Gabriel B., a 13-year-old student and photographer in Baton Rouge, La., sent pics and commentary showcasing and describing his well-equipped MacBook Air-and-dual-display setup to Cult of Mac this week.
He noted his Intel MacBook powers an “army of peripherals,” but it’s not quite up to the work he asks of it. And how has he already filled 3TB of digital storage space, anyway? Well, that’s what heavy photo and video editing will do.
We’ve seen more M2 MacBook Pro laptops lately in Setups than M2 MacBook Air machines, but today’s featured setup bucks the trend. Its M2 MacBook Air drives a 34-inch LG 4K IPS display.
But it’s the setup’s audio gear that may grab your attention. AirPods Pro (2nd gen) make the cut, as do two other sets of premium earphones, outstanding speakers and one of Sony’s super-high-end Walkman MP3 players.
Belkin is getting set to release new active noise-canceling (ANC) earbuds, and this time they pack in some premium features at a surprisingly affordable price point.
Belkin SoundForm Pulse earbuds will cost $119.99 and feature not only ANC, but multipoint Bluetooth connectivity and relatively long battery life. Available for preorder, they start shipping at the end of May.
★★★★★
The Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Mac Desktops and Displays, despite what its lengthy product name may imply, is a simple and straightforward product that does one thing remarkably well. It mounts your iPhone to a desktop display with MagSafe.
It’s straightforward to set up; it’s easy to plop your phone on and pull it off; it’s well made and feels nice in the hand. It’s great for Continuity Camera. The Belkin iPhone Mount with… no, I’m not writing all that out again. The Belkin iPhone display thing is an easy recommendation.
The Belkin Connect 4-Port USB-C Hub expands the number of accessories that can be plugged into a Mac or iPad without flattening your wallet. And its connections are fast: 10Gbps. That’s 2X the speed of other USB-C hubs.
As a bonus, the product is made with 72% post-consumer recycled plastics. It’s part of a commitment the company has made to using PCR plastic.
We often see big upgrades to setups we’ve covered here in the past. But they’re not usually comprehensive, where everything from the daily-driver Mac to the input devices to the audio gear gets made over (and in some cases greatly expanded).
Let’s just say today’s featured MacBook Pro setup looked a lot different 2 years ago. It’s more evidence that a setup is never, ever “done.”
Belkin’s smart-home accessories brand, Wemo, is “backing away from Matter and dimming our dreams of a smart home utopia.” That’s according to a report published Wednesday.
At a time when companies are rushing to ready products for the new smart-home networking standard, which is meant to let different brands work together, Wemo’s hesitation is a surprise.
Its products work only with HomeKit. Now it looks like that won’t change anytime soon.
The main gear in a computer setup might be perfectly impressive, like the Mac Studio desktop machine in today’s featured setup. But that’s not what everyone looking at the workstation notices and talks about on social media.
Instead, the coveted items in this particular setup are a Bose speaker system folks are having a hard time finding, plus a Belkin Continuity Camera mount that helps you use an iPhone as a webcam.
Belkin is switching to make its top-selling mobile power products out of 73% to 75% post-consumer recycled plastics. The change will make no difference to the appearance or price of the accessories, but will significantly reduce the company’s carbon emissions.
PCR versions of the poplar chargers will launch throughout 2023.
Continuity Camera in macOS Ventura upgrades video calls by bringing the iPhone’s high-res camera to the Mac. It’s necessary to mount the iPhone on the computer though, but Belkin has just what’s needed for desktop Macs.
The accessory-maker released a very similar iPhone mount designed for MacBooks this fall.
Your old AirPods aren’t what they used to be. The speakers can get gummed up, degrading the audio performance. But the Belkin Cleaning Kit for AirPods can take care of the problem.
This might save you the cost of buying a new pair of Apple earbuds.
Apple has started selling the first 15W MagSafe car charger, made by Belkin. Up until now magnetic car chargers haven’t used Apple-certified MagSafe technology. They’re Qi-certified chargers with magnets that offer half the power of a 15W MagSafe charger.
But that changes now with Belkin’s Boost Charger Pro Wireless Car Charger with MagSafe.
Continuity Camera in macOS Ventura upgrades video calls by bringing the iPhone’s high-res camera to the Mac. But a way to attach the handset to the laptop is necessary. That’s where Belkin’s iPhone Mount with MagSafe comes in.
With macOS launching soon, it’s time for the accessory to debut, too.
When you look at a lot of computer setups showcased on social media, it’s not difficult to see that many of them are staged. They’re so well put together and photographed, you just can’t see normal slobs owning them.
But sometimes the internet tricks you with a surprisingly slick photograph of a real person’s setup. That seems to be the case in today’s featured dual-display MacBook Pro setup, photographs in a cool-gray wash.
“This looks like a render advertising the mouse or something,” one commenter said. “Tron vibes,” added another, referring to the 1982 sci-fi film known for its then-cutting-edge computer animation.
Belkin trotted out two new Boost Charge Pro GaN wall chargers Tuesday in 65W and 45W versions. Both adapters feature dual USB-C ports and programmable power supply (PPS).
The compact chargers are designed for fast charging. You can use them to power up an iPhone 13 to half-full in 28 minutes, the company said.
★★★★★
The Wemo Smart Dimmer with Thread is a new version of Belkin’s HomeKit-compatible wall switch. It can be controlled with the press of a finger or from anywhere – across the room or across the country.
Putting “with Thread” in the name isn’t some odd reference to sewing. The switch uses a new form of mesh networking to provide fast, reliable connections to your home-automation system.
I was able to install the latest Wemo Smart Dimmer in my home because it doesn’t require a neutral wire. Here’s what it’s like to use everyday.
Place the new Belkin Connect USB-C 6-in-1 Multiport Hub in the back of an iMac or monitor to discreetly add multiple ports to a computer. It offers a couple of USB-A ports, memory card readers and more.
The hub is available now.
Dimming your lights is just the most obvious feature of the newly announced Wemo Smart Dimmer with Thread. It uses mesh networking to provide fast, reliable connections to your HomeKit home-automation system so you can control the switch from anywhere – across the room or across the country.
Plus, the wall dimmer switch doesn’t require a neutral wire so it can be installed in older homes as easily as new ones.
Nomad’s refined and costly Base One and Base One Max MagSafe chargers are widely considered to be of excellent quality, even “high-end” status. But now you can feel even more like a king — maybe King Midas — by snagging one with a rich golden hue.
That’s right, Nomad just rolled out golden gear for you, the Gold Base One and Base One Max.
Apple started selling several additional accessories Wednesday, including potent and relatively affordable MagSafe chargers from Belkin and OtterBox.
Other new accessories in the Apple Store include the Eve Outdoor Cam, Philips Hue smart lighting and more.
An improved version of the Belkin BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Stand supports fast charging Apple Watch Series 7 – up to 33% faster than Series 6.
And the stand still charges MagSafe iPhones at up to 15 watts. And it provides 5 watts to AirPods wireless charging cases.
The just-launched Belkin SoundForm Immerse Bluetooth earbuds offer more than just great sound. They have active noise cancellation, and also work with Apple’s Find My network so they can be located with an iPhone.
They offer many of the same features as Apple’s AirPods Pro but at a lower cost.
At a glance, today’s featured computer setup appears simpler than it really is. It showcases a Mac mini, a pair of mounted monitors and some typical-looking input devices. A row of water bottles stands to the right because the owner, who lives in India, is big on hydration as summer hits the subcontinent.
But there’s more to the setup than meets the eye. And some of it escapes the camera’s lens.
With a dozen ports, the Belkin Connect Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock lets users connect a Mac to multiple accessories for data, video, Ethernet and power. All through a single high-speed cable connection.
Belkin also introduced a Thunderbolt 4 cable capable of handling data transfers at 40 Gbps.
The Wemo Smart Plug with Thread simplifies controlling lamps, fans, and other appliances with an iPhone or Siri. Anything that plugs into a standard wall outlet can be turned on or off.
Rather than Wi-Fi, the HomeKit accessory communicates with other accessories over Thread, a mesh networking standard.
