By: Herbert Lui
June 9, 2008
If you've had a laptop, you've been there; half an hour of use leaves you with an uncomfortable burn, a couple of hours could leave you with a scorching mark. I won't deny that this problem has been overlooked -- but now has finally been taken seriously by the general public. Especially as of late, there has been much concern surrounding the region dubbed by Jonathan Kwan as the "male proprietary region" when using your laptop on your lap. After the studies brought to our attention that the heat from laptops do affect said region, we at APH Networks were panicking -- I mean, we are guys, and we are computer geeks. I was already planning on purchasing a laptop, but I realized that I would need a cooler of some sort as well, so I picked up the Thermaltake iXoft, which we had introduced earlier. However, today, we are taking a look at a product that doesn't aim to keep the laptop cool -- but rather, the user (Hey guys, you'll want to look at this). Differing from laptop coolers in that sense, let me introduce you to the LapLogic G800 Aerogel Extreme. Yeah yeah, it still uses chemistry knowledge -- but for a whole different purpose.
Anticipation crept up on me, as I finally picked up the parcel, delivered by United States Postal Service, at my own local post office here in Canada. I personally thought the package carrying the LapLogic G800 Aerogel Extreme and LapLogic W800 Aerogel Extreme resembled a pillow, but it certainly didn't feel like one. I lugged it home, and then carefully slit it open with my handy dandy exacto knife. Scissors are for pansies (Just kidding). I found the bubble wrap on the inside to be great fun -- it was a while before I realized I wasn't four anymore, but by then, I had popped nearly half of the bubble wraps. Ouch.
The two LapDesks (LapLogic refers to the W800 and G800 as this) came housed individually in their own plastic bags. Think Ziploc, but on a grander scale. The LapDesks were in perfect condition thanks to careful handling and the bubble wrapped-packaging. Lovely!
No cords, no pamphlets, no retail packaging. I'm actually pretty relieved -- I've seen enough products come with so many strings attached that I enjoy the simplicity (although there might be pamphlets or promos that come with the actual retail packages).
Let's put it this way -- aesthetically, the product is pretty darn unique. I try not to judge books by its cover, but it looked pretty out of this world. I haven't seen much of the material before -- sure, there was canvas, Velcro and clear plastic on one side, but the other had a weird sticky texture and some weird thing that looked shiny. Enough of that let's move on to its physical specs, as obtained from LapLogic's website:
Heat Protection: up to 99.9% reduction
Size: 11"h x 16"w x 1"t
Weight: 16 oz.
Insulating Material: Aerogel
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look
3. Usage, Testing, Conclusion
