The Automattic Four-Year Laptop

Next week, I’ll be celebrating four years of working at Automattic, which has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my professional life. One of the perks of reaching your four-year anniversary is being given a MacBook (Air or Pro) model of your choice, with the WordPress logo customized onto the top cover.

As it turns out, the laptops are customized/branded at Colorware, and I asked before ordering mine if I could also have it painted. The answer was yes. :)

I went for a glossy red for the main piece, glossy white for the hinge, and matte black for the top and bottom plates. So far, the consensus is that it’s pretty sweet-looking:

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It even looks pretty boss with the hinge closed, due to the fact that the main plate also covers the sides of the construction:

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Red and white mixed with black has become a bit of a color scheme for me since I started working at Automattic. When you start here, you get a bag with the logo embroidered on it:

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Originally, I’d gone this route because it matched these guys:

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And it happened to match these guys, too:

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But then at some point, it kind of turned into matching this guy/girl, which dawned on me when I bought this:

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That’s of course not the only thing I have that matches the scheme, like my iPad in black with a Product Red case:

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And my 3DS, which is in red and black:

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And my wallet, which is the image of the grandaddy of them all:

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But this new one is my favorite.

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I’ll say more on the actual anniversary, which is next week. :)

5 comments on “The Automattic Four-Year Laptop

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  1. It looks awesome!

    Quick question, I noticed the DVORAK layout; did you pop the keys and reoganize the layout yourself, or were you able to order it like that?

    1. I popped the keys, which was a lot harder than a stock MacBook because the paint adds a bit of thickness to the case. I had to use the plastic toothpick that came with my Swiss army knife to lift each key and then pop it out of place.

      I did wonder during the ordering process if (because they have to remove the keys anyway) you could request them to re-set the keys in Dvorak, but ended up not asking about that.

  2. Congrats Ryan! Hope you’re having a great weekend. Now I want mine in purple. ;) Or would people look at me funny…? We still need to do lunch! I’ll try to bug you soon or perhaps catch you at Wordcamp STL.

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