OtterBox 7030: The Most Durable Notebook Case
Leading up to the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) last month in Las Vegas, we received many invitations to check out various booths, receptions, other displays, and even a Gulfstream G5 flight out to the San Fernando Valley. One of the booth invitations we received was from a company known as OtterBox. Their booth had consisted of various protective cases for PDAs, iPods, phones, and GPS devices. We had initially written off Otterbox as a company of little interest to our Linux readers seeing as they just manufactured cases for consumer electronic devices. However, that was before we had noticed the OtterBox 7030. The OtterBox 7030 is a notebook case that is not only waterproof but also crushproof, can even be dropped up to a meter with your notebook inside, and of course is engineered to prevent any damage to the laptop itself. Keeping in mind we are the ones that boil USB flash drives and use motherboards to open beer bottles, we have our hands today on the OtterBox 7030. Is this polypropylene chassis able to protect a notebook inside when it's being used as a winter sled?
The listed features for this OtterBox Laptop Case are that its waterproof, crushproof, has an ergonomic carrying handle, integrated locking system, quick release straps, rubber feet, customizable internal fit, and is made of high-impact polypropylene. This product is designed for all notebooks with a 15" screen, which does include notebooks with a 15" widescreen. The maximum dimensions supported for the notebooks are 361 x 284 x 48.3 mm with the case's external dimensions being 416.9 x 368.3 x 85.7 mm. The OtterBox products are also backed by a lifetime warranty with no questions asked to replace the case if you have an issue.
This 3.1 kilogram case is drop rated for three feet (MIL-STD 810F rating) and its water protection is officially rated for 30 minutes immersion at a 1 meter depth (IP 67 rating). The polypropylene material that this case is made out of is also supposed to withstand temperatures up to 160°C.
The OtterBox 7030 had arrived inside of a cardboard sleeve, with the sleeve displaying various pictures of possible use-cases and then on the backside listing off all of the features for this rugged notebook carrying case. Inside of the case itself were four standard bumpers, four large bumpers, two L-shaped bumpers, one shoulder strap, two keys, and an instruction sheet. The instruction sheet had gone over the contents, basic bumper usage, and how to install your notebook with the properly sized bumpers.