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Show HN: Brutalist Concrete Laptop Stand (2024)

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Re: Show HN: Brutalist Concrete Laptop Stand (2024)

#151

Post by augustk »

inanutshellus wrote: post #146
augustk wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something that would be useful in my case is a monitor stand stand. Does anyone know why almost no current monitor can be raised so that the upper edge is at eye level? Is it due to incompetence among the current breed of designers? Quite a few of my colleges have a stack of books beneath the monitor stand.

Law suits / claims, I'd expect, as tall is unstable. If I sell a Monitor With Really Tall Monitor Stand and then you lightly bump your desk and break your monitor, you might want a replacement and call my stand "an unstable PoS". If I sell you a Monitor and you stack books under it and your monitor falls... well... dummy, tall stuff falls over. Time to buy a new monitor.

Isn't the manufacturer to blame if I get neck problems then?

Re: Show HN: Brutalist Concrete Laptop Stand (2024)

#153

Post by zelphirkalt »

And yet that laptop stand is not even the slightest bit slanted, one of the crucial details. I could simply take a book and put the laptop on top of that, to get the same ergonomic features. I am aware that ergonomic use is not the main point, but it would certainly not have hurt to consider that angle at least a little bit.

Re: Show HN: Brutalist Concrete Laptop Stand (2024)

#155

Post by eru »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #153

And yet that laptop stand is not even the slightest bit slanted, one of the crucial details. I could simply take a book and put the laptop on top of that, to get the same ergonomic features. I am aware that ergonomic use is not the main point, but it would certainly not have hurt to consider that angle at least a little bit.

That would have destroyed the brutalist cred.

Re: Show HN: Brutalist Concrete Laptop Stand (2024)

#156

Post by throwanem »

Well, from the look of it, to touch the thing wrong must be its own punishment, which is brutalism indeed. It insists on itself far too loudly, though, in what I would call a pseudapocalypticist or "Falloutpunk" manner. Too bad. There's nothing much wrong with it for its own sake, other than the ergonomy, but it sticks out from its environment like a sore thumb, adding nothing of value save the demand its presence be flattered and celebrated for its own sake - you know what? I take it back; you've not only recapitulated the brutalist concept, but apotheosized it. Congratulations on a successful work! It must have been a blast to build, which is where the real joy always is to be found of course, and I look forward to seeing which school of design you satirize next.

(Did you really immure a power strip in cement? The MOVs in those are wearing items, you know, and can though rarely do fail short circuit...)

Re: Show HN: Brutalist Concrete Laptop Stand (2024)

#159

Post by ssharp »

throwthrowuknow wrote: post #39
pjc50 wrote: post #24

I wonder what the practical limit is on how thin and light you can make concrete for non-structural items? I can see someone selling concrete mugs on Etsy, for example. Maybe with clever use of fillers and thin walls you could have a version of this you could actually lift. It looks great, especially in contrast to a white IKEA-style office. Re: decay, I regret not taking more photos of the final days of the RBS "Zig…

People who make concrete counter tops use a lot of fibreglass fillers to get them fairly thin but if you wanted it truly light weight you’d probably need to make it out of a dense foam and coat it with something that looks like concrete.

Concrete counter top mixes usually use either much smaller, or no aggregate and use more sand. The mixes resemble mortar more than concrete and they are typically a little harder and less forgiving to work with.
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