We felt pretty special getting personal tours of the LTT HQ from both Alex and Linus, so we thought there would be other LTT fans who might be interested in hearing about our experience… so this is our “LTT HQ Behind-the-Scenes - HQ Tour” blog.
For those who haven’t seen our “Behind-the-Scenes @LTT – MacBook Air Upgrade with AirJet” blog or the LTT Episode “Apple please watch this - WE FIXED IT”, we were visiting LTT HQ so they could upgrade a MacBook Air with three AirJet Minis. We regularly integrate AirJet into devices to achieve massive increases in performance at Frore Systems, but nothing says “the real deal” like an unbiased third party doing the integration and demonstrating the benefits of our product. So when we told LTT that we could achieve a 67% increase in the performance of a MacBook Air, enabling it to perform as well as its bigger and more powerful brother, MacBook Pro, they were interested in putting our claims to the ultimate test… so we accepted the challenge of lettng Linus do the integration on camera for an LTT episode.
To see how that went down, you can read the “MacBook Air Upgrade with AirJet” blog here. Watch the LTT Episode “AirJet “Apple please watch this - WE FIXED IT” ” here, and find out more about “How AirJet Works” here.
We arrived at the LTT Headquarters in Surry, BC - about 40 mins from Vancouver Airport - on a rainy November morning.
Alex met and escorted us to the huge, incredibly well equipped LTT workshop – complete with 3D printers, laser cutters, a Tormach MC 1100MX Mill (which comes in really handing for the their crazy prototyping and production ideas), a sand blaster, loads of sound deadening materials (some of which was falling off) and randomly, what seemed like hundreds of F clamps (although apparently some of Linus’ favorites were MIA) - where they would carry out the MacBook Air AirJet upgrade.
Once everything was ready for the MacBook Air upgrade, Alex offered to give us a tour around the LTT Headquarters while we waited for Linus. We enthusiastically accepted the offer.
As it turns out, in addition to being insanely knowledgeable about everything technical, Alex is also an excellent tour guide – although we don’t think he was too excited about our suggestion for a career change. If he’d offered us an LTT timeshare we would have been totally on board.
As we were given the guided tour around the LTT offices, there were two things that made an immediate impression on us…
First, how extraordinarily well equipped the LTT team is for the work they do.
Second, how friendly and welcoming the LTT team was. Every single person we encountered had a smile ready for us. You could feel the techie vibe in every corner of the building. It was easy to see how the place was a utopia for a technology geek.
As we wandered in and out of the myriad of sets and props, it was difficult not to be impressed by the way the space was designed. The Short Circuit set, complete with a desktop displaying the image of a life-size Linus face which was a little unnerving, was nevertheless very cool. Interestingly, this image of Linus shows up frequently around the building – in an omnipresent kind of way.
There must have been at least six separate sets for shooting content, each equipped with the latest video gear and designed to be flexible and adaptable to create the images and perspectives needed to enhance the video content…. We quickly understood better why it looked so professional and efficient. We asked how many pieces of content they produce a week…. Alex nonchalantly shrugged saying 18-19. 18!!!!… with the breadth, depth and quality of content they produce that kind of output is outstanding – and we say so having produced our fair share of content in the past. Kudos to the LTT team who manage that level of quality content in such a chill and positive atmosphere.
As we watched them creating the MacBook Air Upgrade video throughout the day, it was clear how they accomplish so much… they REALLY know what they are doing! Both from a technical and production perspective – they are a production machine!
As we wandered the LTT halls, we even got to see where Linus and Alex hang out when they aren’t on camera…. Watching Linus in action over the course of the day and how many different projects he flawlessly juggles, it was no surprise that he wasn’t sitting in his office with his feet up… he never stops moving…
We would be remiss, for those interested in the ‘behind the scenes’ LTT HQ tour, if we didn’t feature the LTT break room. We are guessing this doesn’t end up on many LTT videos, but it really should! It is soooo cool. This gamer’s paradise is open to employees at any time.
Set up with at least a dozen gaming systems, a relaxing lounge area with a couple of large screen TVs, a completely immersive 3D gaming set up with an integrated 6DOF platform, and a life size storm trooper, it wasn’t surprising to hear that team members (including Linus) often hang out there after hours just to chill and play. They even have shelves and shelves of old-fashioned boxed games, which Alex claimed are surprisingly popular… Only the addition of bean bags and a beer keg would have moved it from 5 Stars to 5 Stars plus!
After being wowed by the break area, we continued our tour, meeting more of the super friendly team and checking out the product logistics section. The number of sample products they have is incredible. Although we shouldn’t have been surprised, given how up to date they are on literally everything technical… The LTT warehouse must have every electronic device known to man.
Interestingly Alex particularly pointed out the fan bins to us… not sure why. I guess he knows there might be less need for the old fan technology in the future.
After checking out the shelves and shelves and shelves of products, we toured the LTT Testing Lab… where they can literally test anything and everything regarding consumer electronics from performance, to sound, temperatures, humidity operation, keyboard operation, water resistance, thermals, power consumption and more…. We couldn’t take pictures of everything, even though Alex and the team were extremely accommodating to our desire to play tourist.
The first tour over, we returned to the insanely well-equipped workshop to meet up with Linus and start recording the MacBook Air upgrade.
With the filming of the MacBook Air upgrade with AirJet in the bag (after a brief celebration of his own technical upgrading skills and the demonstrated performance improvement in the MacBook Air successful upgraded with AirJet - read the full MacBook Air upgrade blog here) Linus showed us even more of the behind the scene LTT action. This time a personal in-depth tour of the nerve center of the LTT Store, the building where all the LTT merch is imagined, designed, and tested.
After a brief celebration of his own technical upgrading skills and the demonstrated performance improvement in the MacBook Air successful upgraded with Airjet, Linus took us for a second tour of the LTT HQ before we left for the day. (Read our Behind-the-Scenes LTT HQ Tour Blog here for the complete LTT HQ Tour experience.)
We were delighted that he spent over an hour with us, showing us all his passion projects. It was clear he is as passionate about the products in his LTT Store as he is about tech… and of course there is A LOT of overlap.
Unfortunately, the behind-the-scenes tour kind of ends here, as so much of the cool merch being developed is still unreleased. But we can confirm Linus has products and designs coming out that will appeal to everyone from computer nerds, cat lovers, game players, clothes wearers, parents, kids, tinkerers, engineers, everyone, to anyone.
We did manage to snag a couple of LTT Screwdrivers… The hardest part was deciding which cool color and size to pick! There was a serious amount of ‘Screwdriver envy’ in the Frore Systems’ offices when we returned!
Personally, we are anxiously waiting for one game in particular to hit the store; it will take pride of place in our office lunchroom as soon as it is available.
I wish we could share more, but why spoil the surprises Linus has lined up for everyone. Our recommendation - Keep the https://www.lttstore.com/ on your favorites list and visit regularly. We will be!
In summary, the Frore Systems’ team had an unforgettable day at the LTT headquarters. We’d like to thank the LTT team for their hospitality, the amazing behind the scene tours, and their expertise in the build and evaluation of the MacBook Air upgraded with AirJet Minis.
It was a great day for Frore Systems, seeing all the hard work put into designing the performance upgrade of the MacBook Air with AirJet being showcased by the LTT team. There was a lot of cheering in the Frore Systems’ offices when the final video launched on the LTT YouTube Channel!
