Once you shell out a couple thousand bucks or more for a marvelous Mac Studio desktop machine, how do you add an ultra-wide display without running up your already-tortured credit cards?
Today’s featured dual-monitor Mac Studio setup solved the problem by going back in time. Its owner added an ultra-wide display — and much of the other gear in the workstation — from a few years ago.
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Mac Studio setup shows an ultra-wide display need not cost a fortune
Redditor InfaSyn showcased the setup in a post entitled, “Just grabbed my first ultra wide.” They run their new ultra-wide display — a 34-inch Samsung QHD monitor — with a base model Mac Studio.
The desktop sports an M1 Max chip with a 10-core CPU and a 24-core GPU, 32GB of integrated memory and a 512GB solid state drive.
And the ultra-wide display shows how little you have to pay now to get the ultra-wide experience. That model, which came out in 2019, tends to fetch about $300 now.
What do you give up going with an older model? Well, that particular display is a QHD with a 21:9 aspect ratio and 3440 x 1440 pixel resolution running at a refresh rate of 75Hz. You’d very likely pay quite a bit more to vault up to higher screen resolution available now in ultra-wides, either 3840 × 1600 or 5120 × 2160. The latter is often called 5K2K, and those usually cost between $1,000 and $1,500.
However, if you value screen resolution as much or more than screen real estate, you could go for a regular 32-inch 4K monitor with not-too-high a price tag, around the same $300 in some cases, give or take. Here’s an example 32-inch Samsung 4K at exactly that price point.
When asked about their impression of the monitor, Syn said, “Only 8 hours in but I’ve done a little coding, some gaming and some sys admin stuff today — initial impressions good.”
And their other screen, a 23-inch Dell E2311 1080p monitor, goes for around $149. They used the word “crap” to describe it and said they’ll replace it soon.
‘Wild’ mechanical keyboard and vacuum tube headphone amp
“That keyboard is wild,” a commenter said, perhaps employing a bit of sarcasm. The mechanical keyboard looks like it escaped from an accounting firm in the 1990s.
“Haha, thanks,” San said. “Not a stunner to look at but really damn nice to type on. Its a Cherry MX 3000 with MX Black switches.”
Syn uses the smooth-typing keeb in concert with a Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse.
“What’s that thing with the two vacuum tubes behind the vintage 1997 keyboard,” another commenter asked.
San explained that it’s a Sabaj PHA3 Vaccum Tube Headphone Amp. They use it to jack up the sound on their Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 over-ear headphones when they’re not playing tunes on their Creative speakers.
If you like a retro vibe, you can find that mad-scientist-looking headphone amp for less than $30. See all the gear in the list below.
Shop these items now:
Computer:
Displays:
Input devices:
- Cherry MX 3000 mechanical keyboard with MX Black switches
- Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse
Audio:
- Creative T15 Bluetooth 2.0 Speaker System
- Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 headphones
- Sabaj PH3 Vacuum Tubę Headphone Amplifier
If you would like to see your setup featured on Cult of Mac, send some high-res pictures to info+setups@cultofmac.com. Please provide a detailed list of your equipment. Tell us what you like or dislike about your setup, and fill us in on any special touches or challenges.
