Thread: Leather laptops coming soon.

Leather laptops coming soon.



Inclosia Solutions has developed a process it calls Exo overmolding that can be used to add fabrics, leather or metal to PC enclosures. While the Exo process has been used to bring leather covers to small electronics products, such as Microsoft's leather IntelliMouse, Inclosia is now starting to design and make laptop enclosures.
Tulip Distribution International Holding, the sales division of the resurrected Dutch PC company Tulip Computers, is showing off six prototype leather and fabric E-Go notebooks that it will bring to the market in October 2005. While they will initially be sold in Europe, Tulip will look at ways the E-Go can be used to penetrate other markets, sources said.
And for those of you who long for the Levi's binder you had in seventh grade, denim is also an option under the Exo process, as are embroidered logos, snaps, tassels, fringe and Velcro.

Although it's difficult, some companies have rejuvenated their fortunes by turning the PC into a fashion statement. Apple Computer launched its comeback with the original iMac in 1998. Similarly, Sony, a chronic laggard in PCs, saw its market share in notebooks take off with the Vaio 505, a slim notebook with a metal case, at about the same time.

More recently, Acer has become one of the fastest-growing PC makers in the world, thanks to light and novel notebooks.
The extra cost, though, can translate to better profits. Microsoft's leather IntelliMouse sells for a 20 percent premium over the plastic model , though the two are electronically identical.

Several companies, for instance, came out with notebooks sporting shiny magnesium or titanium shells. Making these laptops in large numbers and cheaply, however, has often proved daunting, and many of these models fade out.

The enclosures can also protect a device. A leather-bound enclosure created by Inclosia for a Hewlett-Packard handheld can be dropped four feet without suffering damage.