Survey Finds Our Close Relationship with Our Laptops Isn’t Without Issues

Solutions Exist to Fix Most Common Woes

FREMONT, Calif. - The benefits of being ‘plugged in’ at all times is starting to burn out some laptop users, literally. According to a study by Wakefield Research for Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI), laptop users make significant sacrifices in exchange for mobility. The complaints are widespread and range in nature from scorching heat to sub-par sound.

“People love their laptops and they’re often willing to forgo comfort in the pursuit of mobility,” said Rory Dooley, Logitech senior vice president and general manager of the control devices business unit. “The irony is that they don’t need to. There are accessories that can vastly improve their overall laptop experience, no matter where people want to use their laptop – at their desk, on the couch, or even on the go.

All Fired Up
Laptop users reported that they consistently face issues with the heat generated from their computer. In fact, nearly half (47 percent) of laptop users surveyed have had to temporarily quit using their laptop because the heat became unbearable. Surprisingly, a majority (62 percent) agree that the bottom of their laptop gets so hot that they could fry an egg on it. Desperate solutions that people have tried including a pillow (27 percent), towel (19 percent) and magazine (15 percent)–don’t adequately address the problem.

“Our lineup of lapdesks can help alleviate the issues people experience with laptop heat,” said Denis Pavillard, vice president of product marketing for laptop accessories. “Options such as our Logitech® Portable Lapdesk N315 are slim enough to take along in a laptop bag, and others such as our Logitech® Speaker Lapdesk N700 or the Logitech® Speaker Lapdesk N550, can shield users from heat and deliver rich, full stereo sound too.”

Did You Hear That?
Most people surveyed use their laptop primarily for entertainment, with just 4 percent using their laptop exclusively at work. The trend of buying music and videos online has rapidly emerged as a common practice and people often use their PCs to listen to their newly acquired digital files for the first time. However, listening to digital files on the built-in speaker on a laptop leaves room for improvement.

The sound quality is oftentimes so poor that nearly 1 in 3 laptop users surveyed report having stopped a movie on their laptop because the speaker quality was sub-par. And in the survey conducted by Wakefield, more than half of all laptop users reported that music sounds better on a record player (52 percent) than on their laptop’s speakers. These numbers show that people are well aware that their laptop speakers are stuck in the past despite the fact that the technology packed inside has become exponentially more powerful.

“The speakers built into most laptops are tiny and can’t always reproduce powerful audio,” said Robert Jacobson, director of product marketing for PC speakers at Logitech. “Whether you’re an MP3 junkie or a movie lover, Logitech offers laptop speakers that make it easy to connect, turn the sound up and lose yourself in the things you love. There’s no reason that you can’t have quality audio while you’re watching the newest Hollywood release on your laptop – there are solutions abound to upgrade inadequate audio performance anywhere you take your laptop.”

To learn more about Logitech laptop accessories including speakers, lapdesks and cooling pads, visit Logitech.com.

Methodological Notes
The Logitech Laptop Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research between August 26th and August 30th, 2010. For this research, 594 interviews were fielded among nationally representative Americans aged 18 and older who own or regularly use a laptop computer, using an email invitation and an online survey. Quotas were set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the total U.S. population ages 18 and older.

Results of any survey sample are subject to sampling variation. For this sample, the chances are 95 in 100 that the survey result does not vary by more than 4.0 percentage points (plus or minus) from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.

About Logitech
Logitech is a world leader in products that connect people to the digital experiences they care about. Spanning multiple computing, communication and entertainment platforms, Logitech’s combined hardware and software enable or enhance digital navigation, music and video entertainment, gaming, social networking, audio and video communication over the Internet, video security and home-entertainment control. Founded in 1981, Logitech International is a Swiss public company listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (LOGN) and on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (LOGI).
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Logitech, the Logitech logo, and other Logitech marks are registered in Switzerland and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information about Logitech and its products, visit the company’s website at www.logitech.com.