OtterBox kickboard or PowerBook case?

I was skeptical and nervous about completing my promise made in last week’s MiniPodcast #14, to take an OtterBox Rugged Laptop Case into a swimming pool. A phone call to the Kristin at the company confirmed I could do it. She suggested I place an old book or a stack of paper inside the case, to simulate the weight of my PowerBook.

With a few hundred pieces of scrap printing paper inside, and the OtterBox case closed and sealed, I spent 30 minutes doing laps. I alternated between swimming and kicking, and the OtterBox case was my kickboard.

“You’re ridiculous, John!” screamed Barbara, my wife, when she observed me dunking the OtterBox case underwater and banging it against the flag stone edge of our swimming pool. “How else am I going to test that it’s waterproof and smashproof?” I replied.

When I opened the case after my unconventional swim, the papers were dry at first, then a few drops from the case’s O-rings fell inside the compartment. If a PowerBook/MacBook/MacBookPro was inside instead of the paper, a protective sleeve would keep any drops off the computer.

OtterBox cases are not designed to be swimmers’ kickboards. But when a rainy or wet event surprise of any kind occurs, MyMac.com states that these Rugged Laptop Cases are indeed waterproof and smashproof.

Here’s a photo and link, FYI:

http://www.otterbox.com/products/pc_cases/laptop_case/index.htm