Checking in with my teardown and red carbon fiber skins!
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That teardown one is so cool.
Made in collaboration with JerryRigEverything, our Teardown skin uses an optically clear gloss finish to ensure you see every dollar you wasted.
I wish they could do two separate piece. One for the display and the other for the palmrest/chassis.
o they literally have expansion card skins. Although it’s about 6x as much as I am willing to pay them.
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Just applied my Dbrand Deluxe Kit. For OCD-types (such as myself), applying these skins made it to my top ten list of most nerve-racking experiences in my career as a human being. Having said that, I’m VERY happy with the result. Total application time for me was around 2-hours (quite a few re-applications of pretty much every skin, with a liberal amount of expletives sprinkled in).
I ordered the Pastel Black kit (which is actually grey). The skin blends well with the anodized aluminum case, while still providing a distinctive contrast. The resulting aesthetic reminds me of Sci-Fi equipment props (e.g., Star Trek movies and later series), which I quite like.
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For the OCD-types…many so-called ‘black’ are actually grey…because the material’s inability to not reflect any light.
For example:
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/blackest-black-ink-culture-hustle/index.html
In short: If something is truly black, you cannot visually (by eyes) tell what shape the object is in.
If someone goes and paint their Framework with Black 3.0, that’d be fun to see / can’t see.
Imagine painting a room with vantablack…and then also paint everything else with the same paint. You’ll have a hard time finding anything in it. (Good luck finding the door knob to get out as well)
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The day before yesterday, I pre-ordered the arctic digital camo skin because I thought that it would fit well with the exposed metal bits of the Framework. Not sure which one I’ll receive first, the skin or the laptop!
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I received and installed the Arctic Camo skin! I think that it matches well the laptop’s aluminum body. My choice was between the Arctic Camo and the Robot Camo (which I really really like), but I chose the Arctic one because the difference between the aluminum body and the skin isn’t as striking as for the Robot Camo.
Thought I’d let you all see what it looks like. Sorry for the super shallow depth of field, but I had no nice background in the whole house and it’s raining outside, so I used the inside of a sleeping bag as the background.
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And I thought White Marble worked nicely with the chassis. Congrats on the Arctic Camo, man
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Does it negatively affect the passive thermal dissipation in any humanly observable degree?
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@Mad_Alchemist Thanks! I like White Marble and Concrete, as well! They look really good with the chassis!
@Second_Coming No sir, not that I can see! Mind you, I didn’t note the temps before and after. Right now, my CPU is running at 45°C. But it’s 15°C in my room according to my 3D printer sensors. 
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I got the Matt White Kit and applied it a couple of days ago. While I am nearly happy with how it looks (it’s a tad too white for my taste, but I am getting used to it), I didn’t expect the Matt to be as coarse to touch as it is.
I am split between getting rid of it or getting something else that’s soft to touch. Can folks with anything other than the Matt versions tell me if those are softer? Arctic Camo is the only other design I like (as it blends rather well with the Silver), but I am also swinging towards the Matrix.
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Never tried a skin before. How do the skins from dbrand fare against fingerprints?
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I can’t complain. The entire laptop is skinned for me. Even the touchpad is skinned. I just wish I was better at applying the skin so that it looks perfect 
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Same as @GhostLegion. At least on the Matt white, I barely see any. Mine looks almost perfect, especially after using the hair dryer.
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What do you think about the skin on the trackpad? I have the matte white applied to it and it works pretty well, but I think it affects the trackpad precision ever so slightly and therefore, I’m thinking about removing it there. 
I love it. It provides a nice color contrast of black on lilac and is slightly textured while preventing that awful shine that will undoubtedly develop on my keycaps as the machine ages (would it be proper to call it a patina ?) I like the feeling of that slight texture
Speaking of precision, I haven’t noticed any perceivable difference with and without the skin. However, when I first applied the skin to the laptop, I skipped the trackpad. But, there’s a marked depression created by the presence of the skin outside the trackpad and this makes the trackpad usage a tad bit annoying i.e. your skin rubs against the edges when you go in and out of the trackpad area. It’s like the Fingerprint scanner, but a bit more pronounced. That’s why I now use it with the Skin and it’s certainly a better experience. Perhaps you can try it with and without the skin?
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My first time doing dbrand and it was super easy. Only did the top, but thinking I may have to do the rest now!
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How are people selecting an offset color for the trackpad and expansion cards? I can’t find the customizer view others have posted here on the dbrand website.
Heads up to anyone ordering quickly on the site, “essentials kit” = only skin for the top cover, “deluxe kit” includes bottom cover, expansion card, palm rest, and trackpad covers.
Dbrand eliminated it to reduce cost, yeah, I’m pissed about it too. Literally removes the custom in customization.
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Perhaps Framework should dabble in coloring their aluminum panels?
Or maybe we could do it ourselves? Although electroplating is not for the faint of the heart and anodizing still requires careful painting.
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