Tag Archives: Desktop

Apple M1 iMac teardown reveals poor reparability score for the sleek new design

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Apple’s 24-inch M1 Mac is a sleek little desktop computer making an impressive statement with its bright and bold color palette. At 11mm, it’s about as thick as the first iPhone that launched in 2007, showing how far we’ve come in the past decade. Now, this 11mm thick beauty houses some of the most capable computing technology in the world, and Apple’s M1 chip powers it. Fun fact, as pointed out by MKBHD, the iMac actually shifts the 3.5mm headphone jack to the side instead of the back because it isn’t thick enough to have the jack travel all the way in! iFixit got its eyes fixed on the latest candy by Apple and wanted to learn more about what lies beneath the sleek design. They were itching to tear apart the iMac after a long time – the last instance was the 21.5-inch iMac teardown which got a measly 1/10 score for reparability.

The new all-in-one desktop has many changes from the past iterations – with the hardware tactically stuffed inside a small space. iFixit carried out an X-ray scan of the iPad-like machine on a stand (in collaboration with Creative Electron) to better understand what’s on the inside. The two metal plates, circular coin cell batteries, and the built-in antenna (not shaped like Apple) are the ones that caught the eye. Then it’s down to the ritual of prying open the machine, “M1 iMac still uses the classic iMac adhesive—it’s not quite the goopy iPad nightmare that we feared.” iFixit finds.

Compared to past iMacs, this one has a single glass piece and no metal chin to make the teardown difficult. Unlike the robust iPad, the M1 iMac goes for screws rather than glue for the most part. The shiny new keyboard and the power unit also undergo a thorough autopsy. Both of these are very tough to get past and very difficult to repair. Even though the iMac is better than the iPad to pry open, it is still not an average Joe’s task. iFixit gives the M1 iMac a reparability score of 2/10 due to the tedious process of removing and replacing the display – which by the way, is the only access point to the inside hardware. To top it off, the internal storage cannot be altered, which is a severe headache in case of data loss or upgrades. And here’s Apple for you – can’t live with it, can’t live without it!

Creator: iFixit for Apple iMac

X-Ray of the iMac

 

A Desktop Rocket Shaped Candy-Grabbing Claw Machine

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Candy: it maintains my sugar high at a suitable level, so I don’t have to take a nap at my desk midday. And you know what’s better than regular candy? Candy, you’ve won. Enter the $44 Rocket Candy Grabber available from Firebox, a desktop claw machine you fill with candy, then empty with skill.

The Rocket Candy Grabber is powered by 3 AA batteries and has LEDs that light up, and it plays “intense” carnival music while you test your skill at grabbing candy. Frustrated you aren’t grabbing the candy fast enough? Just crack the thing open like Humpty Dumpty. Just don’t go asking all the king’s horses and all the king’s men for assistance putting it back together if you do.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be big or strong enough to accommodate full-size candy bars, which is a shame because they’re all I eat. I don’t have time to unwrap all those teensy snack-size candies; I need the real deal. King size? Even better. You know, just the other day, I started a petition for candy companies to start manufacturing California king-sized candy bars.

Porsche’s sleek design language is the inspiration behind this futuristic work desk!

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Desks help define our workspaces. Following the pandemic’s toll on working conditions, desks have become the way we express our modes of working at home. Looking to the automobile marque Porsche for inspiration, Encho Enchev has recently debuted his 3D rendering where he conceptualized a desk design fit for the set of Star Trek with interwoven elements from Porsche strewn throughout.

Characterized by sleek fly-lines and smooth curves, Porsche is known for embedding their automobiles with the same sense of luxury that laps their front doors and grille. Enhancing the desk’s luxe design, Enchev integrated a capacitive sensor touch screen into the desk to control the main Dell computer desktop, functioning as both a keyboard and control panel. The Dell computer spans almost a quarter of the desk, jutting from its mainframe to lengthen the desktop’s screen width. Then additional control systems punctuate this desk from the future, including a touch mouse pad and what appears as an upright landline telephone in stainless steel.

His modern desk design curves into an L-shape, taking the traditional shape of desks that accommodate larger computer systems, snugly fitting into office spaces and den corners. Just beneath the working desktop area, the desk’s leg space is carved out for open room to move the legs and comfortably remain seated. Along the shorter end of the desk, automatic, soft-close drawers create storage space for workers while they’re seated at the desk. Rendered in iconic Porsche color schemes, this desk just came from the future for those who want to bring the marque’s iconic status into their home office.

Designer: Encho Enchev

Forming the shape of a curved L, this modern desk takes the shape of a traditional working desk accommodating a large desktop computer.

Taking inspiration from Porsche’s design language, Enchev designed a desk fit for the luxe marque.

Sleek and understated by design, this modern desk takes on warped corners and shadowed angles to bring it to the future.

Enchev outfitted each desk with a touch screen control panel, extended desktop display, touch mouse pad, and futuristic landline.

Soft-close drawers create storage options for workers throughout the day. A footstool extension also creates a place for workers to rest their feet.

Characterized by their iconic color schemes, Porsche’s design language fills out this modern desk design from the build to its paint job.

Black stained wood covers the desk’s surface, echoing Porsche’s black and white color patterns.

 

This Adobe wireless keyboard puts its entire creative software suite right under your fingertips

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If I’m paying thousands of dollars a year for Adobe’s creative suite, it would make sense to have a hardware device that ties them all together too.

Meet the 101Keyboard, a wireless keyboard concept that puts the Touchbar from Apple’s MacBook Pro laptops to much better use. It comes with 65 membrane keys, but its piece-de-resistance is that slick horizontal touchscreen on the top that gives you one-tap access to every single Adobe software you need. The bar houses the entire suite of Adobe’s apps, allowing you to keep your taskbar clean yet still be able to summon any Adobe app within a second.

The Touchbar always seemed like it was looking for a real problem to solve. The 101Keyboard, on the other hand, is perfectly positioned to solve one problem and solve it well. Designed to be a keyboard specifically for digital creatives, the wireless peripheral empowers and expedites your workflow. You can switch between apps in seconds, and even directly access recent or active files within apps by simply touching the 101Keyboard’s dedicated screen. Want to take things to the next level? A new type of button right above the backspace key lets you even toggle brush sizes or zoom while within certain apps. Everything you need is pretty much under your fingertips!

Needless to say, the 101Keyboard has a very specific purpose. Sure, it’s a keyboard you could use for regular day-to-day tasks, but its true power is unleashed when you’re working within Adobe’s ecosystem of apps. That’s why it makes sense for Adobe to really bundle this keyboard right in with its Creative Cloud subscription service. It keeps the creatives happy and locks them right into the ecosystem by making it so convenient to use and alternate between different Adobe software.

The 101Keyboard comes with a slick, minimal design. It relies on a slim metal stand that allows you to angle it towards you for easier typing… and no, the keyboard doesn’t come with a numpad, so gamers (and accountants) might not really find this one appealing. As I said, it has a laser-like focus on the creative professional. In fact, it even comes in colors that graphic designers will appreciate. There’s a classic White, but there’s also Magenta, Cyan, and Black. Just wish there was a Yellow variant too, to complete the CMYK moodboard!

Designer:YIIY Design

Apple’s new M1 iMacs show how powerful desktop workstations can still have sex appeal

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This year’s first Apple event was just bursting with color, part of which can be attributed to Apple’s latest iMac series, revamped to look absolutely fabulous in their 7 different colors, and that drop-dead sleek avatar that leaves little to be desired.

While this article addresses what the new iMac is capable of, it’s also a testament to how beautiful the device’s design is. Harking back to its G3 days, the 2021 iMacs bring colors back into the mix, with seven deliciously appealing hues to choose from (including the white variant). The iMacs are built to be stunningly thin, at just 11mm in thickness, sport Apple’s flagship M1 chip on the inside, and are redesigned to look and feel so sexy, they make me actually consider switching over to the other side… and at a starting price of $1299, it sort of feels worth it.

What instantly stands out is the iMac’s deceptively sleek design. At 11mm, it’s about as thick as the first iPhone that launched in 2007, showing how far we’ve come in the past decade. Now, this 11mm thick beauty houses some of the most capable computing tech in the world, and it’s powered by Apple’s M1 chip. Fun fact, as pointed out by MKBHD, the iMac actually shifts the 3.5mm headphone jack to the side instead of the back, because it isn’t thick enough to have the jack travel all the way in!

It’s debatable whether a white bezel and a large pastel-colored chin is actually pleasing to the eye, but I personally love this new avatar. Just like the creatives that use it, the iMac is a combination of professional and playful, serious and fun. The device comes in 7 colors, using the same anodized aluminum body seen in the iPods from ages ago, although those materials and technologies have definitely come a long way. On the front, the iMac comes outfitted with a 1080p camera which leverages the M1 chip’s ability to run incredibly powerful ISP (Image Signal Processing) algorithms to make sure the lighting’s always great, the exposure’s perfect, and your face looks good on video, all the time, every time.

Within that large chin lies the iMac’s sound system. Now, there isn’t much you could fit into an 11-millimeter chassis, but Apple’s engineering team manages to squeeze in a lot. It uses not one, but two subwoofer units (facing in opposite directions so they cancel out any physical vibrations) on each side of the display, along with a single tweeter on either side, resulting in a 6-driver setup that creates a massive soundscape, tuned to support Dolby Atmos.

My personal favorite feature is the redesigned charging apparatus. The 2021 iMac brings the magnetic charging connector back, which satisfyingly snaps right into its port. The iMacs themselves only sport Thunderbolt ports on the back (and a 3.5mm jack on the side), leaving a vacancy for the traditional ethernet cable. To make up for this, Apple redesigned the charger block to have its own ethernet port that supplies power as well as internet to your iMac. This incredibly genius move means one less port on your iMac, while also helping reduce the chaos of cables on your table… all while retaining functionality!

With the redesigned iMac also comes a slew of redesigned accessories, including the Magic Keyboard, which, apart from also coming in color variants (to match your machine), also have a dedicated emoji button, and the option between a lock button on the top right, or a TouchID key that lets you unlock your iMac, approve of file transfers, app-installs, and even of payments! Along with the keyboard, the Magic Mouse and the Magic Trackpad get color makeovers too.

The new iMacs start at a pretty modest price of $1299, and come with an 8-core CPU, a 7-core GPU, and that mammoth M1 chip. While some may debate that their new colored avatar makes them look slightly like a toy, to them I say, grab the white iMac and quit whining. With these new colored computers, Apple is really showing how design can delight with computing power as well as CMF. As a pretty harsh Apple critic myself, I can’t help but constantly ogle at these colorful Macintoshes… and while the M1’s performance really speaks for itself, this delightfully vibrant design has enough sex appeal to push Windows users over the fence and have them taking a closer look at these Mac machines!

Designer: Apple

Innovative and sleek PC accessories to amp up your work from home productivity!

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Even though most of us love the portability of laptops and tablets, there’s something about PCs that never really goes out of style. They’re trustworthy, highly functional, and always waiting in our homes ready to welcome us! We can get almost anything done on our PCs with ease, but we can always make our desktop experience even more comfortable and effective with the help of a bunch of accessories! We’ve curated a collection of innovative product designs that will function as the perfect sidekicks to your PCs. These nifty and efficient accessories will not only elevate the utility of your PC but also amp up your work productivity. These products are ideal for those who work from home (of course, there are a few fun designs for recreational purposes as well!) and spend the majority of their time on their desktops. Dig in!

The Switcheroo is the size of a regular QWERTY keyboard and comes with a built-in input control and direction pads in opposite corners, resembling a wider interface of the prototypical game controller. Along the keyboard’s topmost edge, users can find the RB button just above the input control pad and the LB button above the direction pad. Aliyev designed Switcheroo for the occasional gamer who also uses their keyboard for designing and artwork, ideal for those WFH lunch hours that could be spent playing video games instead. To make the keyboard completely portable, Aliyev designed Switcheroo to be battery-operated and Bluetooth-compatible.

The ECLLPSE is a tiny, finger-sized SSD that’s encased in a rugged, virtually unbreakable, waterproof housing. With as much as 2 Terabytes of internal storage, the ECLLPSE gives you a way to store and carry practically all your data around with you, right in your pocket. It comes with multiple adapters built right into its design, giving you the ability to connect it to ALL your devices, from your laptop to your phone, and from your DSLR to your drone, letting you seamlessly back up, restore, and transfer files between multiple devices. Although with that much storage, comes a pretty major responsibility… transfer speed. It’s a good thing though that the ECLLPSE boasts of reading/write speeds that reach as high as 550MB/s, allowing you to transfer 8K videos in mere minutes

The Ice Mouse comes with a bamboo upper that promotes breathability, making sure your palms don’t work up a sweat with hours of use. The bamboo component is CNC machined from a layered block of bamboo plies, doing a pretty remarkable job of showcasing the wood-grain while remaining entirely unique in its grain pattern. Some may say it almost reflects the uniqueness of the fingers and palm that rest on it! Sitting underneath it is the aluminum base, giving your fingers a metallic surface to hug and sort of complementing the feeling of typing on an aluminum-constructed MacBook.

The Mouzen, and I find it weird even saying this, is a portable armrest. Why would you need one? Because it’s designed specifically to support your arm as you work on a computer. Think of it as one of those padded mousepads, but less of an afterthought, and more of an actually useful product. What makes the Mouzen pretty innovative is that it mounts on your table, leveling your arms at the correct height, unlike the armrests on your chair that are placed at arbitrary heights… that’s if your chair even HAS armrests. The Mouzen cantilevers right off your table, giving your forearm a place to rest comfortably, instead of hovering in space. The platform retrofits easily onto the edge of any table and takes not more than 10 seconds to fasten. The platform comes with a freely moving armrest that sits on top of it.

This key-shaped intriguing product ‘Saint Antoine’ goes beyond any ordinary USB key. Deemed as common everyday products, due to their nimble size and consistent usage, pen drives are easily misplaced. However, Saint Antoine has been equipped with a crisp ‘UDP chip’. Now, what’s so special about this chip? After thorough calculations and necessary trial runs, the chip was customized to fit perfectly between the keys of a laptop/computer keyboard, ensuring it will be tightly fixed to it at all times. The grooved edges and branch-like structure of the pen drive allow it to sneakily merge into the crevices of the keyboard, without destroying the screen once the laptop is shut.

I’ve long said that this pandemic will push production in-house, and that’s precisely what the Snapmaker 2.0 hopes to do. In its second, more expansive, open, and fine-tuned iteration, the folks at Snapmaker have put together an absolute prototyping powerhouse that fits within a 350x320x330mm framework, and on a budget that’s about as much as your work laptop. The modular device can be built to run as a 3D Printer, a Laser Engraver/Cutter, and even a 3 or even 4 Axis CNC Machine. The Snapmaker 2.0 doesn’t just combine printing, engraving, machining into a single device, it scales it down to a budget-friendly consumer appliance that’s easy to use, and brings powerful fabrication tools right into your home, letting you prototype your own designs right at home, without dealing with external vendors, partnering with FabLabs, or stepping out to prototype your designs at the nearest workshop… all within a budget of roughly $1500.

The PC and Switch have their own merits and control fineness, but trust me, there is nothing more soothing than hitting a combo or landing a punch using classic buttons and joysticks say of the 8BitDo Arcade Stick. Modern and feature-packed, the arcade stick has a classic appeal and it is designed to work seamlessly with both the Switch and PC. If you already use an arcade stick to play Street Fighter V and Mortal Kombat on PC, you still have your reasons to go wireless with the 8BitDo arcade stick. There are three ways to connect to the PC or Switch – you can either connect via Bluetooth, patch through a wired USB-C, or even sync the controller wirelessly –2.4G receiver is concealed safely within the compartment. What really works wonders in favor of this arcade-style controller is the Ultimate Software, which gives users the option to customize mapping, alter joystick sensitivity, and create macros with any button combination.

Taking a detour from the usual elongated form that follows the natural curve of the hand (mostly right-handed aesthetics), the Ball Mouse by Osay Imarhiagbe has a spherical design for comfort while using for long hours. It’s more or less like a round ball (as the name suggests) that should be the aptest for people who like to clench at their mouse and have more of a hawk-like grip on the mouse. The elevated position means that the pressure on hand is relieved especially while working on a desk. Going with the circular theme the bumper is also contoured and the symmetrical design means it is equally good for both left and right-handed people. Osay has designed the mouse to come in a variety of color options keeping in mind the young users, and also the personal preference of users.

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Cube is a modular desktop PC case that safeguards your motherboards while making it easy to customize and upgrade. The model features two variations, “Slim” and “Bold,” that are built to house the Intel NUC board computer and full-size ATX motherboards respectively. Using standard components, it’s also easy to upgrade. The minimalist, monolithic shell features a frosted exterior that allows the inner workings to peek through. As an added bonus, a wireless charging lid allows users to simultaneously charge their phone simply by placing it on the top surface.

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This little cube is the smallest 720p laser projector in the world! It sits right in your hand, giving you the feeling of wielding something rather powerful. It pairs seamlessly with iOS/Android phones, even tablets, and also your PC! Carry it around anywhere and impress your home-boys with their new way of watching football, or the Superbowl, or even lip-sync challenge (we don’t really judge). The Smart Beam (as it’s called) is as small as your phone and can project 720p video to a size of 150 inches. Now while that doesn’t seem too big, remember that you can always hold the projector further from the screen and get a larger projection, albeit at a slightly lower resolution, but that’s a trade-off most people would be willing to make!

This WFH setup is our dream workstation, including everything from virtual reality to detachable screens!

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Now that we’ve had a taste of what working from home feels like, we’re all noticing the ways our work setups can be improved. It might be that your desk is too short or that your wires desperately need some organizing. No matter what you do, your workspace should feel comfortable and accessible so that you can move through the workday as smoothly as possible. After one year of intermittently working from home, Lucas Couto dreamed up his ideal WFH setup and it’s safe to say, we all want in.

What appears as a simple computer desk setup turns out to be so much more. For starters, Couto’s workstation setup, “Future of Work,” features a retractable display screen that detaches into a foldable tablet/laptop. The simple OS desktop functions as the workstation base, where files can be created and stored. Then, when Couto needs a tablet or laptop for easy portability, the same files will be made available on the go.

In addition to the desktop’s detachable screen, Couto’s design features another tablet that can attach itself to the desktop for an extended display, offering quick file sharing and supplemental portability. Finally, Couto’s “Future of Work” setup comes equipped with VR compatibility, providing a headset that turns into a dashboard where all of the work station’s appliances are connected. The integration of VR allows for seamless file transferring between devices, like sharing CAD models between devices and other file formats.

Nowadays, it’s important for the technology we use to cater to our needs, from getting stuff done for work to using it at our leisure. When technology doesn’t flow the way we need it to, it can feel like our whole workday has been derailed. Couto’s “Future of Work” conceptual design realizes the ultimate cohesive work setup through multiple device connectivity for a smooth workflow, convenient portability for busier days, and integrative VR assistance for intuitive file transferring.

Designer: Lucas Couto

Following multiple ideations, Couto conceptualized the WFH setup of his dreams.

Following a year’s worth of intermittently working from home, Couto designed a WFH station that includes multiple device sharing platforms and seamless file transferring.

Hinging on portability and accessibility, Couto’s WFH system includes a tablet that transforms into a laptop.

Featuring retractable screens that turn into standalone tablets, Couto’s WFH setup is designed for convenience.

After working on the tablet, it can then be transferred to the desktop’s screen just by dragging your fingers.

By incorporating a supplemental tablet, the desktop’s display screen can nearly double in size.

By including a VR headset, Couto makes it easy to search through his dashboard and organize his work across multiple device platforms.

Apple’s M1 Mac Mini falls to an all-time low of $600 on Amazon

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In the three months since its release, Apple's Mac Mini has seen a few discounts, but none more deep than the latest on Amazon. The tiny desktop is currently on sale for an all-time low price of $600 for the 256GB base model. To put that into per...