If a sleeve used a magnetic clasp, the magnet should be strong enough not to open unless you actually pull it open with your hands. If a sleeve has a zipper, it shouldn’t easily get stuck or caught-we gave extra points to sleeves that used the industry-standard YKK zipper.
But it shouldn’t be so tight that the sleeve is difficult to insert and remove. The best sleeve for your computer leaves very little space around the sides and top, so that while you’re carrying the sleeve your laptop doesn’t bounce around too much. An important aspect of this is how well the laptop fits inside of the sleeve.
We wouldn’t toss a Gauntlet-clad laptop into a lake, but some light rain and snow should be no danger to a computer encased in one of these. The inside was only a bit damp, and only near the hinge, and the Gauntlet 3.0 let in less water than any other water-resistant case we tested, aside from the original Gauntlet. We filled the Gauntlet 3.0 with paper towels and then sprayed it with a kitchen-sink sprayer for 30 seconds to test its water resistance, and we found that only a little water soaked through the hinge. The Gauntlet 3.0’s stiff sides offer about as much protection as you can get in a sleeve, and its water-resistant zipper helps keep liquids out. Why it’s great: The Thule Gauntlet 3.0 has a rigid clamshell design that zips along three of its four edges and can withstand more abuse than a padding-only design.