We love it when a computer setup we’ve looked at before gets a facelift, or some sort of significant update. Today’s featured MacBook Pro setup stuck with the laptop, an interesting usage of a portable display and a highly unusual mechanical keyboard. But it added a beautiful gaming monitor, a rarely seen vertical mouse and some other details.
And of course it kept its beloved Lego Wall-E. And it even found a practical use for extra Lego bricks.
This post contains affiliate links. Cult of Mac may earn a commission when you use our links to buy items.
MacBook Pro setup features gaming and portable displays plus unusual keyboard and mouse combo
Redditor imperiuscici (“Cici”) showcases the sensible setup in a post entitled, “I decided to upgrade my DS MacBook set up a bit.” We’d covered a previous version of the setup. We knew we’d seen that Lego Wall-E model somewhere else.
Cici runs a 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro base model.
“I decided not to fold it like other setups because its gorgeous screen and I satisfy with the quality of the built in speaker so I don’t need to spend more money to buy other speakers,” Cici said.
3 displays
So they have their high-quality MacBook Pro Retina Display, but that’s just one of three. The other two are a Lenovo Thinkvision M14 portable display, held over from the previous setup, and a new 27-inch LG27GN800 IPS 4K gaming monitor.
“It’s light so I can bring it with me almost everywhere and the quality of its image is acceptable for me,” they said of the 1920 x 1080 M14, which features a Mac-friendly refresh rate of 60Hz, plus two USB-C ports.
A commenter asked how Cici attached the portable screen to his mounted MacBook, where it covers the keyboard, which is not in use in lieu of a mechanical keyboard.
Here’s how Cici replied:
It’s actually pretty simple. You only need to find a laptop stand and something that can make the height of the monitor higher, in my case, I’ve tried several methods then end up using some redundant lego bricks. I just put the bricks on the stand then put the monitor on the bricks. Then I just need to adjust the monitor’s angle a bit to fit my view.
As for the new LG UltraGear gaming monitor, it’s a 27-inch LED with 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution, a 1ms response time and a 144-Hz refresh rate on a Brateck monitor arm. Cici said they use it for both work and gaming.
Lego Wall-E is extra helpful
As Cici said above, they use extra Lego bricks to help mount the portable display on the MacBook and its stand — pretty cool.
The Lego item in the setup, if you hadn’t noticed in the photograph (but you probably did), is a 676-piece Lego Ideas Wall-E vehicle like the main character in the much-loved Disney-Pixar movie, Wall-E.
In the film, Wall-E is a trash-compacting robot on tank treads who perpetually cleans garbage from a desolate, uninhabitable future earth to which people may one day return. But things start looking up for him when he falls for a charming probe named Eve.
Wireless vertical ergonomic mouse
The setup’s input devices are pretty rare. We’d only seen the keyboard in our previous post about Cici’s old setup. The Delux Seeker Wireless Ergonomic Vertical Mouse is new to us.
“I really like this vertical mouse, my arm always feels better after a long day use than traditional mouses,” Cici said. The programmable mouse, which you hold almost as if you’re shaking someone’s hand, keeps your wrist aligned.
And it connects to up to four devices via three connectivity modes and features an OLED screen where you can read battery level and DPI sensitivity levels (the mouse is rated for 4,000DPI sensitivity).
Ortholinear keyboard
The Idobao ID75 mechanical keyboard is unusual because it features an ortholinear key layout. The layout reduces the amount of finger movement needed to reach keys, increasing typing efficiency — once you get used to having something different from what you’re used to typing on.
“Ortholinear keyboards are designed to increase efficiency and reduce finger travel when typing,” reads the company’s description of the keyboard. “Though it’s large for an ortholinear board, the ID75 gives you free reign over every key — so, if you get good with it, it’s bound to make work and play a lot more fun and effective.”
Note also that the setup’s Xiaomi desk lamp supports Apple’s HomeKit smart-home platform. And if you like the desktop wallpapers showing on the displays, you should be able find them here, Cici said.
Shop these items now:
Computer:
Displays:
Input devices:
- Idobao id75 ortholinear layout mechanical keyboard with Gazzew Boba U4t switches
- Delux M618XSD vertical mouse
Accessories:
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.
