Desktop cable de-cluttering solutions roundup
If you are like me, you have tons of external Hard Drives and other devices such as card readers that create desktop cable clutter. In my case, I cannot stand the situation of loose cables lying around and i always spend up to half an hour per day re-sorting the order on my office desktop.
What are current options and solutions for de-cluttering the desktop from wires?
1. Henge Docks (for Apple MacBook Pro and Macbook owners)
Pro: saves lots of space
Con: you lose an external extra-screen. I am using the extra notebook screen for debug-logs or reading email, so that's a no-go for me with the Henge Dock.
While the Henge Dock saves you lots of space on the office desktop, you also lose "virtual" space since you cannot use the internal notebook screen as extended desktop. The Henge Dock is cheap though, so I can recommend it for people that don't care about the second virtual desktop.
It looks like if you have a SPECK case mounted on your MacBook Pro, you can not use the Henge Dock. Keep that in mind.
Pro: really de-clutters the desktop. Second "virtual" desktop still usable.
Con: does not make much sense if you already own a Griffin iCurve Elevator, mStand, Notebook Riser or other Notebook Stand.
3. Blue Lounge Design CableDrop Cable Management System
I really like the idea of the small cable clips that are mounted on the table to sort different important cables and to make them instantly accessible. I just ordered eight of those clips (in different colors) to de-clutter my "cable salad".
Pro: keeps your cables in order and also helps protecting them (the problem of loose MacBook Power supply cables can be prevented)
Con: not so much de-cluttering as can be possible, since the cables are still visible (to some extent)
Not really for desktop cable de-cluttering, this can hide your power strip (powerboard) and additionally protect it from accidental soda-spilling.
5. IKEA Signum Cable Management System
This solution from IKEA works for other non-Ikea tables as well. It not only helps you completely hide all the power strips, you can also hide other chargers back there. Works best together with the Blue Lounge Design CableDrop Cable Management System
6. DIY Home Robot Dog Cable Concentrator Box
The DIY Home Robot Dog Cable Concentrator Box is a funny piece of geek-humor in the shape of a wooden dog. It not only de-clutters, but also makes your desktop an eye-catcher.
7. DIY your own charging boxes!
The IKEA charging box is a very simple tutorial from instructables, so you can build a charging box for all your devices that need power (smartphones, iPod, iPad, iPhone, whatever)
unpluggd has more on that topic: Affordable Cord and Cable Guidance Solutions, which also covers DIY Cable Management Systems. Well worth a read!
If you created your own solutions or maybe have other hints on good de-cluttering pieces, let us know in the comments.
Apple MacBook Pro Quad Core (early 2011) i7: fast powerhorse with design flaws and hardware issues
While the new Apple MacBook Pro Machines are really fast desktop-like speed packed monsters, it seems like they also have severe hardware design faults as outlined by zdnet and ifixit. With a geekbench score over 10.000 the new MacBook Pro (early 2011)
- too much thermal paste seems to raise the CPU temperature
- fans running at 6000rpm+ constantly
- frequent kernel panics or freezes that are maybe related to the new GPU
- heating issues with the whole MBP early 2011 series
Come on Apple, wake up and fix those machine fast, as lots of us could benefit from a stable quad-core laptop solution (talking audio plugs and realtime audio performance).
We can recommend to tell apple to send the replacements before they pick up the faulty machines, so it is easier to transfer the data already on it. (apple care even suggested it this way)
[UPDATE] Gregg Keizer from Computerworld also writes about quality concerns regarding the new Apple Notebooks and there is also a discussion about actual "Overheating" going on in the Apple Forums. Well, I can confirm the issue exists and the current MacBook Pro Models freeze a lot. If it is a hardware, software or firmware issue remains unclear.
[UPDATE] There is a macrumors forum thread discussing that there were issues with the 2010 MBPs as well when they came out. Another thread at macrumors forum tries to sort out if it is a hardware or software issue.
Some people suspect it is related to internal graphics switching, but there really seems to be something going on since also reports on the apple discussion forums are increasing.
[UPDATE] as of 2011/03/14 macrumors suggest in their forum to "go 2010 or wait for ivy bridge". The early 2011 version of the MacBook Pro das 45W TDP vs. last generation's 35w. That's a big increase which automatically makes the whole series go louder and more hot than the 2010 model.
[UPDATE] 2011/03/21: Macrumors posted a story: "2011 MacBook Pros Crashing Under Load?"
[UPDATE] 2011/03/21: Mac OSX 10.6.7 Update was just announced by Apple. Unfortunately, on the two machines we have here, the update does not fix anything related to CPU temperature. Still there are frequent freezes as well.
[UPDATE] 2011/03/22: dailytech confirms that New MacBook Pros Freezing When Stressed, Update Adds More Problems
[UPDATE] 2011/03/28: we received our two replacement MacBook Pros. They don't seem to have any issues and also still did not freeze on us! Also the fans are not spinning like crazy anymore! For all people affected by any of the issues reported above: get your Notebooks replaced! Apple is aware of the issues and replaces faulty hardware (we had to wait for two weeks though).
[UPDATE] 2011/04/23: the current Systems freeze 2-3 times a day. Not all the issues seem to be solved! You should definitely get a late 2010 model, if you need a highly stable system!
[UPDATE] 2011/11/01: Apple replaced one of our 15-inch MBP MC721LL/A machine and the freezes are not appearing anymore. Reports from other users that bought an early 2011 model are positive, so currently the advice would be to get a refurbished Apple MacBook Pro MC721LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop even before getting a MD318LL/A 15.4-Inch (late 2011) version, not only because of saving some bucks, but also since the Apple MacBook Pro early 2011 performs better in most of the situations compared to the late 2011 version.
Besides the heating issues, there are also reported "intermittent flickering, brief blackouts and other periodic but noticeable flaws" reported in the Apple Discussion Forums. We are getting replacement Machines - let's see if there is any improvement after the first round of shipping!
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