Belkin Cushtop, PocketTop, SleeveTop (Impressions)

Disclaimer: I do not own these products. These are impressions from the products (2 of the 3) from inspecting them at my local Staples.

I just wanted to let you guys know that I was at Staples earlier today and was surprised to see Belkin's new line of home / portable laptop solutions on the shelf - the CushTop and the PocketTop (I am actually trying to find the PocketTop).

CushTop - While this seemed to look good on paper as something to use when you are at home and just dont want to have your laptop in direct contact with your lap for whatever reason as well as have something to hold like, say, your wireless mouse or the AC adapter or whatnot, it actually was poorly implemented. While credit does go to the CushTop for being fairly stiff (think of an office chair's seat cushion - not a leather one), the "gap" is not very big. At its biggest, the inner 'gap' is only about an inch high. The pictures on the website illustrate a mouse being in it - I really dont see a way to comfortably put one in other than *forcing* it in.

PocketTop - When I saw this I was like "wow cool!" its like a notebook bag, except bigger-ish? The nice thing about this is that it has a hard shell that protects the laptop and your accessories from being crushed or damaged. It even has a little slit for your AC adapter so that you can have your laptop plugged in without removing it from the case (you unzip the sides and the PocketTop opens up like a display). It even has two plastic "risers" (I can't think of any other way to describe it) that your laptop sits on while in the case that raise the laptop a little bit for better ventilation on the underside. The drawback? Well, it actually is REALLY big in person, almost the size of a 17" messenger bag (and this is for a 15.4"). The *real* downside though to this case is the handle - if you look on the website you see there's a handle on the "bulge" side that would normally face outwards. You would think then that logically there would be another handle 'hole' on the opposing flat side, right? WRONG. It's just an indentation - meaning that there is no way to really have a secure hold on it while carrying it. It still will protect the laptop, seems very sturdy though ... just fix the damn handle.

I think the SleeveTop is the perfect solution now... it functions as a normal sleeve, but can open up like PocketTop. Now to find it @ a store to see it... and buy it... /sigh

Oops, forgot: Link: http://www.belkin.com/laptopathome/pockettop/