Everything on my desk right now is some shade of gray aluminum, and I’m starting to resent it a little. Every dock, every stand, every accessory wants to be a slab of cold metal that photographs well and feels like nothing in your hand. Wokyis clearly misses the old days too, back when computers were made of warm, slightly yellowed plastic that looked friendly instead of expensive. Their newest release, the i5, leans hard into that feeling, right down to the off white shell that actually looks like it wants to sit on your desk rather than intimidate it. It splits into two pieces, a tilted head up top holding a small screen, and a control deck below packed with real, clicky buttons.
That plastic shell isn’t just a style choice, it’s basically the whole argument. Anodized aluminum is sleek, sure, but it’s also cold to the touch and forgettable within a week. This off white finish has warmth to it, the kind that made old Macs feel approachable instead of like expensive jewelry. Underneath the throwback shell, the i5 works as a genuine secondary display for your Mac or laptop, mirroring or extending your desktop, with four shortcut keys for copy, paste, screenshot, and screen lock, plus a central knob that clicks for play and pause and rotates for volume. Wokyis brought the 80Gbps Thunderbolt 5 version to IFA 2026 in Berlin, sitting above the 10Gbps model already selling on their site for $169.99.
Designer: Wokyis
The design lineage here is not subtle, and I mean that as a compliment. That tilted head sitting atop a boxy base is a direct nod to the original Macintosh and its compact successors, the machines that first convinced people a computer could look like a friendly little appliance rather than a beige filing cabinet. Wokyis isn’t the first accessory maker to borrow that silhouette, but the i5 commits harder than most, right down to a boot screen greeting that echoes the smiling Mac startup chime era without actually copying Apple’s own iconography. It’s homage rather than imitation, and it lands because the proportions genuinely feel considered instead of slapped together for nostalgia points.
The screen itself deserves a second look before you touch it, mostly because you can’t. It’s a 5 inch, 1280×720 IPS panel, sharp enough to sit next to a real monitor without embarrassing itself, but it skips touch input entirely. There’s no finger smudging that pretty glass, no accidental taps while you reach for your coffee. You either mirror your main display onto it or extend your desktop across it, treating it like a dedicated spot for a music player, a chat window, or scrolling lyrics while the rest of your screen stays clear. It’s a small, deliberate decision in a market obsessed with adding touch to everything, and it works because the i5 never pretends to be anything other than a second monitor.
The control deck below is where the personality really lives. Four mechanical keys handle copy, paste, screenshot, and screen lock, each one a satisfying, precision click that beats fumbling for a keyboard shortcut. The centerpiece is a chunky red knob that clicks down for play and pause, then rotates like a volume dial, doing the job of two separate controls without adding a second component. It’s tactile in a way that most modern hubs never bother with, and it turns a boring task like adjusting volume into something you almost look forward to doing.
Connectivity is where the i5 earns its keep as an actual workstation rather than a desk toy. The 10Gbps model packs an M.2 NVMe slot good for up to 8TB, four USB-A ports, a USB-C port, simultaneous SD and microSD readers, a 3.5mm audio jack, and HDMI-in, all wrapped around a body that measures 145 by 131 by 154mm. The new 80Gbps Thunderbolt 5 variant shown at IFA presumably pushes that bandwidth ceiling considerably higher, though Wokyis hasn’t published pricing or a ship date for it yet.
I like that Wokyis is betting on plastic when everyone else is betting on metal, and I like it more that the bet actually pays off in how the thing feels to use. The i5 won’t replace your monitor and it isn’t trying to. It just wants to sit there, warm and a little goofy, doing real work while looking like it walked out of 1984. That’s a good trade.
The post This Macintosh-Inspired Hub Adds SSD Storage, Ports, Shortcuts, and a Mini Screen: Hands-on at IFA 2026 first appeared on Yanko Design.
