This video is brought to you by OBSBOT. So, this is my MacBook Pro, and for today, I've added three super common accessories that claim to protect your Mac, but in reality, can actually cause serious damage over time. Now, in this video, I'm going to be going over each of

these accessories. We'll look at why these can be harmful for your Mac, and also see if there's any better alternatives. Trust me, if you have a MacBook, whether it be a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, uh, newer or older model, this video is going to be worth a watch, so

the first accessory is a hard shell case. Now, this is super common. I see them all the time, and I can totally see why people are drawn to this accessory. After all, MacBooks are really expensive, so it's only natural to want to protect it. Uh, and also using a case on our phones,

we all do this. I love using a case on my iPhone, and I recommend it to all of my viewers, but on MacBooks, it's a fundamentally different story. And this is all for one reason, and what that comes down to is this: the hinge. So the

hinge on your MacBook is designed for a very specific amount of weight, specifically, uh, your Mac display and the aluminum case that goes around it. And this will allow you to comfortably open and close your display and also have it rest at any angle without closing shut.

However, if we add a hard shell case to the display, this will then add weight to that hinge, putting pressure and stress on the hinge over time. So, to kind of demonstrate the impact of the additional weight that comes from the hard shell, uh, you can see I have my MacBook open here.

and I got it close to just about, I don't know, 40° or so. And as you can see, a simple tap on the display will close it. Where if I take off the hard shell, so I've got the hard shell off now, and move

the display to the same angle, you can see that if I tap the display it will actually stay right where I leave it. In fact, even at this almost closed angle, uh, if I lift it up here you'll see the display doesn't close. And that's because

the hinge is designed specifically for this weight. Where if I had the hard shell on it, uh, it would close immediately. And again, over time the additional downward pressure that having this hard shell case on the display and then on the hinge is going to cause the

hinge to become looser over time and will mean that your display won't stay open at certain angles. And worst case, at a certain point after say 1 or 2 years, eventually your display won't be able to stay open and will either fall back or

fall down forward. And at that point, there will be no way to fix this and the only thing you'd have to do, or left to do rather, would be to go to Apple and buy a whole new display top case assembly. And that's going to cost many

hundreds of dollars. And this really is such a shame. And I've seen it happen to so many people. I especially remember back at University, I would have so many classmates using these kind of products. And over time, you'd see the damage that occurs to the hinge of their MacBooks. It

really is not worth it and it still surprises me how incredibly common these cases are and they really should not be used but wait there's actually even more reason uh to not use a hard shell case and that has to do with the clips that these cases use to attach to your

Macbook so you'll find them around the lower case uh as well as here here around the display and this is what's going to be required for them to stay on your computer now the issue is these tabs going around your computer will actually prevent your display from fully

closing and if you have a look with most hard shell cases uh including this one you can see there's a slight gap between the bottom case and the top case of your computer and this means that your laptop doesn't fully close when it is shut and

this again will increase the risk of your display cracking over time as I put something in between the keyboard and the display that is not meant to be there and that is not designed for and also this can actually uh lead to your display literally bending slightly

uh if you look at it from the side there's been many examples of this online and this will happen slowly over time but give it a year or two and chances are this will happen to you too so it is clear to not use a hard shell

case on your MacBook the question then is though is there a good alternative well thankfully yes there is I wouldn't want to show you a product and tell you not to use it without then offering you a good alternative that you can safely use so the best alternative to a hard

shell case is to use a good sleeve or even better a hard shell sleeve so I actually have one of each here today and I like to use uh both depending on my use case so first here we have a soft uh sleeve and as you can see the great

thing about this is it has this super soft interior that just feels so nice to the touch uh we also get a pocket up here which is great to store things like your charger a cable uh even an iPad or something so I'll leave links to both of

these in the description uh but this one is great cuz it's very slim and still provides a good amount of protection but my favorite and especially for traveling uh is to use this one now the reason I like this one so much is because it has a

hard shell you can hear it uh this is a really tough case uh I would feel confident throwing this around no not really but this is super durable and this means that if your laptop or when your laptop is in your bag say it gets knocked or you drop your bag on the

ground anything like that uh this case is going to protect it it actually has extra protection around the edges nice big zipper going around uh you can see that even on the inside uh has some nice padding also a little storage pocket here but the point is if your MacBook is

in this even without a case it will be super well protected so I think you know when you use your MacBook the highest percentage chance of damage would be while you are traveling so if you keep your MacBook while you're traveling uh either a soft shell or preferably a hard

shell sleeve like this you should be fine and again I'll leave links to both of these down in the description but let me know in the comments uh what do you use to protect your MacBook I'd love to hear from you in the comment section and

if you are enjoying this video so far a sub to the channel and a like on this video would be amazing before we look at two more accessories for your MacBook that I do not recommend you use one accessory for your Mac or a PC for that

matter that I do recommend you use is this this is the Owl Labs Meet 4K and here are the top four things I like about this AI powered webcam so first this tiny webcam uses a large 4K Sony sensor for a detailed and sharp image as

well as having HDR Auto exposure and autofocus and all this means that you'll look at your best for that important video call check out how 4K video straight from the Owl Labs Meet 4K compares to the built-in webcam of the

13-inch MacBook Air second the Owl Labs Meet 4K is also really smart so via the easy-to-use app you can activate uh intelligent AI Auto Framing and this is going to then smoothly track you as you or your group move around the frame to

ensure optimal framing as you move with AI virtual background you can add a nice blurry effect for a clean look or change your background entirely with any image or a green screen this is a great way to hide a messy room and third is powerful privacy protection so a long press of

the function button on the top will enter sleep mode and in the box you also get an attachable privacy cover for that added reassurance. And fourth is the included adjustable mount you can add the webcam to your laptop or display in seconds, and I really like that the Ops

spot will magnetically attach, making it super easy to add the Ops Spot Meet 4K. It's an excellent way to step up your webcam game, and to learn more be sure to head to the links in the description. So from the hard shell case, let's now move

to this tiny accessory here. This is a webcam cover. Now, why do people like to use uh webcam covers? Well, I think these days more than ever, there's a strong case to be made for a product like this. However, in this video, I'm not going to

focus on the privacy aspect, but instead focus on the impact that using an accessory like this on your MacBook can have and why I think you should be careful with these. So here's why you likely don't want to use a webcam cover. Now, MacBooks are built to very thin

tolerances, and this is what allows them to be so slim. So these packages, while they are very thin, uh all the components inside are designed specifically to fit perfectly inside, leaving very little to no room for anything else. Tiny as this webcam cover may look, and in fact, tiny as it is, uh

what this will still do is create an additional layer between your Mac's display as well as your top case when the computer is closed. And what this means is when your laptop is closed, instead of having the weight of the display uh centered and balanced around the entire computer as it would be by

design, it will instead all be focused on this one point here, uh, which is where your webcam cover will be and concentrating all that weight and pressure on this tiny little point, as opposed to all around the display means you will highly increase the chance of

your display getting damaged or even worse, cracking. A few years ago, this became such a common issue that even Apple themselves actually started warning users against using these tiny webcam covers, and they are so easy to find. You see them everywhere. They cost just a few dollars, but no matter how

thin they may look, chances are they're still going to be too thick to safely use on your Mac. Now, the question is, is there a good alternative? Well, unfortunately, not really, uh, other than for example, using a sticker or a small piece of tape. But of course, this isn't

as convenient as it can't be easily added or say, removed. Plus, covering the webcam area, even with tape, depending on the model Mac you have, uh, may mean that you will be covering the ambient sensor and this will affect your auto brightness as well as your True Tone

functionality. Ultimately, I really wish Apple had built in a hardware switch to the webcam, like some other laptop manufacturers have done, but unless you keep your Mac permanently open and say, docked at home on a desk, I don't recommend you use these webcam covers.

Now, unfortunately, uh, for this particular product, I don't have a good alternative, but what I do have is a little bit of peace of mind, uh, and say that while this feature is not 100% immune from hacking, your webcam on your Mac does have a

green indicator light that will show anytime your webcam is in use. And if you are concerned about what apps or what has access to your webcam, a tip I have would be to go to your privacy settings on your Mac and then see the list of apps that have access to your webcam and

microphone. And if you see anything that you don't recognize, you can remove it from there. Up next is a keyboard cover. Now why do people use this? Well, of course, to protect your keyboard, and there's very good reason for doing so. After all, Apple's old butterfly

keyboards were so fragile that even a speck of dust could destroy them. No joke, but thankfully though, more modern Macs, specifically Apple silicon Macs, have gone back to a more traditional scissor switch mechanism and are now much more reliable. But still, I see these

things all the time. So here's why you shouldn't use a keyboard cover for your Mac. Now, I realize I say that while putting it on, but that's just for this video. Uh, as we know from the uh webcam cover, MacBooks are built to super slim

tolerances, and this means there's not room for an additional layer of rubber or plastic between the keyboard and the display. And what this essentially means that whenever your MacBook is closed and you have a keyboard cover on it, it's going to add additional pressure to your

display. And this pressure over time is going to increase the risk of your display cracking. And you'll actually find many examples of this online, uh either people getting lines forming on their display or it being permanently broken entirely. Plus, the display and the keyboard are not actually designed to

touch. So when your MacBook is closed, uh, adding this keyboard cover means that oils from your fingers are going to be making permanent contact with the display, and as a result, over time that can also damage the anti-reflective coating that is on your screen, uh

additionally, if you have an older Mac, particularly some MacBook Pro models, they'll actually use the keyboard as a way to intake fresh air. So the air will then come in through the keyboard and then be expelled from out in the back, and of course, adding a keyboard cover

will block your MacBook from bringing in that cooler air, and that's going to limit its ability to cool itself. That's going to lead to thermal throttling. In other words, limiting the performance, heat is going to build up over time, and this is not going to be good for the

long-term health of your computer. Now, is there a good alternative to a keyboard cover? Uh, unfortunately not really. The best alternative is to use no keyboard cover, and instead, I would suggest not eating or drinking near your Mac, or at least keep, especially your drink, a little bit

further away while using it. But thankfully, though, more recent MacBooks, including all of the Apple silicon Macs, have much more reliable keyboards, so you don't have to worry about dust coming in between the keys, as chances are this won't damage it. So there you have it.

Three common MacBook accessories that you're better off not using. Instead, I highly suggest sticking to a good hard shell or a good soft shell sleeve, and I'll leave links to both of these down in the description, as well as of course, links to the Op's Spot Meat 4K to upgrade.

your webcam game. Thank you so much for watching this video. If you have any questions at all, please leave them down below. And if you haven't seen them yet, I highly recommend checking out my MacBook setup video as well as my iPhone first things to do video to get the most out

of the performance, battery life, as well as features. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next video. Take care.

Do NOT Buy These Common MacBook Accessories! (Hard Shell Case, Webcam Cover, Keyboard Cover)

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