MEGATech Reviews – Be.ez LArobe Protection Tablet Artista WACOM Tablet Sleeve Michael Kwan February 19, 2010 MEGATech Reviews As a kid, I really enjoyed sketching all sorts of different things. I’d take a moment to draw a beautiful landscape or concoct my latest super-villain creation. Over the years, I started to gravitate more toward the written word, but a part of me still yearns for those more creative days. While I could certainly pick up a pad of paper again, I’m much more inclined to take the digital route. As luck would have it, I received my first Wacom Bamboo graphics tablet for Christmas, but I had no means to protect it. Well, that’s where the be.ez LA robe Tablet can come into play. You’ve got to protect that Wacom the same way you’d protect your laptop, right? Bringing Out the Artista in All of Us The LA robe Tablet from be.ez comes in four different sizes: Creativa, Artista, Sketch 2, and Studio 2. I didn’t have my newly acquired Wacom Bamboo tablet with me when the review request came in, so I told them to send the medium-sized one. That was a mistake. I have a Wacom Tablet Bamboo Pen (CTL-460), so I should have requested the smaller Creativa (248 x 176 x 8.5mm). Instead, I ended up with the Artista (337 x 223 x 8.5mm). My Wacom fits, but it’s got a lot of extra room to spare. Aside from the size, all of the LA robe Tablet sleeves are basically the same. Not Quite Like Memory Foam Unlike so many other protective sleeves out there for things like netbooks and notebooks, be.ez takes a decidedly different approach with the company’s Low Resilience Polyurethane (LRPu) Technology. This is a much stiffer material and, thus, it should be able to provide better protection. The concept is similar to that of memory foam. When you press your thumb into a spot, it retains that depression for several seconds. Eventually, it gets back to its original shape. The difference is that memory foam is soft and this LRPu stuff almost feels like moldable Styrofoam. In total, you get a protection thickness of about 5mm. This helps to maintain the slim profile of the Wacom Bamboo tablet, but there’s enough there to absorb some minor impact and protect against scratches. There’s also an inner lip to protect against scratches from the zipper. How About a Dash of Contrast? While the outside of the LA robe Tablet is a rather plain-looking black, the inside gets a bright shot of neon green. This shade of green is carried through the entirety of the inside, as well as with the small logo on the front and back of the outside. This adds a great touch of trendy style, I’d say, without being all in your face with the bold colors. It is notable that, as far as I can see, the LA robe Tablet is only available in this black-and-green color scheme, whereas other sleeves in the be.ez collection can come in other colors. You won’t find any extra pockets, since this is “just” a sleeve, but the interior does come with a couple of small inclusions. The black piece on the bottom is a pen holder and the rubberized “e” piece on the top is for extra pen tips. Personally, I’d keep my pen in the holder attached to my tablet, but that’s a matter of personal preference. MegaTechie Protected or MegaTechie Vulnerable? Whether you’re going small with the Wacom Bamboo Pen or going bigger with the Wacom Intuos, there’s a be.ez LA robe Tablet sleeve for you. I really liked the simple yet stylish black-and-green color scheme, and the special Low Resilience Polyurethane material is certainly unique. There’s a good sense of quality here and I think the LA robe Tablet would work best in tandem with a good laptop bag of some kind. While the included pen and pen tip holders are useful, I would have also liked to see some sort of solution for handling the USB cable on the tablet too. That would have completed the package for me. Otherwise, I’m quite pleased with what this sleeve has to offer. The be.ez LA robe Tablet Artista sells for $24.99. The other sizes range from $19.99US to $29.99US. Share This With The World!