it’s hard to say how well the Silva would protect your Macbook in a spill. The bamboo and felt, while luxurious, don’t offer much padding. A drop might just break the wood, but with no padding to break a fall, a forceful impact could still damage something.
Overall, however, I found the Silva to be a very beautiful, very refreshing departure from all the normal cases I see out there in the marketplace. If price isn’t an issue for you and you’d like to wrap your Macbook in beautiful wood, felt and leather, you should definitely give the Silva a look.
Erfon Elijah is the producer and host of The CultCast. When not editing podcasts or watching Mrs. Doubtfire, you’ll find him on Xbox Live hunting CoD Ghosts foes like the Predator. Here are his tweets…
16 responses to “Sustainable, Hand Crafted, Beautiful—That’s the Bamboo Macbook Pro Case from Silva Limited (Review, Earth Day)”
Does this company know that their main first photo shows a case that is not closed properly so the top and bottom meet each other smoothly? The other photos look much better…
Beautiful, but where does your power lead go?
I wish I were good enough with the woodcraft tools to build the case that is in my mind….since I’m not, I hope Silva decides to make one of these for the MBAir, because I’m pretty sure it rattles all lose inside the 13″ case.
So doing wooden cases is good for the Earth, because… ?
Bamboo is a grass.
wood can grow in a short amount of time, whereas oil (which plastic is made from) needs millions of years, and thus takes the carbon-dioxide from a million years ago into our atmosphere.
Wood only puts the carbon-dioxide into our atmosphere (once it’s burned /thrown away/ etc.) that it has received in out time, so wood is CO2-neutral.
Given you only use as many trees as you can re-grow in a plantation, wood is an environmental-friendly material.
i think it’s because bamboo is sustainably grown and grows so fast. and it decomposes. as opposed to a case made from oak and plastic : D
you mean like if you want to charge it while in the case?
That case scares the hell out of me. I can just see the two buttons coming undone and adios!
It’s bunk. Bamboo is endangered in many parts of the world it used to flourish in. Hence Panda problems endangerment problems and everything else. Bamboo is a cheap material with a good profit margin and there is a lot of money to be made from environmental guilt. Even if this case does protect the Earth (and I don’t buy it) I wouldn’t trust it with a Macbook Pro.
It’s beautiful, but now you’ll need a case to protect your case.
Regardless of disingenuous “sustainability’, poor design does not green make…
And it is for that very reason that I shall be sticking to a soft case.
Robert pruit you are dangerously dumb lol bamboo these days has been considered one of the most widely grown household plant all over the world not to mension half of china,malasia east timor, forrests are cover in bamboo I think you are confused its the other way around panda bears are endangered not bamboo lol
Ive had my own import export flower buisness for 10 years and the biggest seller is blue panda and red oriental dragon bamboo it is far from endangered u silly person
Obviously bamboo is the fastest growing wood product seeming as it is not even clasified as wood but still if humans planted a bamboo shoot for every tree cut down there would be no such thing as endangered forrests they would just gradualy transforming to much dencer suroundings which in fact would support more wildlife