Most comments here focus on the name and its perceived conflict with the fact that electronics inside will get outdated at a much faster pace than the "heirlooms" of the past.<p>However what I truly enjoyed when reading this article was the detailed story of the design process for a project like this. Each detail found in the final design went through numerous experiments and iterations, while balancing the requirements for aesthetics, functionality, manufacturing process and sourcing the materials and components. A fascinating read.
Beautiful construction and all but heirloom's last generations. Not sure you can do that with modern, process nodes given how inherently unstable and broken they are. Computers on the old nodes lasted forever because the physics were more sane and the chips simpler. I could see a heirloom Apple II or something because they're still functional.<p>Seems only the shell of this one is heirloom. Should be the key portion if true to the concept.
Unfortunately, it looks like I've been corrupted by current design trends. I can only look at this and think of the fake wood paneling on station wagons[0], or other faux-antiques. It just screams "kitschy" to me, because I don't have any nostalgia for that era.<p>Also, attempting to replicate past eras through skeuomorphism is /so/ out right now, come back with flat minimalism.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodie_%28car_body_style%29" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodie_%28car_body_style%29</a>
That's an absolutely beautiful piece of work. So many different materials used in a very well thought out way. I'm sure this will inspire a lot of people to make imitation laptop enclosures for 'ordinary' guts.
This is beautiful. Beside the fact of being thick and heavy (maybe), I think the classical feel of this laptop makes it look antique.<p>I was expecting a steam-punk design before I clicked the link but, I wasn't disappointing at all.
If you want to read more, the author has a blog off of Makezine: <a href="http://mottweilerstudio.com/novena-heirloom-achieving-proper-fit/" rel="nofollow">http://mottweilerstudio.com/novena-heirloom-achieving-proper...</a>
What's the age of the oldest physical artifact that is simultaneously personal, inheritable, and usable?<p>Most are things that have a larger scale, gross appeal, aren't personal. A water wheel, a stone bridge, a building. Perhaps a gun, or a watch, comes closest.<p>Start with that and what would an heirloom computer look like?<p>Somewhere on the continuum of abacus, slide rule. What's the computational era's equivalent? An HP-11, HP-12 series calculator?<p>Sometimes I think: we're all making expendable shit.
Unfortunately the part of modern laptops that breaks first is rarely a case, be it wooden or metal, even plastic, but usually the battery, keyboard, screen, or just some random small part of the mainboard.
Off-topic, but from the article:<p>> Huang has a cool thermal imaging device for his phone that he used to make this photo of the Heirloom showing the heat distribution<p>I'd be really interested if this is an affordable solution. A FLIR camera would be nice to have, but they're really expensive. Does anyone know what model he's talking about?<p>EDIT: Thanks everyone, looks like they've come down in price significantly. Almost cheap enough to buy one just for kicks.
i'm not sure if this is it, but i'm enthusiastic about the dawn of sandbenders [1].<p>[1]<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer</a>
Really, how naive can one be? Who is still using phones with dial disc? Who uses VHS recorders? CRT monitors? Would anyone like to stick to them because of a wooden case?
In 50 years we surely won't be using laptop style devices but rather something with much more intuitive input...