Earlier this 12 months, Twelve South refreshed one in every of its extra widespread desktop equipment with the debut of the brand new HiRise Professional. Packing a couple of new tips over its predecessor alongside the standard Twelve South high quality, I’ve been placing the stand to the take a look at over the previous couple of months to see if its $100 price ticket is price a spot in your desktop MacBook setup.
Arms-on with the brand new Twelve South HiRise Professional
By and enormous, Twelve South’s HiRise Professional stays unchanged from its predecessor. Now outfitted with a Professional moniker in the naming scheme, that add-on is admittedly indicative of what you’ll discover from the entire expertise total. This isn’t a redesign from the bottom up; it’s a brand new and improved model of a beloved MacBook companion that arrives at the $100 value level.
All centered round an adjustable design, Twelve South has employed a lot of the unique mechanism that permits you to elevate the peak of your MacBook by elevating or reducing the HiRise Professional. It has a spring constructed into the bottom that may be pushed down and secured in place with a knob on the again or launched to get some additional distance between your machine and the desk. It might climb as much as a 6-inch top, which is greater than sufficient to shut the hole between your display and a place way more in-line with eye stage.
As for what has really modified, the expertise is now much more premium. Beginning on the base of the stand, the Twelve South HiRise Professional now includes a leather-based pad that covers the accent’s footprint. It has a mushy contact end that enhances the steel construct fairly properly by itself and likewise serves as a notable spot to relaxation your iPhone in the course of the day. Leaning into that use case much more, Twelve South has embedded a notch beneath so that you can slot in one in every of your personal MagSafe chargers.
So whereas it’s not able to doing this proper out of the field by itself, the HiRise Professional also can double as a streamlined iPhone 14 charger – after all, on prime of its MacBook stand duties. The thought has largely been one thing that sounds higher in idea than it really works in apply. Don’t get me mistaken. Having an easy-to-access MagSafe pad simply all the time round my desk has been an enormous assist, however the place means I find yourself neglecting my telephone whereas it fees. I suppose if you happen to’re making an attempt to make use of your iPhone much less in the course of the workday, then that is an unintentional perk, however for me, it’s a function that isn’t fairly as useful as I used to be imagining.
Working upwards, the v-shaped platform the place your MacBook rests nonetheless has that very same open design for air flow. However new this time round is a refreshed rubber pad on your gadget to sit down on, which has a unique sample than its predecessor. This could doubtless assist it maintain up higher over time whereas nonetheless gripping your gadget sufficient to maintain it from sliding round whereas resting on the accent. The even greater adjustment although is that the platform now tapers off into two sections that maintain your machine in place.
The tilted design of the Twelve South HiRise Professional implies that your gadget might slide down, however now the corporate has mounted that with a second measure to make sure your machine isn’t going wherever. In apply, that has been very a lot the case, too.
9to5Toys’ Take
Proper off the bat, I’ll say that I am keen on the Twelve South HiRise Professional. It’s one of many sturdier MacBook stands I’ve used over time and delivers a premium design to match. Usually with any assessment right here at 9to5Toys, we’re finally left with a query of not simply whether or not we like no matter toy or piece of tech we’re having a look at – however whether or not or not it’s well worth the money.
So me saying that the MacBook stand has develop into a staple in my workstation that’s certain to hold round for the foreseeable future isn’t the total image. At the very least not when you’ve got the unique, non-pro model of the Twelve South HiRise to contemplate. There’s a $20 value hole of their MSRPs, and when on sale, the unique model tends to pattern far decrease than its shiny new sibling.
For me, the entire quality-of-life tweaks and added options stack as much as a ultimate product that simply justifies the value distinction. However for extra informal MacBook customers, I’m actually left reflecting on simply how good of a price the unique Twelve South HiRise is. Should you’re undecided, what actually set it over the sting for me was the addition of the MagSafe charger. However extra importantly, the redesigned pad which your MacBook sits on actually makes a distinction if you happen to’re rocking a 14- or 16-inch gadget. The friction match for a 13-inch MacBook Air will doubtless be high-quality for many, however that additional little bit of assist for preserving all the pieces in place undoubtedly has turn out to be useful.
Subscribe to the 9to5Toys YouTube Channel for the entire newest movies, opinions, and extra!
