Review: Pelican Cases Laptop Case

[Luke122]

Pelican Cases – Laptop Case

How many people here have dropped a laptop? *raises hand sheepishly*

I know that this is something that will probably happen to everyone at some point, but I think that I’ve found a way to minimize the possibility of damage. Now this certainly won’t help you if you drop the laptop while it’s out of the case, that’s where we are thankful for rugged design and HDD protection. What I’d like to talk about today (err.. write about?) is proper cases for protection and storage.

This morning as I was getting into my car, I had the unfortunate luck of the strap on my laptop case breaking, and the unit falling 3 feet and landing on concrete. It landed right on the corner too… on my toes.

*imagine several intense minutes of curses and hopping around*

I haven’t got a small laptop either. It’s an older Dell Inspiron 8600. I’d say it’s somewhere around 9 lbs; enough to break toes. I was positive that I’d seen the end of the machine.

I tossed the case into the truck (angry at the broken strap, and the smashed foot), and drove to work. By the time I got here, the pain had subsided enough to venture opening the case. I was positive I’d see a cracked screen at the very least.

Imagine my surprise then, when I turned it on, and NOTHING WAS WRONG AT ALL. I’m writing this article on it, and it’s been running successfully for over 40mins now. So that got me thinking about the case that was protecting it. Despite my anger over the broken strap (which I’ll explain in a second), I was so happy that the laptop survived the fall that I decided to write a review of the case for you all.

I apologize now for the crap pics, I'm using my cell phone atm, as the camera battery is on the charger.

The case is a Pelican 1490 Cases, made by Pelican Products. The case is made of “polypropylene copolymer” which is basically a really tough, dense plastic. It’s watertight, foam padded on the inside, has a seatbelt strap for the laptop, a separate storage tray to the right, and a pair of leather-ish pockets inside the lid.

Inside shot:

Pelican's Official Site, with Specs on this case.


It is resistant (non-reactive) to nearly all chemicals, waterproof, safe to 98.9degrees Celcius, and will float with up to 20lbs weight in it.

Now, I should mention that this isn’t a cheap case, nor is it light.

Tiger Direct Sells it! $159.99 CAD

It retails around $150 CAD depending on where you get it, and weighs 8lbs EMPTY. This thing is heavy duty though, so if you need a tough case to survive extreme conditions, get one of these.

**Note: Apparently Krylon Fusion Paint will work on this case, even though its nonreactive nature makes it notoriously difficult for adhesives and paint to adhere to it. **

[Zephik]

It pays to have a good hard case for your laptop when traveling, such as for incidents like this one. ...now if only they had built-in shock absorbers.

I can't wait for the day where laptops won't be easily breakable. Full metal housings, shatter resistant displays, built-in anti theft lasers, the works. That would be awesome!

...or the day when they start implanting microchips the size of a pea, but with more power than a 7grand pc, into our brains. But then they would have to somehow make browsing your desktop/web/game subconscious without taking away form the experience, but while also being able to do whatever mundane task at hand that you are doing, like working, or exercising, or chores, etc.

*sigh*

Never in my lifetime unfortunately, well, probably never within the next 200 years actually. lol

[Luke122]

The padding in the case is actually great! The little bit of foam below the laptop, combined with the "seat belt" prevented any damage at all to the laptop. Pelican cases come with a big chunk of foam so you can cut out whatever you need to fit snug.

I have a smaller case that I use to transport external HDD's also (3 of them) and I made a custom fit enclosure in the foam. Totally watertight, shock proof, and airtight. Backups are safe.

[xRyokenx]

That is NICE. Looks better than that alumium/foam case with a plexi window I had for my Pocket PC (Note: Accidentally dropped it (damn shoes, tripped) and the thing flew out of the case and the case bent, now it needs to be mailed in for a new power button, ugh), lol. Glad your laptop's okay. I actually threw my old PC across the room in a bit of a rage (bad day, don't ask) and it still worked, although the case was kind of bent, lol. Stuff is more durable than it seems, no?

Note: Working on the rage thing, I've been doing better, it's rare anyway.

[Luke122]

*update*

My toe still kills... not broken, but definitely bruised. My nail is already starting to change color. Ugh..

and... 1002 posts! Yay!

[chaksq]

I like this topic. Pelican cases are great, now if I only had one. Or at least money to buy one with.

I have a smaller case that I use to transport external HDD's also (3 of them) and I made a custom fit enclosure in the foam. Totally watertight, shock proof, and airtight. Backups are safe.

Now that is a good idea. I know a lot of people especially photo and art majors with externals just tossed into boxes full of junk who would probably hurt themselves if their data got destroyed.