You know that completely satisfied feeling you get when you first lay your hands on a truly luxurious product? Maybe you remember that special moment when you peeled off the plastic covering from a pristine Apple product. Or when you first slid behind the wheel of an outrageous European sports car (with the requisite leather interior).
Nobody necessarily needs that level of luxury. But sometimes you want to treat yourself (or a friend) to the very best. I totally got that lavish feeling when I first saw a Woolnut leather sleeve for MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.
I frankly never considered a MacBook sleeve before. But the Woolnut review unit elicited an audible “ooh” when I opened it. The pebbled brown leather looks absolutely fantastic. And the gray wool lining simply screams to embrace a MacBook.
Why a leather MacBook sleeve?
Seeing the Woolnut MacBook sleeve got me thinking. Or rather rethinking. For years, I’ve carried my MacBook in a sporty backpack with a purpose-built laptop compartment (or in a briefcase-style bag for more business-y trips). I never even thought about a MacBook sleeve. But I now find plenty of times when using one makes perfect sense.
On a recent trip to Italy, for instance, I opted to carry a slightly dressy leather shoulder bag that offered no laptop compartment. It looked better in a wider variety of travel situations, from cathedrals to trains to trattorias, but I cringed every time I slid my new MacBook Pro into it.
Inside the bag, the MacBook got jostled around with all the other travel gear that wouldn’t fit into my tiny carry-on suitcase. I constantly worried about scraping the MacBook’s sleek exterior. Or denting it (or worse) with an unexpected drop.
Woolnut MacBook sleeve in luxurious leather
Photo: Lyle Kahney/Cult of Mac
With the Woolnut MacBook sleeve, all those worries disappear. And because it’s so gorgeous, I don’t mind the minimal extra bulk it adds. Setting the MacBook on top of it while typing even provides the tiniest bit of bounce, which I find strangely pleasant.
So, what makes a Woolnut leather MacBook sleeve so fantastic?
Start with the vegetable-tanned leather. The cognac color looks rich and refined. (Woolnut sleeves also come in black, and in a variety of sizes to fit multiple MacBook models.)
The fit is perfectly snug — almost too snug at first, but it loosened up a smidge quite quickly. The MacBook Pro itself is so slender that, even when snuggled inside the minimalist sleeve, it remains quite thin.
I can tell the Woolnut sleeve is protective, too, and not just from scrapes. Not that I’m going to drop-test the MacBook Pro anytime soon to find out just how protective.
The stitching is beautifully uniform, with the kind of subtle detailing that showcases the Swedish company’s attention to getting the little things tight. And the small, embossed Woolnut logo — a slightly cartoonish sheepshead, with the brand name underneath in tiny type — makes me smile every time I see it.
In short, Woolnut crafted a delightfully decadent MacBook sleeve. Certainly you can find something cheaper, but you deserve the best, don’t you?
Price: Approximately $80 to $90 (priced in euros, actual price depends on MacBook size)
Buy from: Woolnut
Woolnut provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See Cult of Mac’s reviews policy and check out more stuff we recommend in our Best List reviews.
