MiniBook Pro by Noel Qualter and Roddy McGhie

Another short and sweet review here! I purchased this the second I saw it. It fits my style perfectly, and I could immediately see how impactful it would be. I had to have it.

If you haven’t seen it, the effect is that you pull a mini laptop out of your phone (or a spectator’s phone.) Then the spectator selects and signs a card. After the laptop fails to find the selected card, the laptop itself is now seen to actually be the selected card. It’s fantastic, surprising, and everything I love about magic. You can think of it like a mystery box-type trick, with the biggest difference being that they won’t see it coming.

When you purchase this, you receive a three-hour streaming tutorial, a mini laptop, a keynote/powerpoint presentation to remove the laptop from your own phone, a website that allows you to remove the laptop from a spectator’s phone, and 26 cards that are printed to look like the laptop when folded.

The packaging looks like something an Apple laptop would come in, but my small complaint is that it doesn’t quite hold everything snuggly in place. When I opened my package, the laptop was loose in the box rather than in its neat little nook. The cards also don’t come in any kind of box. Instead, they are wrapped in a paper envelope. These issues aren’t a huge deal, but I thought they were worth mentioning.

The quality of the laptop is top notch. It is metal with a nice weight to it. It feels “legit.” It seems like it will hold up very well. The screen, logo, and keyboard are all stickers, but I don’t mind that.

The cards that come with it are great quality. They have a nice sheen to the back which really makes them look metallic. The cards aren’t bicycle stock, but they were color matched to bicycle, and they look perfect to me. You do need to score the cards to perform the trick, but I timed myself and it took me exactly 7 minutes to score all 26 cards by hand using a ruler and a box cutter. So if that thought scares you, it’s not a big deal. That said, if you purchase directly from the creators, (www.tricktrickboom.com) they will prescore the cards for you for a small price. I know some of my readers struggle with arthritis or other ailments that prevent them from doing small tasks, so this is a great option for them. Refills are a fantastic price as well. $15 for 56 cards—add $10 if you want them pre-scored. I was able to get some pre-scored refills a little early, and they are exactly as you’d expect. They look great and they are scored perfectly. So if you don’t want to take the time to score them, pay a few bucks more and let them do it for you.

The provided keynote/PowerPoint looks like a sleek website selling the laptop. It works really well and does a great job of giving the illusion of pulling the computer out of the phone. The benefit here is that you don’t need internet access to do it and everything is fully customizable.

The provided website that allows you to pull the computer out of the spectator's phone is genius. It was created by Marc Kerstein and looks like a website to purchase the computer. It works beautifully, and if spectators revisit it, they will see the computer is missing. It’s very clever.

In my opinion, the tutorial is far too long and unorganized. Thankfully, it is divided into chapters so you can skip to where you want to go. At first, I thought you couldn't access the chapters on mobile, but it turns out you can--you just have to stay out of full screen.

Here are all of the different chapters:

2 Full Performances

Intro

what’s in the box

Background

Side-by-side comparison of laptop & folded card

Features

Thoughts on digital production

Important note on digital production

Further note on production

Production from spectator’s phone

Production from spectator’s phone explanation

Apple Keynote production

Android PowerPoint production

Apple keynote customization

Android PowerPoint customization

Noel’s routine performance

Noel’s routine explanation

Roddy’s Routine Performance

Roddy’s Routine Explanation

Unsigned Routine performance

Unsigned routine explanation

Gimmicked card vanish for unsigned routine

Preparing the cards

A note on using Jon Allen’s Perfect Score

Mercury Fold

Training wheels for beginners

Misdirection

Commentary over live performance

Alternate switch performance

Alternate switch explanation

Sleights

Forces

Repairing the Laptop

Thanks for purchasing

Credits and Inspiration

If you look at those chapters, you’ll see that you are halfway through the download before you even learn the routine and it’s only after you learn the routines that you learn how to prep the cards. Clearly, the tutorial is very in-depth and I appreciate that; I just wish it would have been in an order that made a little more sense. It’s a LOT of the two of them sitting there talking to the camera before you ever learn what you’re there to learn. It’s their first release on their own, so I’m sure they will get better at this as time goes on. I do appreciate that they covered how to repair the laptop in case it wears out. It’s an easy fix, and I imagine it will be a while before it’s needed, but I’m glad they taught how to repair it instead of encouraging you to buy a new one.

Noel’s routine is the one you can watch full performances of on their website. Roddy’s routine is similar, it just uses a different switch. The unsigned routine allows you to reuse gimmicks, but I wouldn’t advise anyone to do that. The real power in this is that it’s a signed card. The alternate switch that is taught is also good. The switch I will be using is closest to Roddy’s switch, but one great thing about this is that you can basically use any billet switch.

Overall, this is easily the best release of the year for me. It’s the one trick I am most excited to perform out of anything I’ve learned this year, and I love every aspect of it. I really can’t fault the trick itself. The routines are great, the props are perfect, and the magic is fantastic. It’s clear that a lot of time and thought has been put into this. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is one of my favorite tricks to ever come out. Ever. I know that’s a bold statement, but it ticks all the boxes for me. I have to give it a 10/10.