Gamer and 3D animator Jazinity said she’d been a Windows user for most of her life before M1 Macs caught her eye and she made a nearly wholesale switch, going from a tri-display PC gaming station to a “cozy but productive” M1 MacBook Air situation.
The refurbished Furby in the center of the photo may or may not have been in the previous computer setup, but not much else. She has another Furby at her desk at the office, though she’s working at home for the time being, like many people these days.
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Mac convert
Jazinity talked about her shift to Mac in her Reddit post, “Round 2 of WFH? No biggie.”
“I’ve been a Windows only user for most of my life but recently the M1 caught my attention and my MacBook Air quickly became my daily driver,” she said of her machine, which sports 16GB of integrated memory. “I started hooking it up to externals and I just felt way happier with MacOS’ design language, I dunno how they do it but I can have the same number of apps open on a PC and the Mac and the Mac somehow just feels less crowded.
Going from a three-monitor setup to just one external display alongside her open MacBook Air seems to suit her.
“In the interest of productivity and ease of mind, I completely tossed my triple-monitor gaming setup and built something that was cozy, but productive. The best of both worlds,” she said.
A PC under the desk
Jazinity still has her desktop PC but said she doesn’t use it much. Remoting into it when necessary, she uses it for “heavier” gaming and more-intense productivity work.
She said the work need is “mostly due to some software exclusivity, I’m a 3D animator and I work a lot in MotionBuilder, somehow the ONLY Autodesk app to not have Mac support. But anything else, even for animation work, I just use the Mac.”
You don’t hear that every day — a Mac laptop used for animation work. And it’s the MacBook Air, which of course has the first M1 chip, not the brawnier M1 Pro and M1 Max chips featured in the new MacBook Pro models.
Oculus Quest VR
Another MacBook Air owner asked, somewhat hopefully, which machine she uses with her Oculus virtual reality headset.
“Gods, I wish I could run VR off the Air,” she replied. “The hardware would be capable, there’s just zero software support. I’ve tried both Crossover and Parallels, no dice. So yeah, I have a desktop PC on the floor that I use for heavier gaming and work. I connect wirelessly to it with the Quest.”
She uses the Quest to play Beat Saber and Blade & Sorcery, but mostly she uses it for PCVR wirelessly, she said.
A tale of two keyboards
Jazinity runs her machines with an Asus PB278Q monitor, which the company calls an Eye Care Monitor. It has 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution and a refresh rate of 50Hz. It sits on an Ikea Elloven monitor stand that provides some handy storage, with a drawer and a bit of space underneath. It’s where she keeps the keyboard she’s not currently using.
She likes her Magic Keyboard for most uses but relies on another one for some things. Typically, she remotes into her PC under the desk using Parsec, a remote desktop app, and switches keyboards.
“I use the Magic Keyboard for mostly anything but when I do remote into my PC for heavier gaming I switch to a Logitech G915 TKL,” she said, referring to a Logi tenkeyless mechanical keyboard. “Magic Keyboard is still great for productivity even on another OS, even if I fumble on the CTRL/OPT/CMD keys sometimes.”
Apple audio, too
Jazinity seems devoted to her AirPods, but needed to invest in other headphones for a specific reason having to do with marathon sessions at her workstation. So she ended up going with, what else, Beats — owned by Apple. Beats Studio3 over-ear, noise-cancelling headphones, to be exact.
“I was torn at first between Solo 3’s and Studio 3’s, but I’ve been spoiled by AirPods and noise cancellation, so had to go with that,” she said in reply to a question about her headphones. “Honestly I’d use the AirPods all the time if the battery life wasn’t so bad for long PC sessions!”
Shop these items now:
Computers:
Display:
Input devices:
Audio + video:
- Razor Seiren Mini USB Streaming Microphone
- Beats Studio3 Headphones
- Oculus Quest VR Headset
- Logitech C920 HD Pro Webcam
Furniture and accessories:
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