MacAlly BookStand Case for the iPad

Our precious fragile gadgets are often adorned with accessories to protect them against damage. My newly acquired iPad is no exception. So I did some online research, and did some shopping, to figure out what I would get for my iPad. It is not just about the “protection” functionality that matters, but equally important are style and convenience. There are so many choices, starting right from the official Apple iPad Case. It offers pretty good all-around protection. But, in my opinion, it fails in style.

I ended up getting the MacAlly BookStand case. MacAlly describes it as a multi-functional folder style protective case for the iPad. That’s right, despite its name, it is a lot more than just a bookstand. The case is slim and minimalistic. The back of the case is plastic, while the front cover seems to be cardboard. The whole case is covered in a velvety material that feels nice to the touch. The cover is kept in the closed position with a leather strap that loops to the back and secured under another slip of leather. Simple and elegant design.

The case holds the iPad by its four corners, with plastic snap clips. This means that the sides of the iPad are mostly exposed, leaving all the iPad buttons and ports fully and easily accessible, and the beauty of the iPad doesn’t get hidden.

But at the same time, while the corners of the iPad are protected by the plastic clips (and of course the top and bottom too while the cover is closed), the minimalistic cover means that it’s certainly quite possible for the sides of the iPad to sustain some sort of damage if you drop it the right (or wrong?) way, or some other object scraps the sides. Think about keys or other hard objects sharing space with the iPad in a bag.

My sense of it is that in terms of protection… well, you need to still be careful with your iPad. (You probably always should, anyway.) The cover makes it easy to carry the iPad around without leaving fingerprints and palm prints all over the body. It is light, and it looks nice, but it doesn’t offer the same level of protection as, way, the official Apple iPad Case.

I had originally set out wanting a case that was sort of like a folio, that could hold name cards, a pen, and perhaps a paper notebook to scribble notes (I know, why not find an iPad app to do that eh…). I found that cases that provided such “function” tended to be somewhat thicker, and to look good, they had to be real leather, which then made the case rather pricey.

In the end, style and budget prevailed. The MacAlly BookStand does stand the iPad in various positions, in case you’re wondering: Straight up for viewing videos, and a shallow elevation for typing. It is available in black and grey. The grey is nice… not just because the black is (in my opinion uninteresting), but also of the nice contrasting coloured brown leather strap.