Stockholm-based Transparent makes a lot of minimalist audio tech. For the first time, they’ve released their very own turntable, and it’s mouthwateringly gorgeous. The transparent tempered glass cover lays atop an aluminum body (“meticulously crafted” in either black or white), and it looks like it comfortably fits right along with Transparent’s lineup of high-end speakers — which use similarly minimalistic design elements.
From a technical standpoint, it’s also just a really nice, modern turntable with plenty of gadgetry for today’s hi-fi enthusiast. The preinstalled Elliptical Diamond Ortofon OM Stylus 5E provides warm and rich sound quality, though it can also be swapped out for fancier stylus models or replaced once it wears out. In fact, the entire build is designed for modularity, including its SME-compatible headshell mount.
The tech specs are pretty impressive on the performance front as well. Its low speed variance means it should play vinyl records more accurately for a smoother sound. It’s geared up with digital optical and analog inputs as well as Bluetooth 5.0 support via its Qualcomm CSR8670C chip, which basically translates to high-fidelity audio output at a low latency even when playing MP3 files directly from your phone.
The built-in 20-25,000Hz +3 / -3 frequency range is also reasonably wide for a hi-fi audio component of the Transparent Turntable’s caliber, meaning it can process rich, deep bass and bring out the crispness of higher frequencies. For instance, when playing a song containing a mixture of low bass, high woodwinds, and additional sounds placed further out to the edges of the soundstage, the Transparent Turntable should be able to accurately reproduce all of that detail without crunching the mid-range.
It looks like everything from its groovy (literally) tonearm right down to its gold-plated contacts are built with high-quality materials and peculiar attention to detail. The unit is also relatively low-profile, weighing only 14 lbs and using a maximum of 15W of electricity per hour. That makes it easy to stick into an eco-friendly household, or even take with you on the road in a minimalistic tiny home.
The Transparent Turntable costs $1,300 on the Transparent website, and you can order it now — ahead of its estimated shipment window in mid-November.
Highlighting the best parts of unique product designs requires exceptional product photography prowess, and that’s difficult to achieve if you don’t have the right equipment and the right environment to snap photos in. Most living environments aren’t exactly as clean as they appear in picture-perfect lifestyle photos, and in order to capture detailed product shots, you’re going to want a pristine and brightly-lit background — showing off every detail, right down to the pixel. If you’re interested in learning product photography for yourself, you’ll want to make sure you have a nice DSLR camera with a wide aperture, which can capture photos in RAW (this allows dynamic range for color correction and other tweaks in post-production).
That said, it’s one thing to vaguely send you off looking for a DSLR camera with no further advice, and it’s another to tell you exactly what you’ll need — right down to the lighting. That’s the purpose of this list, which should point you in the right direction as you shop for your in-home product photography setup. By the way, the best “DSLR camera” you can buy and begin snapping product shots today (if you aren’t already a skilled photographer with an investment in a proper $2,000 DSLR, lenses, and other fancy camera accessories) isn’t actually a DSLR at all; it’s a brand new smartphone, like a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra or an iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Without further ado, here are my top 10 recommendations for the best tools and accessories you can buy for any home product photography area in 2023.
1. iPhone 15 Pro Max – best smartphone camera for color accuracy
As I mentioned earlier, the best DSLR camera alternative you can buy for product photography is a beefy new smartphone. If it’s time to upgrade anyway, you can’t beat the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s robust integrated software and swanky new camera features — like its 5x telephoto camera. Both the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and the iPhone 15 Pro Max grapple for the title of “best smartphone camera of 2023”. The former has a 200 megapixel sensor with 10x optical zoom, which is phenomenal for capturing wide-angle photos and taking shots of faraway points of interest thanks to its vibrant color tone.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max camera, on the other hand, lacks the same raw horsepower — and for what it’s worth, a few users also had some issues with overheating, which was meant to be resolved in iOS 17.1 — but it takes the cake for capturing the most visually crisp close-up shots that simultaneously deliver the most true-to-life color accuracy. In product photography, you want to be able to reproduce the most realistic color tone, and that’s where the iPhone 15 Pro Max succeeds; meaning it’s the one I personally recommend over the two.
The Foldio360 Smart Dome (which Yanko Design covered while it was still in Kickstarter!) is a compact, dome-shaped structure, filled to the brim with LEDs that fill its non-reflective all-white interior with light — completely obliterating soft shadows. Its killer feature is the built-in turntable that uses light to indicate where your product is supposed to sit on top of the turntable surface, and once it’s all set up, it continuously rotates in a 360-degree radius. You can mount your phone onto the front opening with the included mounting kit for stable shooting, and then you can use the foldio360 app to remotely adjust color temperature and turntable speed as needed. This is a really convenient way to get your shots done in a snap, especially when you’re low on time and don’t have a ton of shooting space.
The Smart Dome can hold up to 6 lbs of weight, but if that’s not enough leeway, you can instead buy the sturdier Foldio360 Smart Turntable, which is optimal if the product you’d like to rotate weighs between 6 and 11 lbs. Just make sure you have other light sources and a white or green backdrop on hand.
3. eucos 62″ Phone Tripod – best smartphone tripod
There are many smartphone-compatible tripods on the web, but the eucos 62-inch phone tripod has a nice balance of form and function that make it an easy buy at its listing price of $29.99. First of all, its body (which is made of durable nylon) comes in two distinct color schemes that both look stylish: Inferno Mix Carbon Black, and Mineral White.
You can adjust the tripod’s height up to 62 inches, as the name suggests, but reviewers generally report the eucos 62-inch phone tripod remains stable even at such heights thanks to its aluminum locking mechanisms and grippy rubberized feet. It’s compatible with smartphones between 2 and 3.6 inches in width, which means you can use it with basically any modern smartphone. There’s also a cold-shoe expansion port to equip additional fill lighting, and you can use the nifty included Bluetooth remote trigger to capture photos while keeping your phone camera stable.
Solid-color acrylic display boards can sit on any surface, immediately turning your desk into an optimal product photography surface without needing to go out and set up an all-white table or all-white desk specifically for shooting product photos with. These 12 x 12 and 24 x 24 acrylic boards come in packs of two — one white board, and one black board. You can switch between the matte or glossy side based on your needs, and reviewers seem to agree that it’s a sturdy and well-designed product overall, albeit with some issues related to scratching on the surface. That seems to be a common problem with acrylic boards in general, so it’s best to take extra care when handling these.
5. Glendan Portable Photo Studio Light Box – best photo tent
This Glendan portable light box is a less expensive alternative to the Foldio360 I mentioned earlier. It surrounds the product with dimmable light from 112 LED light beads and provides an all-white background that’s perfect for taking product photos. It also does away with the strobe other light boxes use, and combined with its built-in light diffuser and internal light reflector, it highlights plenty of detail in soft light. Its portability and ease of setup make it a convenient way to show off a product without investing a ton into a clean or immaculately-designed shooting environment, and can be especially useful if your shooting space is on the smaller side.
6. Elgato Collapsible Green Screen – best backdrop
If you want to design a shooting environment with a specific style, it can be easier to set up your space with a green screen. This lets you digitally inject an environment into the background, making for a simple and easy approach to composing your shots. Elgato’s collapsible green screen backdrop is widely rated as the best-designed compact photography green screen thanks to its durable green fabric and its ability to deploy anywhere via a unique pneumatic collapsing mechanism. It only weighs 20.5 lbs when concealed, which makes it a low-profile item to carry around with you, despite its rather large impact on your shooting environment once fully deployed.
Getting your environmental light perfect can be challenging, which is why light reflector diffuser discs are an important tool — both for blocking certain light wavelengths, and enhancing others. Neewer’s 43-inch light reflector and diffuser discs are widely rated as the best you can buy for the price, and they come in white, black, gold, silver, and translucent coloring. They’re collapsible as well, making them easy to carry around.
8. Fovitec 3-Light Fluorescent Studio Lighting Kit – best fluorescent studio lighting kit
Fluorescent spot lighting is the quickest way to pour light into an underlit scene, and when capturing product photos in larger environments, these are extremely important to have around. Fovitec’s 3-light fluorescent studio lighting kit takes care of a lot of shopping — adjustable stands, boom arms, and a carrying case come included —and the lightboxes themselves, which can push up to 5500K color temps, are rated as some of the best you can buy for the price.
9. Neewer Heavy Duty Light Stand with Casters – best all-purpose light stand
If you need to expand your lighting with additional stands, the Neewer heavy duty light stand has a wide range of potential uses. It’s an adjustable stainless steel tripod which can rise up to 10 ft in height. But you can throw pretty much any lighting equipment you want on top; whether you need to add extra lightboxes, ring lights, or even want to hang your light reflectors or diffusers up high. Reviewers love the build quality, calling it the “best industrial heavy duty tripod C stand” and saying they “should have bought this along (sic) time ago”.
10. Lume Cube Video Conference Lighting Kit LITE Edition – best budget surface lighting
If you’re shooting product photos on a desk surface and you want an extra light source in a pinch, the $49.99 Lume Cube LITE Edition laptop-friendly ring light is a quick and easy way to add such light to your shooting environment. It plugs into a power source via USB, and can be fully powered through any regular laptop, meaning you can also use it for other purposes — like conference calls. Reviewers love the amount of extra brightness it can add to any space, and it sounds like the build quality make it a winner. It’s dimmable as well, if you only need a certain amount of light in your environment.
Remember the Apple AirPower? Back in September 2017, Apple announced a wireless charging device with the ability to simultaneously charge up to three devices, including Qi-compatible devices, at high speeds. It was cancelled before it ever saw production, but later on, a different (and equally ambitious) project came to life on the opposite side of the world: the Nothing Power (1) 65W portable wireless charger.
Nothing’s design for a high-speed, portable wireless power bank was a Swiss Army Knife of charging capability; even containing its own internal battery to charge several devices on the go. And yet, it flew a little too close to the sun. Like the AirPower preceding it, the Nothing Power (1) was cancelled internally before it ever saw the light of day.
In a sudden — and rather informative — interview between Nothing Head of Content Heru Prasetyo and Nothing CEO Carl Pei, published on October 24, we now know exactly what happened during the Nothing Power (1) development process that caused its downfall. For what it’s worth, we also now know that it existed in the first place (though some rumors floated around about it in 2021). It’s unfortunate, too, given how useful the translucent, uniquely-shaped charger would have been.
Creating a wireless charging mat and a high-powered 65W charger (like Nothing’s 65W GaN Charger) require two different design approaches; the former needs to be able to support the weight and size of several devices, while the latter needs a bit more bulk to charge at rapid speeds. The Nothing Power (1) tried to be both things at once, and as a result, the heavy plastic casing required to hold the device together became its point of breakage.
Around the halfway point of the interview, Pei explained Nothing’s ultimate decision with an easy-to-follow analogy: “Think about it this way: if you’re in a car, driving somewhere, and you realize you’ve put the wrong location in the GPS, would you keep driving a bit more just to get to your final destination, or would you just do a U-turn to get to where you actually need to be?”
According to Pei, dropping the device would cause it to crack, and the team ultimately decided it wasn’t worth putting more time, effort, and resources into making it work. Another major issue was pricing, as the CEO mentioned it was a challenge figuring out how to balance the cost of production with a price that consumers would pay for.
The admittedly less ambitious Nothing Phone (1) Power (45W) is still set to release in the United States on October 30 for an MSRP of $35, though it’s only designed to charge a single Nothing Phone (1) at one time, and it requires a wall outlet to deliver a charge, meaning it isn’t exactly portable. A 45W charger with the power to deliver a 65% charge in 30 minutes is still a win for stateside Nothing Phone owners, even if it isn’t the product Nothing originally wanted to put into production. The Nothing Phone (2) recently released in the United States, marking a series first; you can read our review right here.
Comes with two power adapters (330W GaN, 140W USB-C)
CONS:
Small, cramped trackpad
Mediocre battery life
A bit pricey
RATINGS:
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
EDITOR’S QUOTE:
With an effective liquid cooling system and impressive performance, the Lenovo Legion 9i delivers a formidable desktop replacement wrapped in a fresh new aesthetic.
Laptops have come a long way and are available in a wider range of options. While there are still some designs that prioritize extra slim profiles, others target performance to match or even rival that of a desktop PC. These desktop replacements, mostly in the guise of gaming laptops, have to make a few compromises to strike a balance between portability, performance, and heat management. There’s no perfect mix, at least none that would match almost all the needs of almost all types of laptop users. The Lenovo Legion 9i, though primarily a gaming laptop, promises to come pretty close to that ideal. Better yet, it comes with a unique and memorable design that might even appeal to those outside of gaming circles. Read on for a deeper dive into this visually distinctive laptop to see if it is really able to deliver on those promises.
Right off the bat, the Lenovo Legion 9i is clearly not your average laptop, gaming or otherwise. The top cover has this unconventional pattern of polygons in different shades of gray. These are actually forged carbon chips, chosen not just for their unique appearance but also for the material’s lightweight durability. Lenovo says that no two Legion 9i units have the same pattern, so it’s almost like getting an exclusive edition for each purchase. Admittedly, it’s going to be a divisive topic, since the design isn’t something you can turn on or off as you wish, unlike RGB lights. At the same time, it’s like a breath of fresh air, deviating from the standard gaming aesthetic. Suffice it to say, it’s going to be a head-turner, no matter how you look at it.
The rest of the laptop’s chassis eschews the usual plastic affair and is made with 90% recycled magnesium die-cast in a classy Carbon Black finish. Not only does it afford increased durability, it also gives the laptop an interesting sustainability story. The chassis has a matte finish that adds a bit of texture, appealing not only to your sight but also to your sense of touch.
Speaking of those RGB lights, there’s still plenty to go around, though not in the usual places. On the A cover, you’ll only see it behind the large “LEGION” branding in the corner, while they’re pretty much under each key inside. There’s also a strip of light that runs around the edges of the laptop, wrapping it in a somewhat subtle rainbow of colors of your choosing. The ports themselves aren’t illuminated, but indicators for the back connectors do get a bit of light to help guide your hand in the dark. As always, you have full control of these lights, so you can configure them to match your mood or environment.
As a 16-inch laptop, the Lenovo Legion 9i is definitely on the larger end of the size spectrum, and even among its peers is still on the bulkier side. It is by no means excessively big, especially considering everything it’s packing inside, but those expecting MacBook Pro-like profiles are definitely looking at the wrong category of laptops. All in all, this portable desktop replacement strikes a fine balance when it comes to size and features, and it carries a unique visual character wherever you take it.
Ergonomics
As mentioned, the Legion 9i is by no means a thin and lightweight laptop, which can be expected from gaming-focused desktop replacements like it. In fact, it sits somewhere in the middle of other 16-inch laptops like a smaller ASUS ROG Strix G16 and a behemoth Alienware x16 R1. Yes, it is thick, but it could have actually been worse if not for the headlining liquid-cooling feature. It is surprisingly portable compared to other 16-inch gaming laptops, but you’ll still want to prepare your shoulders or hands whenever you have to carry this powerhouse. And regardless of that cooling system, you still wouldn’t want to put it on your lap except in the most dire circumstances.
When it comes to laptops, comfort and usability factors focus mostly on the keyboard and the trackpad. Gamers are especially picky about the former, as the performance of keyboards can mean the difference between glorious victory and devastating defeat. The Lenovo Legion 9i’s keyboard is, to put it simply, good enough. It’s not mechanical, of course, but it does have sufficient travel to make it feel snappy and comfortable at the same time, a rare treat for membrane-based keys. The keyboard is pushed further down compared to most laptops, but not because there’s some fancy display or interface at the top. Instead, that area is yielded to the aforementioned cooling system, including the ventilation grilles that sit there on top.
Unfortunately, that shift in position affects the trackpad in a detrimental manner. While the trackpad itself is responsive and smooth, its small size makes it feel cramped and difficult to use, particularly for vertical movement. While most gamers will have their favorite gaming mouse when they’re in the zone, it’s still a disappointing sacrifice that you will definitely feel whenever you have to use that trackpad to do some work quickly.
Performance
Due to the need for speed and power, gaming laptops naturally try to match the performance of their stationary desktop cousins. They are, however, more affected by the laws of physics, particularly when it comes to the heat generated by all that hardware, which in turn causes throttling and performance hits with deadly consequences for gamers. There has been no shortage of cooling innovations in the laptop segment over the years, and Lenovo finally brings one of those to its Legion laptop segment for the first time.
Co-engineered with the famed Cooler Master, the branded Legion ColdFront liquid cooling system runs over the GPU’s VRAM to help keep temperatures down, kicking into gear once the GPU hits the 84°C mark. There are also three fans that help ferry cold air away from those components and out the sides. The liquid cooling system is not a panacea and you’ll still hear the fans spin, though not at an uncomfortable high speed. It is quite effective in keeping performance stable while, at the same time, offering an alternative to bulky cooling solutions that are part of the reason why some gaming laptops are larger than they need to be.
On the opposite side of that distinctive forged carbon A cover is an equally eye-catching 16-inch 3200×2000 mini-LED screen, a display technology that outpaces IPS LCDs in terms of black levels but also surpasses OLEDs in brightness. And the screen is indeed very, very bright, especially when you show HDR content. It has an odd resolution, granted, but it is also higher than some of its rivals in the 16-inch laptop segment. Running games at QHD or QHD+ resolutions gives the most balanced performance, but “3.2K” as Legion calls it is definitely a good option for content that doesn’t require extremely high refresh rates.
As with any laptop in the market today, there are different configurations to choose from, but the base starts with a 13th-gen Intel Core i9-13980HX, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080, and 32GB of DDR5 memory. Those are pretty mighty specs with matching hefty prices, but they definitely show their worth when it comes to actual use. Synthetic benchmarks don’t tell the whole story, of course, but there is pretty much nothing the Lenovo Legion 9i can’t handle, whether it’s graphics-intensive games or video rendering. Granted, it’s not going to outperform a hulking desktop tower with the latest cooling solutions, but it definitely comes close to providing you with a desktop that you can use and carry anywhere.
Given everything that’s happening inside, it’s probably no surprise that the Legion 9i’s battery life is so-so. With moderate use, you can squeeze out a little over two and a half hours, but you’ll easily see that time cut down to an hour or so on more intensive games. Lenovo tries to make up for it with a super-fast 330W GaN charger, but it isn’t an understatement to call that a brick. Interestingly, Lenovo does something out of the ordinary and ships a second and significantly slimmer 140W PD charger that connects via USB-C. This is the one you’ll probably want to always carry with you, but you’ll also have to remember how it will limit the laptop’s overall throughput.
Sustainability
As the world’s largest PC maker, it is quite encouraging that Lenovo takes its environmental responsibility quite seriously. Especially with gaming laptops that chug plenty of electricity, Lenovo has to look for other areas where it can offset its negative impact on the planet. It’s not 100%, but the use of recycled magnesium on Legion 9i definitely helps cut down reliance on plastic, while giving the laptop both durability and looks.
Laptops have also thankfully become less restricted, at least when it comes to upgrading certain parts. You still can’t easily repair most commercial laptops like these, but upgrading storage and memory can usually be done with ease. For the Lenovo Legion 9i, however, that’s only true for the storage, which is immediately accessible after removing the bottom cover. RAM is unfortunately hidden beneath the motherboard, so you will have to remove other parts before you can double your memory. That means it’s more practical to aim for the configuration with the largest RAM capacity, though that’s easier said than done considering the price.
Value
Considering all the features mentioned above, it shouldn’t come as a shock that the price tag on the Legion 9i starts with a high figure. Depending on sales, it starts at around $3,200 to $3,400 with 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and an NVIDIA RTX 4080. The maximum configuration pushes you back $3,800 to $4,000, again depending on any promos or the current SRP. It’s easily more expensive than the competition, but the good news is that you’re getting exactly what you pay for.
The Lenovo Legion 9i makes very few compromises, except what you can expect in terms of its size and weight. The integrated liquid cooling system, while not mind-blowing, is impressive and effective in keeping both temperatures and thickness down. High-performance hardware makes short work of gaming and content creation tasks, and plenty of connectivity options expand the laptop’s capabilities to desktop levels. And that bright mini-LED makes any type of content a pleasure to see. Plus you get a smart-looking distinctive piece of equipment that’s going to pique the interest of people around you. Taking all those into consideration, that hefty price tag becomes more of an investment on a desktop that empowers you to do anything you need or want anywhere you go.
Verdict
Gaming laptops are traditionally large and bulky because of hardware requirements, but thankfully they don’t need to be unattractive as well. Developments in engineering and design are revealing ways to slim down these portable powerhouses without sacrificing too much performance. It’s still a matter of making compromises, but the Lenovo Legion 9i thankfully makes very few of those.
The unique forged carbon lid and subtle RGB edge lighting immediately draw your attention, while the impressive performance keeps you glued to that beautiful screen. Liquid cooling and AI-tuned fans help keep that performance from fluctuating too much, and two charging options let you go big or pack light, depending on your needs. Yes, the trackpad is uninspiring, the battery life is too short for comfort, and the price tag is a bit tough to swallow, but you are definitely getting your money’s worth for a desktop replacement with a hot look and a cool personality.
Honestly, in time I’ve really come to love office pods or work booths. Office pods have gotten supremely popular ever since COVID-19 hit, not only do they create little isolated spaces to work in, but they also provide a whole other level of privacy, that would have been otherwise unimaginable and completely unattainable in a commercial office. There are quite a few versatile options on the market when it comes to office pods, and a pretty neat one I recently came across is the Phone Booth Acoustic Pod.
Acoustic pods have become a pretty common sight in corporate offices these days, and I hope this initiative is here to stay. Workplace furniture brand Room recently made an addition to the arena of acoustic pods in the form of the Phone Booth Pod. The Phone Booth is a single-person acoustic pod that offers solo workspaces in open-plan offices. The Phone Booth is the first product designed in Room’s catalog and it features three sound-dampening material layers that reduce noise by 30 decibels, to create a quiet and peaceful work environment.
The Phone Booth is clad in sound-blocking MDF and lined with a sound-absorbing PET which is created from recycled plastic bottles. These features in addition to 100 percent natural wool finishes help to control the noise levels and form a soothing workspace. A LED light has been mounted in the ceiling, alongside two super quiet fans to maintain a clean air level inside the booth. The light and the fans can be controlled and operated via a smart sensor.
The Phone Booth acoustic pod is available in two colorway options – light and dark, both of which are accentuated with oak accents. The acoustic pod is delivered in a flat-packed form and can be assembled within an hour by two people with the help of only one tool. The acoustic booth can also be easily moved between locations with ease once it has been assembled. The Phone Booth acoustic pod would make an excellent and functional addition to modern workspaces, providing employees with solo work booths where they can enjoy some peace and quiet without being disturbed.
