Wouldn’t life be more fun if charging bricks looked like tiny Macintosh computers?

Image: Shargeek / Indiegogo

Shargeek has launched an Indiegogo to raise funds for a 35Wusb-C charging station shaped like an Apple Macintosh computer. The page for the Retro 35 campaign is very careful not to mention the name of Apple's classic computer, but it has drawn some very obvious inspiration from the beige color scheme down to the placement of the disk drive. Pricing on the device will start at $25 on the Indiegogo website.

Increasing numbers of phone manufacturers have stopped shipping bricks to charge their devices, which has led to the rise of aftermarket chargers. It's fun to see Shargeek go in a different direction and focus on looks rather than specifications, as they often offer additional ports or higher charging speeds compared to their first-party equivalents.

Image: Shargeek

Image: Shargeek

The Retro 35 is plugged into power strips laid on desks to make sure it is the right way up. I bet most of the time, most of the time, most of the time, most of the time, most of the time, most of the time, most of the time, most of the time, most of the time, most of the time, most of the time, most It would still look cute, but not as cute as Shargeek's promotional images.

This is a 35WUSB-C charging station, which means it has enough juice for a variety of devices, including lower-powered laptops like the M1 MacBook Air. The screen is designed to light up in different colors depending on how fast it is charging your device, and it supports a range of charging protocols. There is no mention of green, blue or yellow, but yellow means normal charging, blue is fast charging, and green is super charging.

There is a note on crowd funding.

Companies looking for funding tend to make big promises. According to a study run by Kickstarter in 2015, 1 in 10 products that reach their funding goals fail to deliver rewards. There is disappointment in store for those products that do get done if they are delayed, missed deadlines, or overpromised.

The best defense is to use your judgement. Do the product look legit? Is the company making crazy claims? Is there a prototype? Does the company have plans to manufacture and ship finished products? Has it completed a campaign before? You are not necessarily buying a product when you back it on a site.

The Retro 35 comes with plugs for US sockets, but there are other ways to use it.

Apple's original Macintosh was a design icon and continues to inspire accessories today. A couple of years ago we saw Elago offer an Apple Watch charging stand in the shape of a Macintosh, which charged Apple's watch while also being used as a miniature computer.

All the usual caveats apply, because this is a crowdfunded campaign. Shargeek previously put out the Storm 2 and Storm 2 Slim power banks. It isn't a complete shot in the dark to back the new project. Shargeek hopes to ship the Retro 35 charge in July after the campaign closes.