Unboxing Teenage Engineering’s magnificent Laptop-1 Laptop scenario

The present-day point out of Computer desktop structure is horrendous. Virtually everyone’s Computer — gaming or not — seems like gaudy rainbow vomit.

Blame YouTubers or Twitch streamers or the infinite desk set up pictures on Instagram that serve as inspiration for everyone’s aesthetic. As an alternative of using other peoples’ Pc designs as a jumping-off stage, absolutely everyone just copies — they obtain the exact minimalist NZXT towers and configure the RGBs accordingly. Search, me uWu!

The pc-1, made by Teenage Engineering, shuns this RGB conformity. The mini-ITX Laptop case (you gotta supply all the Pc sections by yourself) is distinctly Teenage Engineering — Swedish, Bauhaus, and utilitarian.

Every single corner, curve, perforation, and feels Dieter Rams-ian in its restraint.

Its compact aluminum chassis will come in flat-pack sort, demanding you to bend the metal sheets into form the Pc-1 reminds me of Ikea’s Helmer drawer device, such as the handles for transport. It seems to be and feels mechanical, engineered, and showy (but not too significantly). The dazzling powder RAL 2004 orange (aka “pure orange”) paint career is visually tantalizing, and a a lot-essential breath of contemporary air from the dystopian white, black, and silver Pc conditions under everyone’s desks. Every corner, curve, perforation, and feels Dieter Rams-ian in its restraint.

The personal computer-1 is also costly ($195) — and bought out. We had been blessed adequate to seize 1 just before it sold out in the initial 20 minutes. Plainly, there’s pent-up demand from customers for a Computer situation that is in fact beautiful.

By the time you read through this, we’ll be knee-deep bending and reworking this mini-ITX circumstance into the most powerful gaming Pc its dimensions — and our wallets and the supply chain of out there elements — will permit us to piece jointly. (We’ll have a individual guidebook on the Computer system construct approach quickly with all the Laptop elements we went with.) So this is not a assessment of the pc-1’s functionality as a ray-tracing-capable gaming Computer system, as it is an unboxing and appreciation of really packaging — the two the cardboard and the metallic frame. It is all so delightful.

Clean up boxes

I was rather worried when the personal computer-1 arrived. The packaging is so slender and so light-weight I imagined for guaranteed a thing was lacking. Nope — everything you need to develop the computer-1 comes in a single minimalist bundle that is made up of three packing containers inside.

Bits and bobs

You won’t want a screwdriver. There’s a hex important included in the box (which is the yellow point in very clear packaging in the higher than photograph.)

The body

At initially, I didn’t notice there was a compact instruction manual stuffed into 1 of the packing containers. Even if you miss it, you can down load the pc-1 handbook on Teenage Engineering’s web site.

The aluminum sheet metallic is shockingly thin. The manual cautions consumers “think 2 times, bend once!” which suggests to us that the metal is fragile. Bend as well significantly and you could break the pieces. So make confident you have go through the instructions appropriately and bend very carefully. You may not get a do-more than.

You can not see it in these images, but there are some extremely minimal dents in the metallic panels, probable from bruising through cargo. Although the brown shipping box the computer system-1 arrives in is about 5 instances as large, it could have employed much more bubble wrap or packing paper to guard it for the duration of transportation.

Gaming Laptop?

The personal computer-1’s mini-ITX form aspect limits the amount of money of raw electric power (read: GPU) that can be stuffed inside of its cramped insides. Although Teenage Engineering didn’t layout the laptop-1 for gaming, we’re heading to establish a gaming Computer out of it anyway. Simply because why not? A Computer system situation with this type of showstopping design justifies the pretty most effective it can tackle (again, and what we can procure thinking about the ongoing provide chain challenges and GPU price gouging).

Can the computer system-1 manage the amount of money of effectiveness we’re gonna throw at it? Or will it literally flame out? Teenage Engineering far better have analyzed this issue, for the reason that we’re about to push it to its limitations to uncover out if mini-ITX was the way to go or perhaps it should really have gone greater with ATX.

Oh, and of course we acquired the magnificent 1:1 square personal computer observe (1,920 x 1,920) that Teenage Engineering utilizes in its merchandise pictures to match the laptop or computer-1. We experienced to. It was not low cost.