[toddpart]

OK, I just got a new burgundy Alcantara cover. My one and only reason for buying it was the color, purely an aesthetics/subjective purchase. I love the cover and its look on my new Surface Pro. Prior to this one, I had just kept my old dark blue Surface Pro 4 Type Cover and was using it with my new rig.

My question to you all is this...can you really tell a difference between the Alcantara fabric and the fabric used on the SP4 Type Cover? I mean, it is really, really, really similar. I'm pretty certain that the fabric on the outside of the cover is identical on both. The feel of the Alcantara is maybe a touch smoother than the SP4 but, I wonder if that is just my wallet willing me to think that in order to justify my purchase? :-)

Either way, I like it and it's staying...just curious what those of you who have been able to compare both of them really think?

[onlysublime]

Well, it was easier to feel the difference between the gray alcantara sp4 keyboard and the regular sp4 keyboards (I had the teal keyboard, the blue keyboard, and the alcantara gray for the sp4).

the alcantara for the new type cover is smoother than the material on the regular sp4 type covers. the backside of the new type cover is closer to the backside of the sp4 keyboard than it is to the backside of the gray alcantara sp4 keyboard. the gray alcantara sp4 keyboard backside was thicker feeling and more fuzzy-like.

but trust me, if the new alcantara wears like the previous alcantara, it will wear better than the regular sp4 keyboards. My favorite SP4 keyboard was the teal. But I only took it out for "special" occasions because it looked older faster (it wasn't exactly "wear" but somehow looked older as I used it). So I thought since the alcantara would be more durable, for 90% of my work, I would use the gray alcantara keyboard. And it does look more used than my teal keyboard by a little bit but considering I abused it for 90% of the time versus the 10% of the time for the teal keyboard, I was impressed. And before anyone jumps on any of my comments, the carbon fiber on my XPS 13 somehow stopped looking new after a very short time. Most devices don't look new after you've owned it for awhile. But that carbon fiber... Maybe it's like T-shirts that only look new when you first buy it but the first time you throw it in the wash...

I think ultimately it comes down to color preference. For me, #1 is the burgundy new keyboard. #2 is the SP4 teal keyboard. #3 is the SP4 blue. #4 is the new cobalt blue.

[Ekhangel]

Does anyone have any photos comparing the 4 and 5 signature type covers? I do wonder about which one I should be getting. I saw the platinum Surface Laptop at my local store and was not too impressed with the fabric - it does look quite tacky. I wonder about the actual difference between the 2016 and 2017 Alcantaras.

I was pretty much set on the new burgundy variant for my new Surface, but if it looks as tacky as the platinum Laptop I saw, then I don't know.

Also, it's frustratingly difficult to find pictures on the web of the burgundy variant's backside (or anything else than platinum, for that matter). Anyone could help me out?

[onlysublime]

you really have to see them in person. I thought I would love the cobalt blue but it only looked good rather than great when I saw it in person.

I was never a fan of the gray/platinum alcantara keyboard for either SP4 or the new SP. It was merely functional and better wear than the standard keyboards.

[toddpart]

I never bought a 2016 Signature Type Cover but, here are pics of my new 2017 Burgundy Type Cover...

[Ekhangel]

Got the same Cover as above. Great stuff, thanks for all the input.