Netbooks are all the rage, but protecting a netbook as you carry it isn’t always easy thanks to their small size. Regular laptop cases are too large for most netbooks, and most sleeves that come with netbooks (if they are even included!) are cheap and provide very little by way of protection. The end result… it’s difficult to just throw your netbook in a bag.
All this makes a sleeve or case that offers real protection an essential purchase when buying a netbook. Uniea sent me their latest Universal Case for 10.2 inch netbooks; let’s take a look.
The case is gorgeous. It’s made from a silk fiber and is very smooth. It is also water repellent. Inside the case is memory foam padding that provides good protection from the top and bottom. It looks like it’s egg crate foam, however it’s not. Here’s a closeup of the foam.
Unfortunately, the only thing protecting the sides is the zipper, so be careful!
The case is designed such that you can operate the netbook while it’s sitting inside of the case. The memory foam has a heat sink property that will help keep your netbook cool.
The neoprene fabric in the corners is designed for holding the netbook in the case. With my Eee PC, I tried this once and it actually made the case harder to zip around my Eee PC. I just use it without hooking on these corners. It fits better and zips more easily around the Eee PC.
The Uniea Omniverse doesn’t add too much to the thickness of the Eee PC 1000HE I use and it adds a pocket on the cover. It is a good pocket for putting micro fiber cloths for keeping your Eee PC clean. Unfortunately you can’t put the power cord in this pocket as the 1000HE is a tight fit in the case.
Of course my mobile kit isn’t complete without some additional storage. Uniea was nice enough to also put in a Omniverse case for my portable hard drive as well.
This case is made from the same silk fiber and memory foam that the netbook case is made. It also has a pocket on front for stashing the cable for your hard disk.
When packed up, the case looks like this.
A you can see, this case is a little tight with my Hitachi drive. That’s because my drive is a little old school in that it requires 2 USB ports to power the drive and that makes the cable a bit bulky. The Western Digital My Passport drives should have no problems with this case and over time the case will stretch a bit making it fit even better than it does now.
The Uniea case is also a bit nicer than the CaseLogic case I have been using. The Uniea case is slimmer than my CaseLogic and has more padding which means my drive feels safer. I also like that the drive case matches my netbook case.
The other cool thing about the hard drive case is the back has a caribiner style ring and a belt loop so you could put the drive on your belt or hang it on a keyring loop in your bag.
The Uniea Omniverse line seems like it’s a bit pricey when you compare it to the cheap sleeves you may see at Walmart, but then those cases do not have the protection of the Omniverse line of cases. The Netbook case is $24.95 direct from Uniea in either silk fiber or nylon. The drive case also in silk or nylon is only $14.95 also direct from Uniea. For now, the store only has these two cases in black. The Uniea site also lists red as a color option, but it does not appear to be in stock at this time.
What I liked: Provides good protection for your devices. The silk is classy and men should not be afraid to use this to protect their netbook. Ladies will love the silk version as well.
What needs improvement: Instead of a slash type pocket I would like to see a couple of cup-like pockets in it’s place… just enough for the powercord and maybe a mouse.