James Dyson Blows It Away

The moment you lay eyes on billionaire inventor James Dyson’s latest creation, be ready for a little executive-suite envy.

First off, there isn't a client in the world who'd be able to resist asking what the heck the Dyson Air Multiplier is. And secondly, the device carries a price tag more in line with the C-suite than middle management.

The device looks less like an appliance than something an animal might jump through at the circus. This vibe is not lost on Dyson, who, while showing off the Air Multiplier to a reporter Tuesday, scrambled forward and stuck his head through the fan's center. “That’s what my grandson does,” said Dyson, who added that the company’s newest product actually came about by accident. “We had no business plans to make a fan,” he said. “But we found this blade of air [moving] at the top of our hand dryer, and we wondered if we could make a fan using that.”

Its slick aesthetic aside, though, is the product Dyson is heralding as the perfect desk fan really perfect for your desk?

The short answer is yes—the Air Multiplier is brilliant the same way a Porsche is brilliant, which is to say it makes it hard to go back to a Honda (or, in this case, a Honeywell). It's easy to dismiss the company's celebration of the Air Multiplier's pinwheel-free mechanics as PR blather, but life after blades really is beautiful. The fan is quiet enough to leave on during a meeting—no choppy whir—and its output feels more like a breeze than a blast. Even when situated just a foot away, it doesn't disturb a hair on your head—much less a stack of papers on your desk.

What's the bad news? The Porsche of fans is priced accordingly; it starts at $300. So if your building's AC system keeps your office pretty pleasant, you may want to hold off on the Air Multiplier—at least until the recession subsides, John Thain's redecoration scandal fades from memory, and office-upgrade expensing comes back into vogue.