When it comes to modifying, customising and decorating your laptop, there are options that are as simple and commitment-free as buying a new coat or as permanent as getting a tattoo on your neck…
Stickers and Skins
There are hundreds of shops and suppliers of laptop stickers, but one of my recent favourites is Wall Art For Less, an Etsy shop that creates high-quality stickers and decals/transfers for any laptop or mobile device.
However, there’s a particular focus on Apple products with these cute Snow White examples, do you want her classic, geek or monochrome?
Most of the laptop decals are around $9.99 from Wall Art For Less, but the shop also makes a lot of custom stickers too, whether you want to specify different sizes or images.
Most stickers are a great idea at the time but can get irritating easily, so if you want to take them off, be patient and follow these instructions for how to remove stickers from a laptop. It’s not as simple as ripping and pulling, or you may be left with a sticky grey mess.
Because stickers and transfers can be hard to remove at times, you could also try a laptop skin, which has the added bonus of not only looking good but protecting your device as well. Gelaskins makes skins for all kinds of mobile and laptop devices with lots of pretty, crazy and unusual designs:
Most of the skins are around $29.95, but if you want to talk about unusual sizes or submitting your own images, expect to pay a little more.
Painted and Encrusted
If you’re looking for something a little more permanent and, well, “bling” then visit Computer Choppers, a company that specialises in making your laptops resemble precious stones and metals. Look at this Limited Edition laptop, complete with 24 carat gold painted on the casing and diamonds stuck to the logo.
I personally don’t see the appeal and would be terrified of touching it knowing it’s more expensive than my flat. But if you’re a fan of glistening gold products then contact Computer Choppers to get a personalised quote.
Although all prices seem to differ depending on your requirements you should expect to pay at least $1,000. Wow.
US company Colorware offers a similar service, but the final result looks a little less like something you’d expect to see on 50 Cent’s episode of Cribs. You can choose from a range of colours, that are glossy, normal or have pearl sheen and you’re given a shiny little interface to apply them onto different parts of your laptop:
For this bespoke service you can expect to pay well over $600.
Extremely Modified and/or Ruined
I’ve been shocked by the amount of people who’ve extremely modified their laptops themselves, from a terrible paint job to creating a computer inside of a cartoon character…
A steam punk laptop:
A Hello Kitty laptop:
Granted this is a desk-top computer and not a laptop, but OMG:
Think carefully before you begin buying, sticking or even, dare I say it, painting anything onto your laptop yourself. That may sound a little over-the-top, but you WILL feel stupid when at a conference everyone else reveals sleek black notebooks and you’re left with something glittering and shiny that a five year old would be embarrassed to call their own.
Becca Caddy is a BitchBuzz Tech columnist and freelance writer who does not recommend you take it upon yourself to paint, decorate or "modify" your laptop in any way, shape or form. You can follow her @beccacaddy or read her blog beccacaddy.com.
Images via Colorware, Wall Art For Less, Gelaskins, Computer Choppers, Exonome FJ, Datamancer and Tokyo Mango.