My biggest complaint with my MacBook Pro has always been the sharp front edge. When using it for extended periods of time without an external keyboard (which I do perhaps 2 or 3 days a week, working in the living room or dining room) it begins to cut into my forearm quite painfully. Yes, I know, I’m not supposed to rest my wrists on the laptop. But I’ve been typing this way for almost 30 years, and am unlikely to change now.

I read a few sites that talked about grinding off that sharp corner, but somehow I think that my employer might frown on me voiding my warranty in that particular way.

So, last week I picked up a Speck laptop cover. Yes, they are expensive, but I figured it’s tax deductible, and it’ll save me some pain.

Turns out that it has a sharp corner on it, too. But, it’s plastic, and grinding it down doesn’t void the warranty on my MacBook. So, with a little work with sandpaper, I now have a front corner of my laptop that doesn’t make me bleed, and I can work comfortably just a little longer.

What I’d really like to see is Apple taking heed of this complaint that’s persisted through several generations of this hardware, and make that corner a little less painful. But, failing that, this is an acceptable solution.

The only negative here is that the part of the cover that goes on the screen is a little heavy. The screen/lid of the MacBook is pretty well balanced, and adding even a little weight to it causes it to fall open quite violently when leaned too far back. The cover provides just that needed weight, and picking it up by the base while it’s open can cause the lid to slam all the way open. I’m concerned that one of these times it’s going to snap the hinge.