Who needs aluminum? These insane Macs are made of ice, coal and beeswax.

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This concept Mac is made of sandstone.
Is metal or plastic really the best material to make computers out of. How about sandstone?
Photo: Hank Beyer/Alex Sizemore

Concept designers are supposed to think outside of the box. Hank Beyer and Alex Sizemore created some Mac designs that are so far outside of the box you sometimes can’t tell there ever was a box. Their computers are encased in stone, ice, beeswax and other exotic materials.

Hank Beyer’s blog shows the designs the two dreamed up. Some of the creations are relatively practical, like the one in a sandstone casing. The same goes for model made of granite.

Others are far, far less less usable. Like the design that seems based on the Apple Lisa but is made of beeswax dripping with honey. Another is simply a pile of peat with computer components and plants sprouting from it.

The computers made of coal or ice fall somewhere in the middle.

Concept Macs “for the rest of us” to think about

Beyer is an industrial designer at Google, but makes it very clear he and his collaborator were never trying to fashion practical computers. “This project seeks to spur discourse and challenge common preconceptions of materiality within everyday objects by displacing the notion that materials best for industry are best for humanity,” said Beyer on this blog.

The name of their collection is “For the Rest of Us.” That’s a callback to the advertising slogan Apple used when first launching the Macintosh in 1984.

Via: Fast Company

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