The first Slide dock that doesn't hide under or beside the desk, a way to see exactly where your order is on the printer, and a slow move from the home bench into an office.

Every system so far has been about getting the laptop out of the way: under the desk, on its edge, on an arm, on the wall. This month the opposite question got an answer. What if the laptop is supposed to be on the desk, just tidier?

SlideBase: the first dock that sits on the desk

SlideBase is a desktop dock. Your MacBook slides in closed and stands vertical, logo facing you, and takes up a fraction of the footprint it does lying flat. Same precision-fit idea as the rest of the Slide range: the slot is shaped to your exact model, so the laptop seats with a click instead of a wobble. It comes in two sizes:

• SlideBase Solo. One machine, one slot. From €129,99.
• SlideBase Duo. Two machines side by side in one footprint, each in its own fitted slot. For the work laptop and the personal one, or the two-MacBook households. From €199,99.

Both come in Pro (80 Gbps, 240 W charging) and Elite (PETG-CF, or PETG-GF if you want it in white). There's no Standard tier on purpose: a dock that sits in plain sight on your desk should be the good version.

Why it's an early release

SlideBase is live, but labelled as an early release. Every model needs its own slot profile, and as with Elite, I'm not claiming a fit I haven't had on the bench. Some models are validated, the rest are designed on order, which adds lead time. If that's your model, the product page says so before you buy, not after. The early-release label comes off once the full fit list is validated.

Sitting on a desk is a harder brief than hiding under one. Nobody inspects the underside of a desk. Everybody looks at what's on it.

Your order now shows where it is on the printer

Most of what I sell is printed on order, which means "processing" can cover a lot of ground. I've had enough "has it started yet?" emails to know that a vague status is worse than a slow one. So every order line now carries its own print status, visible on your order page in your account:

1. Pending. Order received, waiting for a print slot.
2. Scheduled. Print slot booked.
3. Printing. On the printer now.
4. Ready. Printed and checked, ready to ship.

It's per line, not per order, so if you order a SlideBase and a cable, you'll see the dock move through the stages while the cable already sits at ready. I update it from the bench as each part moves, and sometimes I'll add a short note, like the date a print is booked for. It's a small custom app I built for the shop, and honestly it's as much for me as for you: it's now the board I plan the printers from.

Slowly moving into the office

Which brings me to where all of this happens. DBD is slowly moving into an office. Slowly is the key word: a lot of the work still happens at home, at the same bench where the first SlideUnder was printed. The office currently has three printers running in it, and bit by bit more of the printing, checking and packing is shifting over there.

Three printers is a comfortable number for a normal month. The holiday season is not a normal month. So the plan for the next weeks is to scale up the fleet before the rush, not during it. More printers means more parallel print slots, which means less time in "Scheduled" for you. I'll share how the fleet grows as it happens; the print status above is where you'll feel it first.

If you're planning to give a DBD dock as a present, ordering early is still the safest bet. And if you'd rather let them pick, the gift cards don't expire.

That's the update. SlideBase is on the desk in Solo and Duo, your orders now tell you exactly where they are, and the move to the office is picking up speed just in time for the busiest stretch of the year. Questions about whether SlideBase fits your MacBook, or what a status on your order means, reply to the newsletter or reach out via the contact page. Talk soon.