Maplin Power Inverter
Untimely battery death is probably the number one frustrating moment when it comes to laptop portability – apart from dropping it, that is.
When it comes to lengthy car journeys, the ciggie-port can come in very handy with the right adapter. Most aeroplanes offer similar connections these days, so with the right kit, you need never be without power, even on the long-haul.
Yet with abundance of choice out there for such gadgetry, you need to hunt around. Maplin offers various options such as this 240V adaptor, suitable for phones, camera, stereos, laptops, small TVs, VCRs.. meh, the list goes on. This particular model also comes with automatic alarm and shutdown protection against overload, over-temperature and low-battery alert LEDs. It looks like a big beast but it is compact and certainly made for the mobile worker.
Digittrade Old School Protection Sleeve
While dedicated bags and backpacks offer decent hardware protection, they can give the game away to potential thieves and often end up being an additional carry-case to lug around. A laptop sleeve is the obvious solution for this, protecting your precious machinery enough to be thrown in a regular rucksack.
They cost next-to-nothing as well and when it comes to making a decision, the market is inundated with choice from basic bold colours, to stylish designs and pop culture references. I just picked up one of these old-school cassette cases for my Macbook, as I'm a sucker for anything vaguely retro.
Next page: Philips Notebook Soundbar SPA5210
COMMENTS
If all you sinister folk weren't so contrary and just learned to use things with the correct hand the problem would go away.
Mains inverters are silly for laptops
Converting to mains and back is inefficient - might not be a problem for charging while driving but can be if using when the engine's off. Far better and more portable to get a dedicated laptop car adaptor (not much more than £5 on eBay). I know you can't plug other things into it but this article is about laptop accessories.
Worse - there are much smaller printers, much smaller projectors (some stupidly tiny), much smaller USB hubs, much more efficient and smaller car chargers for laptops (even generic, multi-voltage ones), and things like the mouse are an abomination.
I was hoping to see a small USB scanner for a half-decent price. I can safely say I would never buy any of the products listed there (£700 USB keys? Buy a fecking external 1Tb hard drive, or even 10, ffs). Even the soundbar is just a nice way to put extra leverage on your screen hinges, and hardly any of it is "portable".
If you want something to be a "laptop accessory" I have to be able to reasonable carry it in an ordinary laptop bag with all my other accessories. I don't think any of those items except the stupidly-expensive USB key would fit that bill.
No TV-tuners? (just bought a DVB-T and analog dual-tuner - so can watch / record two digital channels simultaneously - model for less than £20) No scanners? No external hard drives? No fancy gadgets like, I don't know, some sort of joypad/joystick that folds away? No mention of things like the wireless presenter controls that can slip into an Expresscard slot for storage, etc.? Disappointing, and very misnamed, round-up of useless and expensive products.
