You know when you see something so beautiful that you have to show someone? Well, I just finished watching Scott Yu-Jan’s video on the ‘Macintosh Studio’, Yu-Jan’s latest invention in quite a while, and it has all but brought me to tears.
I want to clarify that this isn’t an official Apple product. It’s not even really what it’s pretending to be, but that doesn’t mean we can’t admire it in the same way that we admired Ayaneo’s Macintosh and NES-referencing Mini-PC (though that is a computer) and this Macintosh-inspired Apple Watch mount. What we’re dealing with here is the most gorgeous and potentially practical iPad Mini dock you’ve ever seen.
In designing the Macintosh Studio, Yu-Jan had two problems: He needed a useful dock for his iPad Mini and needed to beautify the Mac Studio in a way that didn’t just take up space on his desk in an ugly way. Those two pieces of tech are, strangely, the same width – which as Yu-Jan quips, it’s like they’ve always been meant to be brought together.
He goes through a lot of different ideas for what to do with all that dead space in the back, some perhaps more serious than others (he makes a Stanley Cup joke by sketching up cupholders for the back), but eventually he gets to the good stuff and 3D prints the thing.
The 3D-printed dock is only built for the iPad Mini, but it does add the ability for Yu-Jan for the iPad to be used as an external monitor in a nicely shaped housing. He says it’s great for watching YouTube videos, controlling Spotify, or for quick sketches. There’s even a built-in headphone holder and space in the back for old hard drives and SSDs.
He also printed it in red, referencing the old colourful bodies Mac built its computers in, and created these gorgeous renders of the Macintosh Studio in other finishes.
With some small modifications, the case can even be retrofitted for the Mac Mini – though some features, like the iPad ejection button, still need to be tweaked.
Anyway, if you’re interested in 3D-printing this for yourself to build, then all you need to do is subscribe to Yu-Jan’s YouTube channel, and you’ll have access to all the project files.
Image: Scott Yu-Jan