The plan

I intend to sell my current workstation, a dual G5 PowerMac, which, according to other people's benchmarks, is a little bit slower than those new 2GHz dual core Mac Books. I will keep the cinema display and use it to extend the desktop of the MacBook which will become my one and only "workstation". I think that a 13" notebook is ideally sized for travelling or mobile use in general. At home, paired with external screen, mouse and keyboard, it becomes a perfect workstation. As a plus, a laptop usually creates much less acustic pollution (did I mention i HATE fans?).

To make the transition from workstation to laptop as painless and quick as possible, I compiled a small list of "I must have"s.

Essential accessories

Just a naked MacBook does not replace a full blown workstation, of course. It needs:

• ... external mouse and keyboard. As good as they get, you never want to work with a laptop keyboard and a trackback for more than a few hours :) I still have both from my workstation, so no need to take action for me here...
• ... to stand next to the large main monitor. Being a sexy little thing, a 13" MacBook needs some help to team up with a cinema display. First thing that came to my mind was Griffin's iCurve which I have tried last year at Sterling's place. It looks good and works perfectly, but there is no 13" MacBook version out yet.
• ... to be connected to the cinema display. Because the MacBook only has a mini-dvi output, I need the mini-dvi to dvi adapter, which seems to be out of stock everywhere at the moment. Damn it! Even on ebay there's nothing. I am pretty confident I'll find one in time, though.
• ... a laptop bag or a MacBook sleeve respectively. And this is the tricky part for a long-time-no-laptop-owner.

Finding the right MacBook sleeve

At least in the german online stores, I couldn't find one that offers a variety of different notebook bags to suit every need. I was not looking for a bagpack to carry my MacBook around, as I carry a bagpack most of the time in university even though I don't have a notebook. So ideally, I would just slip the MacBook into a thin sleeve and throw it into my regular bagpack. I took a look around, found neoprene sleeves, microfiber sleeves and even handsewn fabric bags and this is what I found:

• Bitolithic: They call their products "laptop protection packs" for a reason. The exterior shell is made of thin neopren while it's inside comforts tha MacBook with velvet. Sounds like the MacBook will have rest more comfortly than I do. Each bag comes with an accessory bag and a screen protector that keeps keyboard and screen from getting into fights when the MacBook is closed. Sounds pretty cool, but they're shipping from Australia which makes me afraid of ordering because of the greedy german customs. Price: $40,95 plus $7,95 intl shipping.
• Wrappers: They are the folks offering textile covers for Notebooks, but also for iPods. While it's a cool thing to have your notebook sleeve customized with your name (or anything else on it), I doubt they work perfectly without a closing mechanism like a zipper. They also offer "laptop protectors" (see image to the right) which insulate temperatures up to 250°centigrade to protect your lap while using the MacBook. Cool (haha) feature, but you don't have to take the laptop out of a Bitolithic sleeve either. Price: £17.99 plus £2,50 shipping
• Booq: The Vyper XS2 is the toughest looking product. On a plus side, it looks more solid than the Bibolithic and I'd feel more comfortable carrying my MacBook around with it. On the other hand, though, it has no accessory compartment (where to put mouse and power adapter?) and is not availible until August 21^st. Price: $54,95 plus around $15 shipping
• SFBags: The west coast customs of notebook sleeves. A similar concept to wrappers, but with a closing mechanism (for an extra $15). It also has space for accessories which is cool, but then again I was looking for a super-tight MacBook bag. The sleeves itself is $15 start at $38 which makes it a $53 total plus $15 shipping.
• Tucano: The seconds skin microfiber sleeves look awesome, but the questions are: Does it only keep the MacBook from being scratched, does it allow me to throw the MacBook around while it's second skin? I don't think so. But it's only availible for 12" PowerBooks, no 13" MacBook version yet. Oh well.
• Crumpler: I think they want to be the hippest and coolest sleeve folks out there... The 12" gimp looks like it could fit a 13" MacBook, but who knows. Won't buy before they offer a dedicated MacBook version (and probably before the bag looks a little more adult). They also sell an extra slip to put between keyboard and Screen. Seems like Bitolithic is the better deal again. Price: €25 plus unknown shipping.

Soo?

To sum it all up, I'd go for the Bitolithic protection pack. It protects the MacBook against minor shocks, comes with an extra accessory bag and it looks tight fitting. My second choice (or maybe the first? I don't know yet...) would be wrappers laptop protector, If I only knew whether or not the MacBook falls out on a regular basis due to a missing closing mechanism. First things first, though, I think I won't order a bag before the MacBook arrives.

Do you know about anything else? Preferrably shipped from Germany/Europe? Which product do you use?