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Review: Tuff
Cases Portable Workstation
by Mitchell
Levine
Long-time readers
of Education Update’s Technology and Education section already
know that mobile computing has been a major concern for New York
City schools for some time. Over the last couple of years, thousands
of students and teachers have received portable units as part
of an initiative carried through by the Department of Education
and the Laptop Foundation of America.
Unfortunately,
one built-in problem persists: The districts in the public education
system that most critically need access to the technology also
have the least space to deploy it. And that still leaves unanswered
the question as to how the systems can be safely packaged for
daily transport by students to and from school.
The portable workstations
manufactured by Tuff Cases, inc. can provide a dependable, practical
solution to all of the above. Our evaluation model, the company’s
TFC 101, looks like a sturdy, stylish piece of luggage with a
17” by 19” frame and a well-d extendable porter’s handle and wheels.
Unfolded, it seems to almost magically metamorphosis a compact,
precisely engineered station, which when completed with a, provides
pretty much anything necessary to work with a laptop: a 33” high
work area with a cloth file holder, a two position outlet strip,
external mouse platform, and a cloth pouch to house the mouse.
No special tools were required, nor any convoluted gerry-rigging
to create an efficient computing environment usable almost anywhere.
Although our evaluation model was not equipped with one, the manufacturer
even makes an option for a printer tray available. For anyone
whom would like to be able to both carry and empower their laptop
computer in just about any setting imaginable, Education Update
recommends the Tuff Cases line of products. For more information,
call 513-779-5420 or log on the companies’ site at www.tuffcases.com#
Education
Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001.
Tel: (212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919.Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express
consent of the publisher. © 2003.
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