ICON
from $200 / ayaneo.com
WHAT IT LACKS IN OBSOLETE TECH IT MAKES UP FOR WITH USEFUL CONNECTIVITY
No prizes for guessing what that’s supposed to remind us of…
This ‘I Know What a Macintosh Classic Looks Like’ medal can go back in its box, then. But those who don’t have a brain like a computing hall of fame, or weren’t around when Apple released its famous all-in-one computer in 1990, might not be familiar with the inspiration behind this mini PC. Ayaneo has changed just enough to (hopefully) avoid a strongly worded letter from the legal team in Cupertino, with a rainbow rectangle where the Apple logo should be, but it’s still recognisably a tribute to the Classic –it even has a fake disc drive on the front.
Shame it’s not a working one.
Got a lot of stuff on 3.5in floppy, have you? What it lacks in obsolete tech it more than makes up for with genuinely useful connectivity. Despite being the size of a stack of three slices of bread, it’s got five USB slots (one C and four A) plus HDMI, DisplayPort, Gigabit Ethernet and a headphone port, and there’s also Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on board. You didn’t get any of those on the old Mac Classic… and it didn’t run Windows 11 Home either.
What, it’s not macOS?
You can only get that with Apple kit and you know it. There is an option for a barebones system, so you could install Linux or SteamOS, but you’ll need to add your own hard drive and RAM. For the CPU it’s between an AMD Ryzen 3 3200U and a Ryzen 7 5700U (neither of which will blow your socks off), paired with up to 64GB of memory and as much as 2TB of storage. Plenty of geek appeal, then –and best of all, it seems this is just the start for Ayaneo’s retro-inspired mini PCs, with a screen-packing NES-style one coming soon.
MEATER 2 PLUS
Still using the old finger test to see when your steaks are cooked just how you like them? It’s time to either surrender your geek card or invest in this Bluetooth meat probe. Its stainless steel construction can withstand temperatures of up to 550°C (up from 275°C for the old model), so you can leave it exposed to an open flame and wait for it to report the internal temperature of your dinner wirelessly to its app. The Guided Cook system walks you through every step of the process, telling you how long to cook it for, when to take it off the heat, and how long to rest it before you can tuck in. The battery lasts 24hrs, which should give you enough time to feed the whole street at least once.
£119 /meater.com
HUAWEI FREECLIP
You’ve heard of in-ear, over-ear and on-ear headphones, but how about apair of under-ears? Huawei’s FreeClips clamp onto your earlobes, with the spherical bits pump
