Regular readers will know that I’m a sucker for wood. Show me something well-crafted from an attractive chunk of wood and I’m on board.
I’d previously admired Grovemade’s wooden iPad sleeve, and the company’s iPhone cases were featured in our ‘best of iPhone 6/Plus cases’ roundup, so I thought I’d check out its recently-announced MacBook Dock. The dock is available in a range of sizes to suit the 12-inch MacBook, 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air, and 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro. I tested it with my 11-inch MacBook Air …
As docks go, this is a low-tech one. There are no connectors or electronics – it’s a purely passive dock designed simply to minimize the space your MacBook takes on your desk when you’re not using the built-in screen or keyboard.
It comprises two pieces of wood (walnut or maple) held together with an aluminum plate, plus two rests inside made from a mix of wool and resin to avoid scratches. Your desk is similarly protected by cork matting on the underside.
You can use it simply as a way to store your MacBook when not in use, or you can connect power and Thunderbolt cables to use it with an external display and keyboard.
Grovemade is an American company which uses domestic hardwoods, and its products are handcrafted, so you should be getting a quality product – and both the look and feel do live up to expectations. It’s a beautiful piece of wood, feels solid, is appropriately weighty without being heavy – and the MacBook slips easily into place without the dock sliding away from beneath it.
It’s held firmly, so you do need two hands to remove it. Try to lift it out with one hand, and the dock comes with it.
It’s not cheap, at $79. That is a fair chunk of change for a piece of wood, but if you appreciate quality products, I don’t think you’ll regret the purchase.
If you like the idea but find the price a bit steep, there are a range of other wooden docks available on Amazon starting from around $25. Finally, if you prefer aluminum to wood, there’s TwelveSouth’s BookArc, another manufacturer I rate highly.
Update: TwelveSouth also makes a wooden version too now. We already did a hands-on with the aluminum model, so I’ve just added a few comments below.
As you’d expect from TwelveSouth, this too is a beautiful piece of wood (the maple version is shown). The company takes a different approach from Grovemade, opting for a ‘one size fits all’ stand with two different rubber inserts. While I generally prefer to be looking only at wood with these things, the black rubber does look smart. In use, it’s just as solid as the Grovemade dock. There’s a small cable clip underneath that allows you to run cables from one side to the other if needed.
Choosing between the two will really be down to personal preference on the design and choice of woods. Personally, I’d be equally happy with either of these gracing my desk. If you’re having trouble choosing, the BookArc mod is $20 cheaper.
The Grovemade MacBook Dock is available in a choice of walnut (shown above) and maple via the company’s website at $79.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
“….and I’m on board”.
It’s like these kind of puns are ingrained into writer types.
Are you keeping a log of these?
are you british? :’) the british do love their puns
Unfortunately, I’m knot.
Guiltree as charged.
What kind of sap pays $80 for a wood laptop holder?
What kind of sap pays $2k for a laptop? In both cases, people who like nice stuff …
Um that $2,000 rMBP is an incredible tool vs an overpriced piece of wood. Not a fair analogy…not even close.
actually Lincolnsills that piece of wood is likely hand-cut, sanded, stained, varnished using the highest quality products to prevent over-time damage such as warping, chipping, colour fading etc. Take into the account how much these materials cost by themselves, then factor in the labour and machinery maintenance costs of making these on a large scale, and you might understand the price is actually fair.
If someone was making this as a one-off product, such as a special item for a specific customer, a cheaper price point would be feasible but with a large scale production, it’s just not. Go for something cheaper, it is probably manufactured by robots to a lower standard, and not even thoroughly checked before being boxed up and shipped to the consumer. With something that is hand made on a lathe, with sandpaper, a painting brush etc, you can be guaranteed that every step was done very carefully and you can be sure of it’s quality.
check out the website and you will see that this is actually the case, and the wood used is Walnut. Not sure if you’re aware but Walnut isn’t the cheapest of Timbers that you can buy, even in it’s raw state. This company in the UK for example, charges over $3000 for 1 cubic metre and $100 for just a small cuft – http://www.englishwoodlandstimber.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/ENGLISH-WOODLANDS-TIMBER-BROCHURE1.pdf
“What kind of sap pays $80 for a wood laptop holder?”
Another wood pun.
Wooden have thought I’d have missed that one …
That’s oak-ay. It was rather pineful.
Hey, what product is the iPhone Dock you are using?
It’s a Fuz EverDock: http://fuzdesigns.com/pages/EverDock
Does this have a slot/vent for the fan exhaust?
The rear of the MacBook sits a few cm above the desk, so that shouldn’t be an issue.
my home neighbor is carpenter, home business, he did it for $15 in solid (furniture residual wastes) walnut…
but saying “made for macbook” is a solid insurance for the company to find rich and bizarre people.
crazy price, marketing 101.. price it right the masses will buy.
Small question: Are MacBook Docks like this good for the Mac? I’m currently not MacBook Pro Retina with the lid closed because I fear an increased temperature caused by the bad ventilation (heat goes up) would decrease the lifetime or most components.
this is a dock for when the laptop is closed. usually when the laptop is closed, it would at least go to sleep unless you changed power settings for example to use in target disk mode. in regards to ventilation though, there should still be ample room since the laptop’s base would be elevated from the base of the dock. Alternatively, I am “guessing” if it is a real concern, you could just put in the macbook the opposite way around and have the ventilation at the top. I cannot confirm this however so don’t take my word as binding confirmation.
I’ve just tried it. It isn’t gripped in the same way when inserted upside-down, but it sits there quite happily – it’s definitely not going to fall out or tip over.