If you are like many students or business professionals who are constantly on the run taking their precious laptop and data with them, you will probably be savvy with all the techniques and products there are to keep that fragile silicon square in tact. If not, this article may give you a beginner's initiation into what the market has to offer because preparedness is better than learning from your mistakes when it comes to high-priced electronics.

Armor Coatings: Laptop Sleeves, Skins and Covers Oh My

Laptop covers are a pretty general term for anything that envelops the laptop itself. The biggest envelopments are actual laptop bags -- usually having straps to carry. They are usually padded and will enclose the laptop totally like a zip up bag. Some are shells that cover the laptop and others will be full on backpack or messenger bag packs.

The materials range from just simple cloth with minimal protection to plastic or metal shell enclosures. The most common materials are the spongy types like neoprene or memory foam. The foam enclosures are common for a laptop sleeve or zipped enclosure.

The laptop sleeve is more like a glove for the computer. It can simply be slipped in like a camper into a sleeping bag. The open end can be velcroed, zipped or clamped down some way.

Laptop skins are another protection product, but the aim of the skin is a little less about buffering blows but more of a platform to post the laptop owner's own artistic styling on the face of their computer. The skin itself usually goes around the body of the computer. It's a small vinyl shell that can be colored in a variety of ways. The skin can contain images and art within it, similar to a transparent resin mold encasing.

The skins, like many other laptop covering medium, has been less about armor and more about art these days. Every kind of painted image can be silkscreened or encased within the protective medium.

Another layer of protection that laptop owners invest in is the keyboard guard. The guard is formed in such a way that it will conform to the shape of the keypad. The main safeguard with this item is that it is to seal the crevices between the keys thereby protecting it from dust, finger dander and the dreaded beverage spill. Although having this cover is a little bit cumbersome typing on, it may be a lifesaver when your favorite Frappuccino sloshes on your typing pad amid a final term paper or PowerPoint presentation.