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The Road Warrior Review: Colored Laptop Desk Futuras And New Gaming Platform

In my The Road Warrior review of the Lapworks Laptop Desk Futura back in January, I mentioned that Lapworks Inc. was seeking input on selecting a new line of bright fashion colors for the Futura, which was at the time available only in gunmetal gray with black accents . Futura would be LapWorks’ first portable laptop desk to come optionally in a variety of colors.

Well, the colored Futuras are now available. LapWorks is initially offering eight , bright new color themes in its line of colorful printed Laptop Desk Futura laptop coolers., and plans to expand the program with a greater variety of colors and patterns. The company solicits customers' color suggestions, with a plan to offering one or more new option every month throughout the balance of 2008.

The voting page for color suggestions is here:
http://www.laptopdesk.net/painted/vote_painted_futura.php

At present, colorful Laptop Desk Futuras are available from LapWorks for $49.95 in four solid shades and four patterns:
• Deep Red
• Bustin' Blue
• Passion Pink
• Tempting Teal
• Largely Leopard
• Desert Camou
• Jungle Camou
• Red Marble

Customers also get to choose final touches on their laptop cooler, such as matte or semi-gloss finish, and black or translucent no-slip rubber pads. Order turnaround time is approximately five business days.

Personally, my preference among the original eight color options was for the Desert Camou. with clear pads.

My wife, who is a "blue person" (actually so am I in most contexts) likes the "Bustin' Blue" Futura best.

And my daughter is partial to all things pink.

Happily, with the range of themes offered, everybody should be able to find a Futura that suits them, and of course if you have a more reserved and conservative bent, the original basic Futura remains available at $29.95.

Another new development of the Laptop Desk Futura just announced this week is the new Lapworks Gamers Desk, designed to provide a comfortable, ergonomically-sound, wide flat platform across the lap with ample space for a broad gamer keyboard and optical mouse or a laptop and external mouse. Measuring 26 3⁄4 x 11 inches across including a 6 x 9 inch mousing area on either end, the Gamers Desk is made of the same high-impact ABS plastic as the Laptop Desk Futura that it's based on, but initially comes ionly in gunmetal gray and retails for $39.95 directly from LapWorks. LapWorks expects later this year to make the Gamers Desk available in colors and patterns similar to the Painted Laptop Desk Futuras.

The Gamers Desk essentially consists of two Lapworks Futura MouzPad extension trays that snap in place on the end of a Laptop Desk Futura. LapWorks also provides four locking plugs which can hold the MouzPads in place semi-permanently. LapWorks designed the MouzPad so heavy-handed mouse users won’t inadvertently snap it off, while also being easy to remove simply by lifting up its outer edge. If precision gamers find that they require a stronger hold, they can use the locking plugs.

The assembled Gamers Desk weighs 1 pound 9 ounces and folds in the middle for easy transport and storage. Soft non-skid rubber pads on the middle portion of the Gamer Desk keep keyboards or laptops from slipping, and there are four utility holes for cables, pencils, pens, ans so forth.

The Futura is itself an evolutionary development and enhancement of what LapWorks learned building the preceding Laptop Desk 1.0, 2.0, and UltraLite products, the Laptop Desk Futura is distinguished from its forbears by its sleeker, more elegant styling and of course its availability in bright colors.

A seemingly inescapable fact of life with contemporary Apple notebook computers is that they tend to run very hot by historical standards. Even my middle-aged 17" PowerBook G4 gets plenty hot enough, so much so that I run it a lot of the time with processor power reduced, which mercifully keeps the howling cooling fans mostly silent, but you do take a substantial performance hit. Consequently, much of the time I really don't notice that dramatic a difference in liveliness between the 1.33 GHz BigAl at "Reduced" and my old and cool-running 550 MHz G4 Pismo PowerBooks.

However, even at full power, the old G4 is relatively tepid compared with some if the MacIntel 'Books. The high operating temperatures of these machines is the reason why Apple, no doubt with an eye to potential product liability litigation, has stopped referring to them generically as "laptops", substituting "notebook" instead. I lament the change of terminology. Laptop was a good and accurately descriptive word for the way most portable computer owners still use their machines at least some of the time. On the other hand, "notebook is OK too, I guess, since it's the designation that the "book" MacBook, PowerBook and iBook derives from. I digress.

Nevertheless, most users will want o to use these computers as literal, if not nominal laptop machines from time to time, and they do get uncomfortably hot. And while the discomfort and risk of superficial skin damage are bad enough, there are other, potentially more long-lasting consequences for male users associated with hot laptop computer use. It's been established by research that elevated scrotal temperatures caused by factors like too-tight jockey-style underwear or spending excessive amounts of time in hot tubs can damage sperm and diminish fertility. Now it looks like using a hot laptop on your actual lap can be added to the list of risk factors.

A study by Dr. Yefim Sheynkin of the State University of New York at Stonybrook published in the U.K. journal Human Reproduction found that when men use laptop computers on their laps, a combination of factors elevates temperatures around their genitals and over time can result in decreased sperm production – jeopardizing fertility. The factors are:

1. Heat generated by the laptop
2. Unnatural posture with knees squeezed together in order to balance the laptop on their lap. 

The Sheynkin report in Human Reproduction, entitled "Increase in Scrotal Temperature in Laptop Computer Users," cautions that teenagers and young men especially should limit time spent with a computer positioned on their lap because of the possible long-term damage to their fertility. The study can be downloaded in PDF format here:
http://humrep.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/deh616v1

Sheynkin's researchers found that in 29 volunteers between the ages of 21 and 35 who took part in the study sitting with the thighs together to balance a laptop, scrotal elevated temperatures by 2.1°C (3° F). However when a laptop was in use, average temperatures rose by 2.6°C (4°F) on the left of the scrotum and 2.8°C (5°F) on the right (I deduce that the laptops used in the study had their processor located on the right. The average surface temperature of the computers used in the experiment increased from nearly 31C (87.8F) at the start of the test to nearly 40°C (104°F) after one hour. Whatever, today's hotter-running laptops can only exacerbate the hazard.

According to a study at the Aberdeen Fertility Centre, University of Aberdeen, sperm counts fell by nearly 30 per cent among a test group of 7,500 men between 1989 and 2002, showed average sperm concentrations. The reasons for this alarming decline have not been conclusively established, but suspected culprits include drug and alcohol abuse, smoking, obesity, pesticides, estrogen-mimicking chemicals polluting water supplies and foodstuffs, and radiation.

Dr. Sheynkin commented to Laura Rohde IDG News Service's commenting that: "It's possible that external protective devices could help."

And one such device is the Lapworks Laptop Desk Futura

First, to improve computer cooling over previous designs, LapWorks has incorporated open ventilation slots instead of the closed channels used in earlier models so cooling air can circulate from under the Futura. Secondly, the cooling slots have been elongated by 2 inches compared with earlier Lapworks laptop desks, providing a less restrictive pathway for hot air to escape from under widescreen notebooks. Thirdly, the Futura ha a 1/8-inch air space between the computer and the desk support surface when the unit is used in desktop mode to let cool air circulate under the notebook, facilitated by rubber pads that lift and separate the 'Book from the Futura.

“The Futura’s design takes better advantage of the thermal dynamics of heat rising to cool notebooks,” says LapWorks’ president and chief designer Jose Calero. “The moment hot air radiates from the bottom of a notebook, it travels laterally looking for the quickest way to rise. The new open, elongated slots let cool air in from the bottom to mix with and begin cooling the hot air seeking its way out and up. Additionally, we are confident that the Futura will not absorb sufficient heat to overheat and radiate heat downward, which is good news for the lap.”

The Futura is a dual-mode design that also can serve as a notebook stand for desktop use. When used as a laptop desk, the two halves of the Futura unfold to create a support surface 21 x 11 x 3/8-inches wide that can comfortably accommodate any Apple notebook, including the 17" MacBook Pro and PowerBook.

Aside from the heat issue, there is also the matter that one's lap can be a precarious perch for a complex and relatively fragile device that is worth a couple of thousand dollars.

According to LapWorks' ergonomist consultant Sally A Longyear, CIE, MPH, “LapWorks’ Laptop Desks span the entire lap so you can relax your knees naturally instead of squeezing them together to balance a laptop. This minimizes strain on the shoulders, neck, back and arms. This illustration shows correct laptop-using posture on a desk and on a lap.

For notebook stand duty, the two halves of the unit fold into a shallow wedge shape offering five different angle settings providing the keyboard rake some users prefer for typing, and a modest degree of display elevation up to 3 3/4 inches for use with an external keyboard. The Futura's fold-down support for the elevated leaf when in notebook stand mode is a hinged panel made from the same ABS plastic as the main unit.

For storage or transport, the Laptop Desk Futura folds flat into a compact wafer measuring 11 x 10 3⁄4 inches by one-half inch thick and weighing just a smidge over one pound (16 1⁄4 ounces) for easy tucking into your computer bag or backpack.

The colored Futuras are made using an innovative new ink-jet printing process. "We wanted people to have some fun without having to shell out big bucks," says LapWorks’ president and chief designer Jose Calero, "So we searched for a top quality graphic process that wouldn't price us out of the ballpark."

Mr. Calero continues: "We chose a new, highly-specialized UV ink-jet printer that applies a heavy coat of industrial-grade ink to both sides of the Futura that hardens when exposed to UV light. We believe LapWorks is the first to print a three-dimensional product using this process. The printer can reproduce any color or pattern on the Futura, giving us an opportunity to provide a wide variety of choices."

The UV-cured ink has a similar hardness to automotive paint, and a final coat of matte or semi-gloss acrylic further protects the colored surface.

Finally, to give each Futura a finished look, LapWorks air-brushes the outside edges with automotive-grade paint to match the printing. This is necessary because the ink jets spray downward only, leaving the 1/2 -inch curved outer edges of the Futura with only a smattering of ink.

Because each Futura is custom-made, LapWorks is offering its customers a two-week window to inspect the product and return it, unused and in original packaging, for a full refund if it isn't to their liking.

In the coming months LapWorks will also accept $69.95 custom printing orders if customers provide a high-resolution 300 dpi image in CMYK at 12" wide by 22" long.

Compared with the older Laptop Desk models, the Futura is not quite as wide and provides only a minimal mousing surface, so for users who prefer an external mouse when using a laptop on their lap might better consider the Laptop Desk 2.0 or the slightly longer, yet lighter Laptop Desk UltraLite which was designed to support notebooks weighing less than 5 pounds. Later this year, LapWorks expects to offer a snap-on MouzPad to expand the Futura’s mousing area.

I've had a Laptop Desk UltraLite for several years, and have been using the Laptop Desk Futura for about a year months now, finding it even cooler - both figuratively and literally. The appearance has definitely gone upmarket, and cooling efficiency has to be enhanced with all those open slots. I'm quite happy using the trackpad when in laptop mode, so the less expansive mousing surface is not a problem for me with the Futura and it still has plenty of room for my 17" PowerBook. LapWorks' build quality has always been excellent, and continues to be with the Futura, the price won't bust your wallet, and now for a few dollars more you can have a Futura in your choice of designer colors. If you use your notebook on your lap on a regular or frequent basis, you really should have a laptop desk, and the Futura represents the state of the art.

For more information, visit:
http://laptopdesk.net/
or
http://laptopdesk.net/laptopdesk_futura.html



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cmoore@macopinion.com


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