The last post ended with a teaser about retail packaging. That thread continues below, but it got overtaken by something bigger: the first DBD system that isn't for a laptop at all.

SlideSSD: the drive gets its own system

Every product so far has answered the same question: where does the laptop go? This summer I finally answered the follow-up question people kept asking: where does the SSD go? The answer is SlideSSD, a new two-part system:

• SlideSSD Holder. A small sleeve your portable SSD clicks into, secured with a metal ring on the drive itself. Mount it under the desk, on a rig, wherever you work. When you leave, the drive comes with you: close the lid, pull the drive, go. Every Holder ships with the ring sheet and an alcohol wipe, printed and packed by hand here in Rotterdam.
• SlideSSD Dock. The fixed half. One keyhole slot and two base holes do the mounting; under a desk it screws onto two included spacers so the Holder clears the lip and drops straight in.

There's deliberately no cable in the box: runs go from 30 cm under a desk to a few metres on a rig, so you bring the length that fits instead of paying for one that doesn't. Conveniently, that brings me to the next item.

SlideLink Pro cables, now in four lengths

Until now the cable offering was simple: 3 metres, take it or leave it. That never matched how people actually route a dock. So the lineup has grown: 50 cm, 1 m and 2 m are now available, and those three ship as SlideLink Pro branded cables, with the marked strain reliefs to match.

One honest note: the 3 m length is still shipping from existing stock, so it carries the old look for now. Same cable, same spec. Once that stock runs out, the 3 m joins the SlideLink Pro family too.

A cable is the least glamorous thing I sell and the one that decides whether the whole setup feels right. Fifty centimetres of slack you don't need is fifty centimetres of clutter.

DBD is on Bol

The retail groundwork from the last post has produced its first visible result: the SlideUnder Pro is now listed on Bol.com. It's one product to start with, on purpose. I'd rather learn how marketplace orders, returns, and stock sync behave with a single listing than roll out the whole catalogue and find out the hard way.

Bol is also simply the logical first shelf for me. DBD is designed and printed here in the Netherlands, and Bol is where this country shops; growing at home before growing anywhere else feels like the right order of operations.

Behind that one listing sits a pile of invisible work: every model in the range now has its own registered GS1 barcode, plus per-model compliance labelling. Boring, necessary, done. It's the plumbing that lets DBD products sit on any shelf, not just this one.

Gift cards

Smaller, but requested more than once: the store now sells digital gift cards. The code arrives by email straight away, there's no expiry date, and it's redeemable in your local currency at checkout. If you know someone with a laptop on their desk and an opinion about cables, you know what to do.

The Build Queue: vote the next dock onto the bench

New alongside all of this: a public Build Queue. Every laptop model that people ask about gets its own row, and every row shows the same two conditions: ten requests, and the actual machine on my bench to test-fit against. Fit lives in tenths of a millimetre, so I don't design against spec sheets. The board shows exactly what each model is waiting on, who requested it (first name and city, nothing more), and how prepay pledges fund buying the test device. If your laptop isn't on the board yet, one form adds it. Have a look and put your machine on the list.

Around the store

The site itself got a quiet overhaul this summer: a rebuilt collection page, a cleaner mobile experience, refreshed homepage, and new order paperwork from packing slip to invoice so the whole journey looks like it came from one hand. None of it is a headline; all of it is the difference between a shop and a brand.

That's the update. SlideSSD is live in both parts, the cables finally come in sensible lengths, there's a DBD product on a shelf that isn't mine for the first time, and the Build Queue decides what gets designed next. Questions about which cable length fits your setup, or whether SlideSSD fits your drive, reply to the newsletter or reach out via the contact page. Talk soon.