So Xmas is coming soon – And the lovely guys and gals over at Proporta have generously sent me some iPod goodies and MacBook goodies to try out and review for you. These are ideal gifts for Christmas and they also have some stocking fillers over at their site that I’ll tell you about – Aswell as a very special offer!

Read more for:

• The Protective MacBook Sleeve.
• The MacBook Air Screen Protector.
• The Gadget Bag.
• Ted Baker Leather Case for the 2G iPod Touch.
• Aluminium Lined Case for the 2G iPod Touch.
• A special December offer.
• Some stocking fillers.

A packed review. Hope you enjoy.

Oh! And check out the video, too! Just trying to add some variety to our reviews. Tell me what you think?

www.youtube.com/HTiTReviews

The video for this review is at the bottom of the review!

The MacBook Protective Sleeve.

Many of you will know that I have a new MacBook, and one of my first worries was protection for it. Here’s where Proporta come in: I checked their site and found out about any form of protection that they had available. In the end, I found this:

This is the very flash looking “MacBook Sleve.” It feels like leather on the outside. It has a nylon lining for protection. Gaps along the side to see your laptop in all its show-offy glory and it’s got a magnetic latch. It is gorgeous. Everything from the colour scheme to the sewn seams are beautiful and it will just show off your computer to a crowd.

From the images, you can see the Proporta site in the bottom corner and the mysterious/stealh orange and black colour scheme makes me feel like a secret spy =P

The sides are elasticated from a snug, close fit. My 2008 MacBook fits perfectly – And it’s designed for the older plastic ones.

Prices are $39.95 / £19.95 / €27.95 which is cheap in my experience of cases and it’s so protective (I think that the back is reinforced somehow..)

Overall: I give it a definite 9/10 for style, looks and protection. My only nicks at it are the logo in the corner (could be made to look cooler? Or more like the Proporta logo on their site?)

Get it from the Proporta site. Choose your currency on the left side of the site.

The MacBook Air Screen Protector.

Unfortuanetly, they don’t have any new MacBook screen protectors in at the moment. Fair enough. But the MacBook Air’s screen is the same size as mine – So why not try one of them out?

So it comes in this lovely packaging which matches the Sleeve – Orange and Black – and inside there’s the protector,a squeedgee (weird word – Pardon my spelling) and an orange microfibril with “Proporta” written across it. Placing the protector up to my screen, I noticed it only covered the part which lit up… which was a little disappointing as this meant that I’d have a rectangle protruding from my nice, flat, glass LCD screen… But I suppose they do it to not interfere with the iSight?

Once on (few attempts. It is quite hard to put it on compared to an iPod protector) it had a few bubbles which I squished out and it didn’t look too bad. Unnoticable when the screen was off.

However… once the screen was on – A spectrum of colour was over my screen. It didn’t do anything to improve my sharp LCD screen – Infact it looked terrible. I’m sorry to say I was a little disappointed in how it affected the look of my screen – But I felt happy that it would protect it – At least… the glass that was covered..

Overall… I’m going to give it a 4 out of 10…. Because it’s affordable, well presented and would protect the screen. (And I quite like the orange cloth =P) I feel that perhaps it made my screen look bad because it was for the MacBook Air which might have a different screen to the new MacBooks? But if that’s the case – Now Proporta know what to make!

Get it here – I recommend for MacBook Air users.

The Proporta Gadget Bag.

This looked brilliant on the site! And it is close-up too.

Meet the gadget bag. The padded travel bag designed for all your gadgets and mobile devices. It is amazing how it’s made up. It’s clear to see that Black and Orange are infact – The colours of Proporta (even though I assumed black a light green in accordance with their site!) What you appear to get is one large bag with many, many zips. In fact, you get 3 seperate pouches and a special inside one which is stuck into the large pouch by Velcro. The two front pockets zip off and you’re left with (basically) 4 pouches where you can fill it up with all your gadgets and gizmos. I can fit 2 iPod Touches, 3 sets of headphones, a spare battery pack, a Proporta LED keyring (we’ll get onto that in a second!) and my Apple dock, an Apple lead and 2 Apple remotes into it – With LOADS of room to spare. Which I then filled with a Nintendo DS and a Gameboy Advance SP and 3 games for each device. And then my wallet. And an iTunes card. And a teabag.

As a matter of fact – Each of the pouches has a headphone hole where you can feed through headphones and listen to music while your device is in its own seperate pouch. You even get a removable strap so you can wear it over your shoulder or around your waist, or just hang it from your ceiling. When you look at the picture – You just see a bag. When you have it infront of you – You go through the same process as I did:

1. “Ooo.. There’s a zip here.”
2. “Oh wow! That opens… So what can I fit in here?”
3. “FOUR OF THEM!? Wow.. and this is Velcro?”
4. “And these front ones zip off!”
5. “Feels so soft inside… That would protect anything damageable”
6. “How do I zip them back on?…” (It’s easy – Don’t worry)

So I bet you’re wondering how much it costs: $47.95 / £24.95 / €36.95. Steep? No. When all you ever need for gadget transport is in one tiny bag like this, which looks stylish and is also somewhere you can actually store everything without having to run around looking for spare headphones – This is your product. And I think my mum’s bought my brother one as well for Christmas so – Worth it.

10/10. Can’t flaw it. Everything you need is there, price is great and it’s technically customisable in its own right.

Grab one here and now.

Ted Baker Leather Case

Onto iPod Touches now. Those of you with a 2G iPod are probably like me thinking: “Where can I find a case that actually works – And isn’t too expensive like RebelTouch, and doesn’t scratch my iPod’s back like Griffin?” Proporta don’t specialise in hard cases or hybrids: They’re more of a suave and sofisticated kindof company.

Take this for example: A red and black leather case (With a Ted Baker label to it and emblem embedded on the front) Check out how it looks. The texture of the leather. The poppers that you’d more commonly find on a scientist’s lab coat. The dock port and headphone hole.

And it does protect from knocks and bumps. Dropped my iPod and it works. That’s a scientific test! Huzah! But seriously – It’s very good at the protecting of your device. Especially the top of the case, which you can see from photos looks hard.

It does fit 1Gs… and a PUSH… and if you’re wielding a screen protector, it’ll leave dents in it from where the poppers are. But this doesn’t apply to the 2G because that’s the one it’s designed for.

Prices are $52.95 / £29.95 / €39.95 – Which unfortuanetly is what you’d expect from a case with a London name like Ted Baker. I’m also informed that you can also get this in Black and Teal – If you’re into the dark shades of green.

8/10 for looks, protection factor and clever features like the poppers that I’ve never seen on another case before! Only buy it if you have the extra bit of money (Like my brother did 3 weeks ago after saving and saving up..) But if you don’t have a lot of money to splash around, this next one might be more up your street.

Aluminium Lined Leather Case.

This is Proporta’s own take on a Leather Case.

Why am I taking photos of the packaging, you ask? Because it’s the best packaging I’ve ever come across. It has a tiny tag in the corner which is of Proporta’s logo. It’s a shiny silver and it’s magnetic! The packing is magnetic. If I could rename Proporta’s slogan I’d do something like… “Perfection Personified” or something like that. Because these things come from this small company with such character, thought and effort that it’s worth buying the product to take a look at what the box is like… When you order – You even get teabags! Earl Grey English Tea for free when you order from Proporta. How lovely is that??

Anyway – The case. This comes in four colours (Mulberry, Chocolate, Teal and Black) and mine is Teal. It’s a magnetic latch system which flips open and firmly closes. The word “Proporta” is on the silver badge on the front which has a minimalistic look to it but you can tell it’s genuine leather. The whole point of it being lined with aluminium (or aluminum if you’re from overseas) is that it protects the iPod’s screen from drops, bumps, someone kicking you in the leg, etc.

What’s more – There’s a gap on the side where you can still access all of your iPod 2G’s volume controls and the dock and headphone ports are open and usable. For the ladies – There’s a slide out MIRROR! Not even joking. A mirror. It’s not glass – but it works, and slides away at the top of the case.

I genuinely like this case and I’ve been using it for weeks and it hasn’t even worn down a little bit yet. Prices are cheaper than the Ted Baker: at $48.95 / £26.95 / €34.95 – And I’d recommend this out of all of my products in this review if you want to buy yourself something great this Christmas.

9/10 – Protection is excellent, Looks nice, feels good, good choice of colours, I could go on, and on, and on.

Get it here: Choose your preferred colour from the dropd0wn menu.

Proporta Offers.

Now I cool down from the reviews and go into Press related stuff! This December, Proporta has an offer for all its customers:

You buy anything in December, and you’ll get to choose a free product in 2009 – Of your choice out of the stuff they list. They won’t just send you a cable-tidy or something you don’t want – You get to choose. So get to the site now at www.proporta.co.uk and browse it – You have about a week and a bit left to take part in the offer.

And also, to help you shop, they’ve also got some great stocking fillers, like the LED keyring I mentioned earlier (great little gadget.) And you can check all of that out here. If anyone wants to buy me that Wallet, I’ll love them forever!

What do you want to see?

Proporta are a small company – But they’re growing. The more you suggest, the more they can brainstorm in meetings and potentially sell on their site. The other day, I asked for a keyboard cover for the new MacBooks and Pros to protect dust, dirt and biscuit crumbs getting into the small, unreachable gaps. Another thing I’d like to suggest right now (And to get your opinion on) is whether you’d like to see Proporta create a whole range of these:

https://www.proporta.co.uk/F02/PPF02P05.php?t_id=4142&t_mode=des

Specifically for Apple laptops. (But more affordable, maybe??) I know that Speck have one out which is sort of opaque – But allows the lights on the side and front to shine through when needed, and gives ventilation in the areas the laptop needs it. It’s just a suggestion!

Thank you very much for reading. I hope you have a great Christmas and I hope I can bring you more reviews from these guys soon.