STM Jet Roller 17″ portable workstation bag – Review
February 2013 – We had the chance to test out the STM Jet Roller 17” computer ready roller bag. Unlike most 17” computer cases, this is designed for the typical overnight traveler that needs to take a full high powered mobile workstation with them. While the computing power and display resolution are great in the single piece workstation – especially for video & audio editing or gaming/CGI generation – the typically over 9lb weight is a challenge to carry the whole day or keep safe in a lightweight bag.
Pros: The bag fits most 17” portable workstations along with accessories, including an additional 10.1” tablet and a personal items section that can hold 1-2 days of clothes. Easy access and good protection for the electronics.
Cons: Only the personal items section had a zipper lock loop, the extra ground guards are only on the back of the bag near the wheels, and does not protect from the front side with a ‘hard” guard.
Overall: As a stable roller bag that can hold a computer, tablet and all accessories for working along with a storage space for travel that allows for a single overhead bin compatible bag. This is one of the best made roller computer bags that is not troubled with the standard plague of falling over the wrong way and damaging the devices inside. This is definitely a bag to consider if you travel with large powerful portable workstation.
STM 17 inch Laptop and Tablet Jet Roller Bag
The Jet Roller 17” addressing this with a three main section design (1) personal items, (2) the computer pocket and (3) a tablet / accessories area. The most unique feature is the personal travel items section – it allows for a traveler to be able to place a single bag in the overhead bin so it has clothes/toiletries and medications for the 1-2 night trip in the same bag as the computer.
This allows for just one bag to taken to both job site and hotel. Currently, the 17” laptop bag market are focused on the lightest weight for a shoulder bag without a lot of computer protection, while always leaving a half full roller bag to drag around. The personal item section has the handle rods for the roller section that is nicely blocked off with a velcro closeable covering to protect the clothes. This section has a dual zipper with a central lock loop at the junction of the two zippers for a TSA approved lock. The personal item section includes the wheels. The roller wheels are large durable “inline skate” style wheels on a strong axil that will support a good amount of weight loaded in the bag. This section is also protected, along with the wheels and frame by a plastic/ABS corner guard on the bottom and lower side edges.
The next section holds the 17” computer. This section is well padded with a thick edge foam guard encircling the whole section. This is supported by a thick separator between the computer and the personal items as well as the front section for the tablet. The top half zipper allows for easy access for inserting and removing the computer. Some older widescreen computers with a 17” screen may have a tight fit, as the top edge of the bag curves, and if the computer is a “pure rectangle design” with sharp corners, it may bump into the zipper and the padding of the front layer. Newer computers with rounded edges and normal 16:9 aspect ratios fit quite well. This pouch works well for just the computer. A few of the models tested also fit the power supplies for theese units, but it is dependent on the size of the power brick involved. This section has a dual zipper without the lock loop at the junction , the two zippers just meet.
The last section is the accessories pocket. It supports a pouch for most 10.1” and smaller tablets, as well as eyeglasses, mice, power supplies, cables, USB sticks, and portable external disk drives. With the computer out of the middle pocket, the accessories pocket is easy to use and holds all the of device accessories needed for a laptop, tablet and smart phone use in a single location. The ase even has room for a small access point/router to go with you. The pocket is designed that with a computer in the middle pocket, the tablet, mouse, phone/table chargers and eyeglasses are easy to access. Once again, this section has a dual zipper without the lock loop at the junction , the two zippers just meet.
There is a final small pocket for pens, notepads, USB drives, etc that is accessible without opening any of the other pockets. As a method of transporting these large 9+lbs portable workstations the bag worked well and was by far the most convenient bag for a 1-2 night trip with the computer. The large personal item section can also be used for holding extension cords, high qulaity recording microphones, amall video cameras (hand held form factors) with mono-pods/small tripods and portable speakers/headphones for a true single bag multi-media production and editing bag.
The back of the bag has a large (big enough for 9×12 envelopes) document pouch. This has a full width zipper and can be used to to safely carry working documents without an additional bag.
