What do you get when you combine a high-end Mac Studio with three Studio Displays? You get a killer workstation. And in the case of today’s featured computer setup, you get a comparison to Al Gore, noted climate evangelist, former U.S. vice president and senator, and total Apple guy in more ways than one.
The user playfully implied he based his setup on Gore’s triple-Cinema Display workstation of yesteryear.
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Mac Studio and triple-Studio-Display setup recalls former VP/Sen. Al Gore’s Mac rig
Redditor peterb1908 showcased the setup in a post entitled, “After dreaming of Al Gore’s setup for 15 years, finally I got this.” He said he runs an M2 Ultra Mac Studio with a 60-core GPU, using it to drive three Studio Displays. Each of the 5K monitors sports nano-texture glass and a tilt-adjustable stand.
“All I can say is it is fast enough for anything I did so far, fans at the same low speed regardless of what I do,” he said in reply to a question about strain on the GPU due to multiple monitor connections.
And playing off the post’s title, someone provided a link to a photograph of former U.S. Vice President and Senator Al Gore in his office in 2007 (though the Imgur post is labeled 2014). In the pic, also included below, he’s peering at three Cinema Displays. Commenters on the Reddit post speculated he probably used a Mac Pro back then.
Notably, Gore, who is the longest-serving member of Apple’s board, said he had the last Mac in the West Wing of the White House when it went PC during the Clinton administration (1993 – 2001).
“I had the last Mac in the West Wing,” Gore said in an interview back in 2010. “I was the last holdout and a lot of specialized programs that are in use in the executive branch were developed on the PC platform and I finally and reluctantly switched over. But I’m glad I switched back now. And I think now there’s really no reason not to switch to Mac because they can run any PC program now.”
Pro Display XDR price jokes
Some folks mistook Peter’s Studio Displays for Apple’s top-shelf 6K Pro Display XDR. The Studio Display is pricey enough at $1,599 ($1,899 for Peter’s, with the nano-texture glass and tilt-adjustable stand, though it’s currently marked down by $100 on Amazon, below). But the Pro Display XDR costs $5,000 or more.
Commenters joked about the lofty pricing, even working in Al Gore again, not to mention Apple CEO Tim Cook:
- “3 Studio Displays? Rich. 3 Studio Displays each with height-adjustable stand? A descendent of Finnish Royalty.”
- “Nobody can afford three Pro Display XDRs. Not even Al Gore.”
- “Hey hey for the man that invented the internet he deserves it all. Now you have the set up that proceeded the one that invented the internet.”
- “Tim Cook could only get two and that’s with an employee discount.”
Thoughtful commentary on Gore and Steve Jobs
In any discussion of Gore, references to how he allegedly said he “invented the internet” will come up. And so they did in the post’s comments in the jokes above and in this thoughtful squib that actually gives the guy some credit:
Although Gore never said that he “invented the Internet,” he did say he “took the initiative in creating the Internet.” Can that claim be substantiated? As we will see, Gore did indeed take an intellectual and legislative interest in promoting high-speed data networks in the United States, and he did this during the 1980s, at a time long before most members of the public – let alone most politicians – were thinking about such issues.
Really interesting read as Al Gore had a long history of pushing for regulating and funding environmental issues and computer technology issues while everyone else in Congress was rolling their eyes.
And another commenter drew an interesting line from Gore to Apple cofounder Steve Jobs:
Just like Steve Jobs and the legendary Apple products that he is credited with, basically, jobs himself didn’t technically invent / create the iPod, iPhone, iPad and those devices, what’s important was that he created the environment for it. As director he told his team “I want a device that can do this this and this” and his team made it happen. That’s what I’m saying with Gore lol.
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Photo: Imgur
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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, challenges and plans for new additions.
Apple's 27-inch 5K Retina monitor, with nano textured glass and tilt-adjustable stand.
