It’s been a while since we’ve last reviewed a wood cover from Toast. It wasn’t until they announced that they were making one for the Microsoft Surface Pro that I just had to get my hands on the skin to see how it looks on my Surface Pro. Our Toast review for the Microsoft Surface Pro features a sample of a customized cover of our choosing, which of course features the Techaeris logo. Continue reading to see how it is.
Design
As all other Toast wood options, you get walnut, bamboo, ebony, and ash wood choices. Toast offers a wide variety of wood covers for just about every popular smartphone, gaming system, laptop, and tablets out there. The covers are made with FSC certified real wood veneer and shaped to fit whatever device you’re looking to put a skin on.
With the new Surface Pro, the only pieces you receive are two back plates, a piece for the top, a left and right side piece, and the volume rocker/power button piece. Instead of going with an engravement of my name or Gamertag or just keeping it plain, I decided to put on the Techaeris logo and ladies and gentlemen, does it look amazing. I choose bamboo wood this time since I opted for walnut back on my LG V10, which added a nice look to the phone.
The back of the device is where it’s all at when it comes to the design with the Surface Pro. Once the skin was applied, you’ll see the Techaeris logo on the kickstand evenly sized and centered. Underneath the site logo is Toast’s logo showing off for those curious as to who made the wood skin. The top portion of the back has the other wood piece lining up perfectly with the camera and mics. Even though it’s blank, it still adds a nice detail to the back in general. The left and right side also line up nicely with all the ports on the unit. The top layer aligns also aligns nicely with the sides and the power button/volume rocker pieces are a nice addition making the Surface Pro look really good.
Installation
Unlike skins from DBrand or Slickwraps, you don’t need to use a blow dryer to heat up the adhesive to make it stick to your unit. You do receive alcohol wipes to wipe down your Surface Pro before applying the wood cover and I do recommend using it. I started out by peeling off the back pieces and applying them where they go.
One thing that I noticed that I haven’t before with Toast was that after peeling off the back layer, the circle cut outs were still on the adhesive. As a heads up, those are meant to be there, so don’t try and peel them off. It just makes things worse. After you have applied the back pieces, you can either start with the sides or the top. Starting with the sides first is easier so you know where to place the top layer later. Line up the sides and apply pressure to the skin to make sure it fully sticks to the device.
From there, round the top and bottom corners and make sure they also stick to the device. After that, put on the top layer and line up the holes with the volume rocker and power button. Lastly, apply the power button and volume rocker pieces and you’re good to go. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
Protection
Most of the time, if you have a skin, case, or cover on your device, you believe in yourself that you won’t drop your device on the ground. Even if you did, it’s somewhat there to help protect your device from dents, or at least to a certain extent. I’ve already dropped my Surface Pro on wood flooring and made a small dent to the bottom right corner of the wood and the tablet still works just fine. It has also slid off my bed and pressed against the wall from my child jumping around on the bed. A few smaller dents are there, but my device was still protected.
As I’ve said before, to a certain extent, your device can be protected, but that doesn’t mean go out and throw your device around town testing how protecting this wood skin can be.
Price
The starting price for the Toast cover for the Microsoft Surface Pro is $49 USD. You can add text or etching as well, or go fully custom like we did. For a custom image of your choosing, you’re looking at $69 USD. You can also add a front panel for an additional $15 USD if you’d like. It’s not a bad starting price for those who can afford it, but if you plan on trying out the skin for a bit and taking it off, then you’ll probably want to pass.
In my opinion, I think the price is fine considering all the work the company puts into a design that you’ve chosen. It could be a simple design to the most complex and it’s done with precision.
Wrap Up
Anytime I put a skin on my phone, I tend to take it off one to two months later and go back to a case. This time, I don’t plan on taking off this cover even if it’s on my Surface Pro. It makes the tablet look really cool. If you can afford one, I definitely recommend trying out Toast’s covers and sending them your own design or what you want on the wood. If you can’t that’s not a problem because there are other options to choose from at a lower price. Awesome job Toast, and thank you.
