Slick Case Review : Macbook Covers To Avoid?

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Despite the world going mobile, I’m attached like glue to my laptop. About 5 years ago I moved to the dark side and bought a MacBook Pro, and I’ve never looked back. Best decision I could have made – my laptop is a lifeline to everything when living with chronic illness. The time came recently when I had to replace it and I started looking for a shiny new case to go with it. I was so excited to collaborate with Slick Case, who’ve very kindly gifted me covers to review here. However, the experience was sadly far from positive.

With two cases that didn’t fit and have had to go to recycling, it’s been a disappointing waste of time, so it’s sadly not a brand I can personally recommend. Of course everyone has different experiences, so if you decide to check them out, I wish you luck and hope it goes better for you than it did for me.

About Slick Case

Slick Case pride themselves on producing top quality products with unique designs for Apple users, shipping to over 50 countries worldwide and expanding their product catalogue year on year. ‘Slick’ references the smooth, impressive quality of their products, which combine both practicality and aesthetics in perfect harmony. This is, of course, in theory. 

This self-confessed team of ‘tech-geeks’ have cultivated a community vibe with the brand, producing a range of novel designs and custom products that you won’t find anywhere else. They seem care about their customers and are on hand to help with any queries, providing responsive, friendly service each step of the way. They are friendly, but whether you get the responsive service is another matter.

Website

The website is user-friendly to navigate, shop and purchase. It’s also convenient to browse or search by keyword, and if you’re looking for a product for a particularly type of tech, such as the latest 2020 MacBook Pro, then you can skip straight to the corresponding cases.

I found the process of navigating to be a breeze and it’s a pleasant experience to take in all of the different designs. 

I like that each product page comes with various images so you can get a good feel for the design, helping you to imagine what it’ll be like on your piece of tech. When it comes to the MacBook covers, most designs will be available across several models, so you can click on the design and find a list of models there to choose from, keeping things simple and convenient.  

Products

Slick Case specialise in Mac cases, so they’ve got a range for MacBook laptops. The case designs are supposedly laser printed for a sharp, quality finish. Covers have fully vented cutouts, which is important as you don’t want your Mac unnecessarily overheating, and fine laser cuts ensure all ports are accessible. Shock absorbing materials keep your Mac safe and provide some peace of mind should any accidents happen.

As you’ll find in my thoughts below, quality was dubious at best and the cases didn’t even fit my Mac, so after trying two cases I had to give up and call it a day.

Slick Case have a varied product catalogue for Apple users. For example: 

• MacBook Cases
• MacBook Keyboard Covers
• MacBook Stickers & Decals 
• MacBook Covers/Sleeves
• iPhone Cases 
• iPhone Screen Protectors 
• iPad Cases
• AirPods Cases
• Apple Watch Bands
• Packages – Packaged products to save money, such as a MacBook case, sleeve & keyboard cover. 

Custom Products

Make your case uniquely yours with a custom design, where you can add photos, initials or names to MacBook, AirPods, iPhone and iPad cases.

This is a novel feature I’ve not found with other brands, and a personalised product would also make for a thoughtful gift idea.

Slick Case Designs 

Some designs are available across different products, so in theory you could colour co-ordinate and get the same design on you Mac & your mobile.

The range is vibrant and varied, with colour and design options to appeal to different tastes. There’s something for everyone, whether you want minimalistic, contemporary, marble, basic patterns, colourful or cute styles. 

Delivery 

My initial case arrived promptly in a matter of days and came well packaged to keep it safe and undamaged. 

Shipping has changed as a result of the Covid19 pandemic, so free delivery has been temporarily suspended. However, they’re still shipping to numerous countries, and you can find the full list on the website. Areas include the UK, United States, South Africa, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, China, Ireland, and many European countries.

Standard Delivery – Usually, free standard shipping is available for orders over $60 for Main Countries and over $80 for Other Countries. Standard delivery is for 7-14 working days. 

Express Delivery – Usually free express delivery is available for orders over $100 for Main Countries and over $120 for Other Countries. Express delivery is within 4-9 working days. 

With Slick Case orders, you can track your delivery online, which is always reassuring. 

A full list of couriers by country is available on the website. You’ll get delivery estimates and fees calculated during checkout.

Prices vs Quality : Poor Value For Money?

When looking at the delivery information on the website, you’ll notice currency is for $ USD. However, you’ll get local currency when browsing the products. In terms of prices, I’ll focus here on MacBook cases. 

You’ll notice that prices of Mac covers generally vary a lot depending on where you look. There are cheaper options available elsewhere, but with cheaper options you often get thinner or more brittle plastic that’s likely to snap pretty quickly. I say this from experience. 

With Slick Case, you’re supposedly getting better quality but also a wider range of designs, and you might just find covers for models that you can’t find anywhere else. I struggled to find interesting covers specifically for the latest November 2020 MacBook Pro, so I was thrilled to find Slick Case’s range so quickly after the Mac’s release. 

While you may just get basic designs elsewhere, you’ll have a wide choice of styles here and the option for customised products should you wish. You’re paying for the quality and the style, which should make these cases a worthwhile investment. Apple tech isn’t cheap, so it’s worth making sure you get your products decent covers that’ll you’ll love using and that’ll keep your gear safe. 

However, I can’t say that these are value for money or a good investment. Given my experience with the cases, I can’t say that the quality is superior in terms of the plastic or the print; it is hard plastic but if you get a case that doesn’t fit to begin with then that won’t matter what the plastic’s like or whether the print looks anything like it should.

My Slick Cases – Two Times Unlucky

I was pleased with the shipping and packaging because this took away any worry of damage when it arrived. When I opened the main white jiffy bag, which featured the nice touch of Slick Case branding, the case itself was inside in its own plastic bag. 

This is where it all goes wrong. 

The first case I ordered unfortunately looked nothing like the image on the website. The design was supposed to be vibrant, with a watercolour effect of different colours, like mermaid scales. When mine arrived, it looked totally washed out and not like you’d hope or expect at all. Some sections were so pale that you could barely see any colour. Still, I would have kept it and shrugged it off as a one-off design and print fault.

Until I tried to put the case on, and found it didn’t fit at all! It’s too small, and no amount of force will make a case that’s several millimetres too small every which way around actually fit. Not a chance.

The team at Slick Case apologised and said it must have been an old case that shouldn’t have been sent out. Okay, mistakes happen, I don’t mind. 

They sent a second case.

This time I chose a very basic black and white check pattern, thinking you shouldn’t be able to go too far wrong with that. It arrived and it didn’t look as I perhaps thought it would, less check and more just black and white squares, but it was okay. Until trying to put it on… a second case that didn’t fit!

This time, the top cover was too tight, but I forced it on as best I could because of frustration at wanting it to fit. Then I panicked because I couldn’t get the damn thing off – I spent the better part of an hour doing this, but still ended up scratching the edge of a brand new MacBook Pro trying to remove a poorly fitting case. 

The bottom cover was hilarious. If by hilarious I mean frustrating and unbelievable. One part didn’t fit closely enough so it just flapped open and off the laptop. I tried to take a video of this but basically, it was too loose; you could pick the laptop up and the base cover flopped up and down on the near right corner.

This cover was described as being designed for the latest M1 MacBook, though that clearly wasn’t the case. You don’t need much more proof than when you turn it to the side and find the case covers the USB-C ports. D’oh! 

In between these two cases, I’d been emailing Slick Case various times and wasn’t always getting quick responses. It’s not easy for me to complain and I hate having to do it, but both of these cases were so far off the mark it was baffling. It’s a bit disappointing when you’d imagine a brand would be wanting to ensure the experience went as smoothly as possible for someone that’s reviewing and promoting their products. I understand that people are busy so I was patient, but when the second case arrived and was totally unusable I was confused. 

Why are you selling cases that are faultily printed and cases that don’t fit or aren’t designed for the Mac model they claim to be? Wouldn’t you ensure any faulty products aren’t given out to customers and reviewers? If I’ve received two products designed for the bin, then what are they sending to other customers?

Not So Slick

I’m fortunate is often having either gloriously positive or decent enough experiences of brands and products I’ve gone on to review. A recent exception was Cannacares as that was a pretty appalling experience in some ways, but this one with Slick Case wasn’t great either. The customer service was at least friendly and products were shipped without problems, but that’s about as much as I can say that’s positive.

I couldn’t recommend anyone risking buying products from this company based on my own experience. The cases aren’t cheap and they aren’t Slick – they don’t even fit – which is such a shame. 

I hate giving negative reviews. I really do. But I think it’s so important to be honest and I’ll always endeavour to do that while being open to the fact that everyone has different experiences.

I just can’t think of anything positive to say other than that the brand should have been good, but the products were just awful. Perhaps I got unlucky, twice, with Slick Case. Perhaps you’d have a better experience and at least get a case that actually fitted or looked anything like what the photos suggest. Unfortunately for me it was a huge disappointment and a total waste of time and energy faffing with the cases and then writing up this review.

While I get nothing from this review as both cases have gone straight for recycling, perhaps it can introduce you to a new brand or warn future customers to be mindful of the potential pitfalls with their products.

Find Slick Case 

[vUpdate : I think the company has ceased trading but they were available via slickcaseofficial dot com ]

Have you had any disappointing brand or product experiences lately?

Caz  ♥

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