The Space Bar desktop organizer / powered USB hub from Quirky is a shelf designed to reduce clutter in your computer work area by elevating your display or all-in-one computer (a la iMac) up on a riser, so that if you’re not actually using the machine you can stow your keyboard and mouse underneath.
It’s a simple enough product, and one that my wife had high hopes for seeing that she’s a neat freak who could use not just the extra space but the front facing USB ports as well. Her iMac is up against a wall / window and it really bothers her to have to turn it around to plug in a thumb drive or USB hard disk. The USB ports also sport two glowing white LEDs that I presume would make it easier to find the ports in the dark, though they may annoy in a very dark room.
However, as we tested the review unit, we ran into two snags – the first was attributable to us not reading the fine print, and the second looks like it might be Quirky’s fault.
Let’s start with that second snag first. She plugged in her iPhone 4 and straightaway got an error message saying that the Space Bar wasn’t capable of charging her phone. I suggested she change to another cable, and she tried that and still got the same error. Moving the cable back to the rear port of her iMac seemed to work, so that ruled out a faulty cable. I then tried charging an iPad from the Space Bar – no luck. But when we plugged in a Galaxy Note into the Space Bar, it started charging properly. How weird is that.
The more important snag (which I shall take the blame for) is that after a while, she noticed that the middle portion of the Space Bar was starting to exhibit a noticeable bend. It definitely looked like the stand was incapable of supporting the weight of her iMac, even though the Quirky website shows a 27″ iMac perched on their product. It was only after a bit of Googling that I discovered there are actually TWO variants of Space Bar out there, one made of plastic and one made of brushed aluminum.
Only the brushed aluminum model appears on Quirky’s website (the source of the product photo I used as the banner for this article); but I found a reference to the plastic one on Amazon.com. And apparently, only the aluminum one is capable of handling the 30 pound big screen iMac – the plastic one is only rated for 20 lbs and below (a 21.5″ iMac would work). So it’s not Quirky’s fault that the plastic one can’t take the weight – it’s really not meant for it.
The Quirky Space Bar is still a useful addition to your desktop. But 27″ iMac owners should make sure they’ve got the right model, and iOS users might want to look elsewhere altogether. The product is, well, somewhat quirky.
Philippine SRP: P3,450 (plastic) / P4,950 (aluminum)
Pros:
- Nice, clean design
- Saves on desktop clutter by allowing you to hide your keyboard / mouse when not needed
- Front facing USB ports are useful especially if your CPU is up against a wall or under a table
Cons:
- White constantly glowing LEDs above the USB ports may be a distraction in a dark room
- USB ports on our review unit incapable of charging iOS devices
- Case of mistaken identity led us to an inadvertent torture test of the plastic variant. Get the aluminum one if you’ve got a 27″ iMac
- Pricey.
