The biggest risk my laptop has ever faced while out blogging in the field was greasy fingerprints from a tradeshow box lunch. Thankfully it just barely survived that daunting ordeal, but I guess there are bloggers out there who take things to more extremes than I do. Why else would you need a padded, double-sealed laptop sleeve that not only protects it from bumps and scrapes, but is also waterproof? I do really like the ‘Mandarin’ orange color scheme, and the sleeve is available in 15 & 17-inch sizes, but the only time my laptop is ever in any risk of falling in the drink is when I’m standing too close to a fountain in Vegas.

[ Haglöfs Laptop Drybags ] VIA [ Stilsucht ]

By Chris Scott Barr

My computer setup is rather complicated, as I have a pair of monitors hooked to my desktop PC, plus I use my MacBook with another monitor attached to it. I’ve been using one of Logitech’s Alto laptop stands, which certainly helps things out. It not only gives me a nice stand that keeps the notebook’s screen at the same height as my monitor, but it also has a wireless keyboard that goes with it. Well today Logitech announced the successor to this, the Notebook Kit MK605.

The MK605 Kit comes with a much more simplistic riser than the Alto. No electronic components are integrated into it, but it does have three different angles at which it can hold your laptop. You’ll also find a fairly basic wireless keyboard and mouse set (K340 and M505 respectively) that work with the Unifying technology we’ve seen lately. You’ll just need one tiny receiver for both peripherals. Batteries won’t be too much of an issue, as the keyboard will last 3 years and the mouse 15 months between sets. If you use your laptop for long periods on your desk, this $99 set will be well worth the money.

[ Logitech ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Wireless charging is not a new concept, as we’ve already seen it in at least one mainstream product, the Palm Pre. With the optional accessory, you could set your Pre down on the dock and it would charge. No wires, no connectors, just power. Well it seems that Dell took quite a liking to the technology, as they have decided to implement it into one of their upcoming laptops.

The Dell Latitude Z is set to be the first notebook with a wireless charging solution. If you purchase the special $299 dock, your laptop will be able to charge simply by setting it on the dock. It’s probably safe to assume that other Dell notebooks will be able to take advantage of this dock sometime in the future. Of course it’s also probably safe to assume that they will carry a hefty price tag, just as the Latitude Z does.

If you want the wireless charging ability, the Latitude Z is going to start off at $2,159 (includes the dock). This is also going to get you a 16-inch screen, Core 2 Duo SU9400, 2GB of DDR3 and a 64GB SSD. The laptop is available for purchase now, though the dock will not ship for a a few weeks.

[ Dell ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Chris Scott Barr

For a long time now, Apple has only offered glossy screens on their notebooks, which has frustrated some people to no end. Apple ended up offering an anti-glare option on their 17-inch MacBook Pros, but not for any of their others. Well today Apple has caved into demands and allowed buyers of 15-inch MacBook Pros to pay an extra $50 for this option.

Personally, I love the glossy screen on my 15-inch unibody MBP. I have three other monitors sitting on my desk (because I’m an over-achiever) and my MBP looks better than any of them. Still, people love to have a choice, and it’s good to see that Apple is listening. If you read through the description, you can see that they aren’t exactly trying to sell you on this option. They describe the glossy display as one that “lets you view graphics, photos and videos with richer colors and deeper blacks.” They don’t bother saying anything about the antiglare screen other than the fact that it is optional.

[ Apple ] VIA [ Technabob ]

Worried about plugging your laptop into a sketchy power outlet when traveling but don’t want to carry around a bulky surge protecting power bar wherever you go? These tiny ElectraShields connect between your laptop’s power cord and power brick and feature an indicator light letting you know it’s protecting your hardware from power surges.

When the light’s gone out, you’ll know that a potentially harmful surge has occurred, but instead of sending your laptop in for repairs you’ll simply have to replace the ElectraShields since they don’t feature a reset button. But at just $9.95 each from X-treme Geeks that’s not so painful.

[ ElectraShields Laptop Surge Protectors ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]

By Evan Ackerman

Always Innovating has taken a completely different approach to the burgeoning (and some might say cluttered) netbook market with their Touch Book tablet laptop… thing. Really, it’s a tablet computer that uses an 8.9″ touchscreen, but you can also use it with an attachable (more like, dockable) keyboard and touchpad that essentially turns it into more of a laptop.

There’s more besides the versatile form factor that differentiates the Touch Book from a netbook, though. Firstly, it’s always on, like a cell phone. No booting up, no shutting down, and it’s all solid state, so there’s no noisy fans. Somehow it manages to keep itself on for 10 hours with a single charge, thanks in part to a battery in the keyboard half as well as the screen half, although the entire package still weighs under 3 pounds. As you might expect, it has b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth, plus an accelerometer and 3 external USB ports.

The only potential downside is that the Touch Book was not engineered to run Windows. It’s not just that it doesn’t come with Windows, it’s that Windows won’t work it. At all. Except maybe mobile versions of Windows. It unsurprisingly runs a custom distribution of Linux off of an SD card, which should easily provide enough functionality to do more or less everything you’d want to do with a mobile computer (web browsing, media, and light document editing). If you’re not happy with that, they’re also working on an Android version.

The Always Innovating Touch Book should be available sometime this month for $300, plus an extra $100 for the keyboard… It’s not a powerhouse compared to other netbooks in the price range, but it really speaks to what the core principle of a netbook is (or should be): flexible, mobile, inexpensive, basic computing.

[ Always Innovating ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

By Evan Ackerman

The only thing I don’t like about steampunk is that it tends to promise more than it delivers, like these ray guns, which don’t actually vaporize people. This steampunk laptop, on the other hand, works as advertised. It’s not powered by steam or anything, but it’s working laptop, and it looks badass, which (I think) is most of the point of steampunkizing something.

The keyboards are custom made out of vintage parts, and cost between $1200 and $1500 (or more) depending on what you want it to look like.

One more slightly NSFW object, after the jump.

This thing? Yeah, it’s a fully functional steam powered vibrator. You’d better like it hot, though, cause according to creator vniow, “when I tried to run it off of steam earlier though it got REALLY hot, you have to wear like welding gloves to hold it and even then its almost too hot to handle.” Good times.

[ Datamancer ]

By Evan Ackerman

As loyal readers who care about my safety, sanity, and well being might remember, my laptop was stolen about a month ago. Yeah, that sucked. It’s been replaced (I’m writing this review on it, can’t you tell?) but I needed to get myself a new case for it, so I thought I’d try out a new case/tote from Uniea called the Omniverse. I’ve got a review for you, after the jump.

The Uniea Omniverse tote is a laptop case designed for 13-inch Macbooks and similar sized laptops. The outer portion of the case is available in either black “silk fiber” (whatever that is, it doesn’t feel like silk) or black nylon, and the inside is padded with some kind of wavy memory foam stuff. The foam is thick and squishy, which, as well as adding to the awesomeness factor (because squishy = awesome, don’t you agree?), provides excellent padding for those of you who like to use your laptops to wallop people with. And if you’ve never tried that before, the Omniverse gives you an excellent excuse to get walloping. With so much padding, you might worry about your laptop getting overheated, but the waved foam provides decent dissipation. Even so, the padding still traps some heat in, so don’t zip your children or pets into it unsupervised. The foam also makes the laptop a much better pillow, which means you won’t get mocked by your coworkers for having a drool-stained imprint of the Apple logo on your face. Plus, you won’t have to shell out $60 for one of those overly expensive (but damn comfortable) memory-foam pillows.

There are two small handles that easily pack away into mini snap pockets on either side of the case, so it functions as either a briefcase type thing or a slipcase. Unlike a traditional slipcase, there’s no need to ever take your computer out of it: four elastic tabs in the inside corners keep the laptop securely in place when the case is opened. The case unzips all the way around, giving you easy access to the side ports and CD/DVD drive, and the zippered front pocket is just the right size for a power cord. The little pockets on top, while intended for handle stowage, also serve to store little gadgety things like USB drives.

One quibble I had with the case was the lack of a shoulder strap, or even loops to attach one, which is less than convenient since I’m weak and laptops are heavy and I tend to carry around a lot of other crap at the same time. You also can’t fully close the computer while it’s in the case, although you can close it tightly enough to put it to sleep. This bugs me but it doesn’t really matter. While the handles do have a fold-over snap to convert them into a single handle, there isn’t really any padding underneath, so it gets uncomfortable after awhile (probably just because of my aforementioned weakness). Plus, while the massive amount of padding in the case does offer excellent protection, it also makes it a bit bulky. But hey, that’s the trade off for being able to run this thing over with a tank.

I also took a look at the matching Universal Sleeve, which can be used for an iPod/iPhone, 2.5-inch hard drive, small digital camera, or whatever else you can stuff into it. The sleeve, like the tote, is covered in silk fiber and has an inner layer of memory foam. The sleeve is padded and shock absorbent, so no worries about dropping and breaking your precious, precious iPhone. Gollum. On the other hand, like the tote, this makes for a relatively bulky product. So, even though it has a handy belt-loop, you might not want to wear something so cumbersome on your belt. It also has a circular aluminum ring clip, which gives you plenty more options on where to put it. The small pocket in the front has a zipper, which is nice, but it’s so tiny it can’t hold much more than a pair of earphones or a dismembered finger.

Pros-
Excellent protection
Versatility: handles pack away easily
Useful pockets
Memory foam is really fun to poke

Cons-
No shoulder strap or place to put a shoulder strap
Relatively bulky
Handles aren’t padded
Can’t fully close computer

Overall, the Uniea Omniverse laptop case affords excellent protection for your laptop. It’s got a bunch of useful pockets, but may be a little bit on the bulky side for some. It’s a reasonable $40 on the Uniea website. The little Universal Sleeve is $15.

[ Uniea Omniverse Laptop Case ]
[ Uniea Universal Sleeve ]

By Evan Ackerman

A Spanish company called iUnika has come out with a family of netbooks, most of which are entirely unremarkable except for one, which is powered (at least partially) by the sun. It weighs 1.5 pounds, runs Linux, costs about $220, and has a sizable solar cell on the lid that (I assume) charges an internal battery.

Unless there has been some huge breakthrough in cheap and efficient solar panels, my guess is that you’d have to leave this thing out in the sun for, oh, about a week before you’d be able to do much with it. Okay, maybe not a week, but seriously, solar charging is slooowwww and laptops (even netbooks) use a bunch of power, so the ratio of charging time to operating time is not going to be good. But it’s better than having to rely completely on available electricity, and if you’re in the market for a cheap, efficient, and versatile travel netbook that can offload pics and check email and stuff, this may not be a bad idea at all.

[ iUnika ] VIA [ Gearlog ]

By Evan Ackerman

The faster a laptop is, the hotter it tends to be, making it noisy and sucking down power running fans and (eventually) rendering you sterile. We’ve heard about some promising new cooling technologies like steam cooling, but something called ionic cooling looks like it could really take the cake ice cream. Ionic cooling is a pretty simple concept: a 3,000 volt electrode ionizes molecules like nitrogen in the air. A second electrode attracts the ionized molecules, and as they move toward the electrode, they push neutral air molecules along with them. This flow of air is channeled over a conventional heat pipe, cooling it.

The ionic cooling system uses no moving parts (making it completely silent), is very compact, and has the potential to use only half as much power as a conventional fan. The best part, though, is that it cools up to 30% more effectively than fans do. The biggest hurdle at the moment is making the ionic cooling system as reliable as the rest of your laptop is, but the technology may be commercialized as early as next year. The cost? It’s supposed to be in the “ballpark of where it needs to be.” Who knows what that means, but personally, I’d certainly be willing to pay a premium for a silent (and more efficient) laptop.

[ Tessera Thermal Management ] VIA [ MIT ]