Sales of laptop PCs continue to grow well and are only likely to accelerate as more models come along offering comparable power to desktop PCs. But that move towards better specs and the very nature of laptop PCs can cause problems - problems that Port Designs' highly-persuasive md Colin Brown says the company is successfully addressing.
We met Colin yesterday on the company's laptop-sized stand at CTS and were impressed by the products on show. These take in rather more than the sensibly-priced (and well-featured) bags for which the company has been known for a dozen years in France - it's original home. A bunch of gadgets were being displayed, each said to resolve a particular issue peculiar to laptops.
Although Port Designs uses the term, "laptops", many PC makers have switched and now call them "notebooks". That's not because they're any smaller than what's gone before but, instead - we reckon - on account of them being frightened of litigation in the lawyer-crazed US of A and not wanting to be accused of implying that such machines really are suitable for laptop use.
As anyone who's ever used a powerful laptop for any length of time will know, these fellas can get hot - so hot that the keyboard can become uncomfortable to touch and you worry for the long-term reliability of the hardware. And using one of these battery-powered furnaces on your lap is not something we'd recommend unless you're suffering from hypothermia of the nether regions or have a real desire to roast your nadgers. That excessive heat problem is what the newest of Port Designs' non-bag products sets out to solve - at least when the machine is being used on a desk.
The gadget - the cunningly named CoolFan - is so new that it's still not shown on the company's web site but the idea, as you'll see from the two shots below, is simply to have a base with a cooling fan that's powered from a laptop's USB port.
Mr Brown says that the fan is inaudible but that's not something we were able to properly check in such a noisy enviroment as an exhibition. And nor did we have any sensible way to make any evaluation of the device's ability to keep a laptop cool. But, if the product does work and doesn't make too much of a racket, it's likely retail ticket of £22.95 (inc VAT) might be a small price to pay for peace of mind and a cooler keyboard.
CoolFan, top view (click for
larger image)
CoolFan base, showing the
cubbyhole wherethe USB cable is stored and plugs
in.
The cover doubles as a stand (click for larger image)
The cover doubles as a stand (click for larger image)
Two other gadgets struck our fancy and they are, according to Mr Brown, well established and selling in big numbers. The Lapdesk (pictured below and also pitched at £22.95) is, as you'll have almost immediately twigged, a miniature desk that goes on your lap and holds the PC. It even has a likkle fold-out surface to let you use a decent mouse rather than whatever abomination is built into your portable PC. When that's extended, there's a big hole in the centre that might help with air circulation.
Lapdesk - mousing
surface folded out (click for larger image)
Mousing surface folded away for
storage or when
flying seated next to the aisle (click for larger image)
The other interesting offering, the Ergo Station, is a desk stand that holds a laptop at an angle that lets you see the screen while using a full-size keyboard. Price, a fraction under £50, is a little stiff but the stand isn't - it felt easy and smooth to adjust to the appropriate angle. Craftily, Port Designs also offers resellers the Ergo Station bundled along with a keyboard and mouse - a package that might suit the sort of outlet that doesn't stock 1001 types of PC peripheral.
Ergo station - front view (click
for larger image)
Side view (click for larger image)Port Designs' large range of laptop bags takes in backpacks and shoulder bags plus a selection of styles of briefcase, some in a multitude of colours - pink, red, camouflage, white, grey, black and more. There are some neat features, too, including free accidental screen-damage insurance.
On shoulder bags, we were impressed by the pass-through gasket for a headphone cable (there's a personal stereo pocket inside, of course) and both features are also found on on ruck-sack-style backpacks - each an Alladin's cave of pockets and pouches. Among these is a zipper compartment on the base holding a sewn-in raincoat that pulls out, up and over the bag itself.
On briefcase models, there's an internal bumper intended to spread the load should pressure be put on the screen of the laptop within, plus a feature that might seem trivial but which we'd have killed for on our journeys on public transport to and from Birmingham and London going in and out of trains, up and down stairs and escalators and along seemingly endless corridors.
What PD has added is nothing more complicated than an elasticated strap that lets you secure the bag over the telescopic handle of one of those little wheel-along suitcases. Having the strap would allow you to sit the bag securely on the suitcase - freeing up one hand or shoulder and making life far easier if travelling - as we were - with a laptop bag, a shoulder-bag and a small wheelie suitcase.
Comments or queries about Port Designs' products? Let us hear them over in the HEXUS.community.
HEXUS.links
Port Designs - Home page
Port Designs - Lapdesk
Port Designs - Ergo Station
CTS 2006 - All the HEXUS coverage
