Woodcessories is a company that produces an exclusive range of stylish computer accessories, and as the name suggest they’re all made from wood. The EcoLift is a MacBook stand, beautifully designed and definitely desirable but is it worth $99 or is it just pure luxury.
When it comes to image processing you’re computer will be firing on all cylinders, and to keep things cool the small internal fans are going to be working double time to help protect the internal electronics.
Those small fans need to ensure that air is constantly flowing through and keeping everything at the optimum working temperature, and this is essential for both the speed of the machine and it’s longevity so anything that can help them out is a good thing.
One of the biggest issues with using a MacBook to edit your photographs and video is that it has to work hard. The harder it works the hotter it gets and what most people don’t realise is that all though the fans are doing their best that heat will inevitably be causing your Macbook some serious damage
Over the years I’ve lost two MacBooks, both the same way due to overheating issues and both times it has been the graphics card burning out whilst editing video. That i7 processor and 16GB of RAM does a phenomenal job, add the processing of all my images and unfortunately there comes a point when the MacBook just gives in..
I’ve now had my latest MacBook for well over 5 years and it’s still going strong, touchwood, the big difference this time not just the technology, as one of those dead MacBooks was of the same generation, but this MacBook has always been kept on a stand.
All the stand does is to let a little air flow travel underneath the MacBook, and this seems to just help to keep things cool. In the past the stand I’ve been using is just a relatively cheap plasticky design, more function over style, but now with the arrival of woodcessories Eco Lift it’s bring style to my computer accessories.
EcoLift review: Features
The Eco Lift is an incredibly well designed yet simple piece of kit. Starting off with the material you have a choice of either Bamboo or Walnut . These woods are used in a laminate construction which means that the wood itself can be moulded into some really stunning shapes.
With the stand in position and a MacBook placed on top the height of the keyboard is absolutely ideal for typing. There is a little bit of Bounce in the stand, but it holds the laptop nice and firmly and supports the keyboard at an angle and height that is superb for typing.
A small lip at the front of the stand just holds the MacBook by its own weight and the attention to detail really shows. That small cut out at the front of the stand has been positioned to just sit where you put your thumb to open the screen. The height of the lip just matches, bar a mm, the height of the open laptop, this means that when you’re typing or using the touchpad that small lip doesn’t get in the way yet is enough to hold the laptop.
In this test I’m using a MacBook Pro 13-inch which is accommodated almost perfectly. I have also tried out the stand with a MacBook Pro 15-inch and it holds that larger model equally as well.
Position and posture are ideal for when running Photoshop or Final Cut Pro X. In use as always the fans do fire-up when the heavy processing starts but under the laptop the companies logo of two axes is carved into the wood enabling air to reach the base of MacBook.
EcoLift Review: Verdict
There’s no doubt that the Ecolift MacBook stand looks the part, and partners the style of Apple products perfectly, it really is a beautifully designed piece of kit.
Is it really something we should be reviewing for photographers? Well yes I think so, it looks stunning, it keeps your Macbook cool, and best of all it looks great
If you’re still using your Macbook flat to the desk and hearing those fan scream under the strain then I would really recommend having a look at the woodcessories Eco Lift.It might be expensive but it’s definitely worth the price.
For more details check out www.bagwise.com and www.woodcessories.com