Acer ACC320 charging cart, 32 slots, Schuko plug

The 32 slots are designed for situations where devices are shared among many users: a school lesson, a training room or a shared pool of office laptops. Every device has its own fixed place, so at the end of a session you can see at a glance whether everything has come back. Number the slots and each student or employee always gets the same device, which makes responsibility clear.

The cart connects to the mains with a Schuko plug, the common earthed plug used in Estonia. That means charging 32 devices does not require 32 free wall sockets or a tangle of extension leads under the desks. Before plugging in, it is worth checking that no other heavy loads share the same circuit.

When devices live on desks and in cupboards, chargers go missing and batteries are left flat. A charging cart keeps storage and charging in one place: at the end of the lesson the laptops go back into their slots and the cart stays plugged in. The teacher or IT support does not have to check each device separately, because they all charge at the same time and in the same place.

According to the manufacturer, the cart weighs 54 kg, and a full cart adds the weight of the devices on top of that. Furniture this heavy stands firmly on the floor and does not shift with an accidental bump. As a cart, though, it is meant to be moved: devices arrive in the classroom in one trip rather than by the armful. When planning the route, allow for door thresholds, narrow doorways and lifts.

Schools that share laptops between several classes; training centres and libraries where devices must be charged and accounted for every day; companies with shared laptops for meeting rooms or shift work; and IT departments that want to manage 32 devices from one place without a mess of chargers and cables.