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Extra real estate is key (I'm a film editor so I've got my 27" iMac along with 2 external monitors), but you're not really gaining all that much real estate if you're not using the monitor that you paid for in the laptop...all you're doing is pushing the information over to another monitor...

Are you really this dense? Can you put your iMac in your backpack and take it with you? People like the portability of a laptop but at home want a bigger screen and monitors are a lot cheaper than whole computers. Plus the not everyone wants to deal with having two computers.
 
I feel like you've mistaken the speaker grill for vents, but I've never had a 15" rMBP.

I don't have a rMBP, but the speaker grills are on the top, with the keyboard nestled between them. The air vents that he speaks of are on the sides on the notebook. Check out this picture...

rMBP 2012-002.png

If I recall correctly, these vents (on either side of the MacBook) draw in Air that cools the machine. The vent by the hinge is for exhaust. Also check out this. It should help clarify this...
 
Man, I really wish I would've had one of these for my 2010 MacBook Air. I used it pretty much 24/7 in clamshell mode on one of those TwelveSouth Arches - for about 3 years it sat there since I never needed in laptop mode. It would overheat quickly when it was doing any heavy lifting... Now it's my Mom's and I have a proper desktop Mac, and she uses it as a laptop.

Oh well, such is life!
 
Absolutely will use one of these.

I currently run a 12cm, quiet fan under my i7 15" MBP retina which sits on a metal stand.

Would love a version of this product that allows me to keep the screen open.
 
Won't this harm your laptop hard drive long term?

No, hard drives can be used in any orientation without harm. The problem comes when you try to move them while in use. If you think about it, the MacBook spinning hard drives are actually upside-down when you're using them, and the iMac spinning drives live their entire lives pretty much vertical in that display enclosure.
 
I talked several times on this forum , and I was convinced that macbooks do not over-heat . They are designed to handle any heat due to processing power and its not damaging to the hardware, so why the add-on fan?
 
I talked several times on this forum , and I was convinced that macbooks do not over-heat . They are designed to handle any heat due to processing power and its not damaging to the hardware, so why the add-on fan?

Macs use good hardware, but you can't cheat physics (most of the time). As a Mac reaches its thermal limits, it modulates fan activity and CPU/GPU voltage accordingly. The cooler you keep any computer, the more voltage you can deliver to its components- provided the components have said voltage available that lies within their thermal boundaries.
 
Seems like a very niche product, but it could be helpful to people who use external monitors and intensive software applications.
 
Are you really this dense? Can you put your iMac in your backpack and take it with you? People like the portability of a laptop but at home want a bigger screen and monitors are a lot cheaper than whole computers. Plus the not everyone wants to deal with having two computers.

I am sure he meant to use the Laptop screen as well as the external monitor.
As to have the laptop screen sitting closed is a waste.
I use to have a similar set up using a macbook pro and a 30" monitor.
I used to have my email open on the macbook and use the 30" for everything else.
 
Today's bit of not so useful knowledge: in Swedish, svalt (pronounced sv-aw-lt) means cool.

IKEA would be envious of this name if they would sell cooling solutions. :)
 
Oh this is really interesting!

I'd recently thought about using Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 on my Macbook Pro whilst using the Retina iMac and being able to farm out some of the audio processing whilst it was networked over Thunderbolt.

This would enable me to dock the rMBP and get a bit more power out of it. Thats pretty awesome. I'd easily be pushing a system more powerful than a Mac Pro then, not 100% as nice to use, but certainly not far off.
 
I am also somewhat concerned with this. So it blows air into the exhaust ducts of the laptop? How in the world does that help?

----------

No, hard drives can be used in any orientation without harm. The problem comes when you try to move them while in use. If you think about it, the MacBook spinning hard drives are actually upside-down when you're using them, and the iMac spinning drives live their entire lives pretty much vertical in that display enclosure.

And this is of course true only if you have a HDD. If you have a SSD you don't have to worry about a thing. Just have to remember to NOT defrag it! :)
 
Would love a version of this product that allows me to keep the screen open.

Agreed. For those that dock their laptops and use an external monitor, this is good i guess. Either I use the laptop open or I dock my laptop and use both its screen and the external. I do not know what the percentage of users would exclusively use their laptops in a closed state, but it seems to me that this limits the audience that this product would apply to.

The idea seems good, however. If they come up with one that allows me to use my laptop open, I think that would be worth consideration.
 
I quite like it. Would pick on up if they are reasonably priced when they land in Europe.
 
Are you really this dense? Can you put your iMac in your backpack and take it with you? People like the portability of a laptop but at home want a bigger screen and monitors are a lot cheaper than whole computers. Plus the not everyone wants to deal with having two computers.

Kind of embarrassing. You might want to reserve that aggressive rudeness for situations where you've understood what you're replying to.
 
Are you really this dense? Can you put your iMac in your backpack and take it with you? People like the portability of a laptop but at home want a bigger screen and monitors are a lot cheaper than whole computers. Plus the not everyone wants to deal with having two computers.

I'm not dense at all. And I'm not talking about trying to travel with an iMac in your backpack... Think about it...what this product is implying is that people frequently keep their laptop shut and use an external monitor...if you're using your laptop like this frequently (hence, NOT using the built-in monitor, keyboard, and mouse), then why have a laptop?? I just don't see the appeal personally... (and I have a MBP and iMac which is probably why I don't see the need for it...)
 
I'm not dense at all. And I'm not talking about trying to travel with an iMac in your backpack... Think about it...what this product is implying is that people frequently keep their laptop shut and use an external monitor...if you're using your laptop like this frequently (hence, NOT using the built-in monitor, keyboard, and mouse), then why have a laptop?? I just don't see the appeal personally... (and I have a MBP and iMac which is probably why I don't see the need for it...)

I have a 27" iMac and use it primarily because of screen real estate. When I do need to use my Air but am at home, I often connect via Thunderbolt and use the iMac as the external display through Target Display Mode. But I use both screens because of course I want additional space to work on. Especially since I can now use more than one app in full screen mode on two displays.

Henge docks are an interesting design but really only their long awaited Horizontal dock is worth considering. And it does help with thermal airflow. Personally the point of a dock should be for a single and quick attaching or detaching of all peripherals.

http://hengedocks.com/pages/horizontal-macbook-pro-retina

Anyone who makes snap judgement comments without understanding the point someone is trying to make is the one who is dense.
 
While, yes, if you do ultra-heavy workloads on your laptop, you will benefit from active cooling while it's running, this quote is just ridiculous:
Transform your laptop with a level of performance and functionality previously limited to the highest-end desktop computers...

Adding cooling is not going to magically increase the capacity of your CPU or GPU. It won't turn your quad-core into a hex-core; it won't turn your Intel Iris Pro graphics into AMD Radeon, etc.
 
It obviously is. Note how the Apple Logo is oriented correctly with this configuration. :D

My question is, will the plastic piece covering the hinge assembly be damaged by supporting up to 6.5 pounds (cMBP 17") for prolonged periods of time?



Clamshell mode. Attach a display, keyboard, and mouse, plug in the notebook (not sure if this is required) and close the lid. Not sure what you do after that, 'cause I've never actually done it :mad:

My 2008 Macbook's plastic section has been cracked to hell from usual use (usually docked to a monitor and closed lid) for years now, without having to support any weight. Whether or not they've improved the design, or whether the excess heat load from closed shell operation caused this is debatable.
 
Looks nice, but it seems to me they're artificially limiting their market by holding the laptop vertically. Any conventional cooling pad with a fan will work with most laptops, open or closed; this one only works with closed laptops.

Is there some cooling reason for the laptop to be oriented like this?
 
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