I steampunked my MacBookPro
I love my 17-inch, early 2011 MacBook Pro. Great machine. Quick, quiet and just generally beautiful. On a remote edit job in Chicago this summer, I learned how versatile and powerful this thing was as I slammed a ton of video together in FCP.
After that, I decided I wanted to turn it into a semi-permanent edit system in my office, away from the standard edit bays. I began looking around for external monitor and storage solutions that would fit on a small desk “L” style to my present, main desk.
I pulled the trigger on a Apple Thunderbolt Display for my monitor. It gave me everything I was looking for — easy connect, mag safe power, external ports galore. The simplicity of the thunderbolt/mag safe connection was awesome. But where was I going to put my MBP?
The location and size of the desk lead me to look for a vertical mounting solution for the MBP. But I couldn’t find one that I really liked.
So it was off to Lowe’s.
I love to wander Lowe’s looking for a DIY solution to a problem like this. The only downside — the 22 inquiries of “Can I help you, sir?” How to explain to a sales clerk that you are looking for a cheap, good way to mount some Flo-lights above a green screen? Blank stares almost every time.
We’ve used steel black pipe for a variety of solutions, but never anything like this. But I thought the 3/8” black pipe would look cool rigged as a steampunk-ish sort of MacBook Pro vertical stand.
I camped out in the plumbing section for about 20 minutes as I began to assemble a collection of elbows, tees, caps and pipe. The result — my steampunk vertical MacBook Pro stand.
It’s a simple design that can be adapted to almost any laptop. You could make it smaller for a 13” or 15” very easily.
I have my MBP in a Speck transparent case which protects the surface from scratches and dents. I suspect you could put a few felt pads from a couple of aisles over on the contact points to prevent scratches or dings.
This was an easy and fun project that didn’t need overnight shipping or an Amazon Prime membership. Plus it looks cool to boot.
