A New York City-based magazine editor showed off a beautiful computer setup that serves up twice the fun because it boasts two of everything. Well, not everything.
But it doubles up on a lot of the main gear — two M3 MacBooks Pro, two Studio Displays, two sets of Philips Hue smart lights, a pair of Yamaha speakers on stands and, believe it or not, two Magic Trackpads and a Magic Mouse.
Read more about the setup’s whys and wherefores below, and check out that gear list of links at the bottom of the article.
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Setup with double the fun: 2 hot MacBooks, 2 Studio Displays, 2 sets of smart lights and 2 Trackpads
Magazine editor-in-chief and Redditor rapgamejordan (“Jordan”) showcased the beautiful setup in a post entitled, “Mac Desk Setup Update.” He claimed to be “keeping it simple,” but it’s a big-time, well-equipped workstation that would turn many folks green would envy.
He possesses not one but two new M3 Max MacBook pros, one 16-inch (128GB unified memory, 8TB SSD) and one 14-inch (64GB, 4TB). They drive not one but two 27-inch 5K Studio Displays with a Xiaomi Light Bar on top and flanked by a pair of Yamaha HS7 speakers on homemade stands. And a fancy Opal C1 Webcam (“the first professional webcam” with DSLR quality, the company says) and an AKG C2000b cardioid condenser microphone mounted on an InnoGear arm help out with video calls.
“I typically always purchase two computers,” Jordan said. “One for portability and the other stays stationary on my desk. I’m upgrading from the M1 Max series of laptops from Apple.”
And as for the external webcam and mic, he had something to say about his Studio Displays when someone asked if he hated their built-in webcams.
“The quality of the Apple Studio Display webcam is quite bad,” he said. “Actually, it’s awful. So it’s not that I hate it, it simply doesn’t provide the quality to meet my needs.”
Why 2 Magic Trackpads?
And then there’s the two Magic Trackpads plus a Magic Mouse. It’s not usual to see one mouse and one trackpad in a setup, particularly because people love trackpads for gesturing. But two trackpads is unusual and two trackpads and a mouse is downright odd. So of course commenters had questions.
Here’s what Jordan said:
Disclaimer: I use two trackpads because the two Apple Studio Displays are very wide. 58 inches across, so having two makes it easier to navigate across both displays. They also serve as controllers on Djay Pro which is great. Lastly, the Magic Mouse is there purely for sentimental reasons.
So he likes covering his vast screen real estate via one Magic Trackpad on either side of the Magic Keyboard, plus they help him use his DJ software. And he just like having the Magic Mouse around.
“It makes macOS a bit more fluid for me. Especially while using a dual display setup,” he said. And in another reply, he elaborated further:
It’s a combination of functionality and convenience. It works with having so much screen real estate. Moving windows with the three finger gesture, accessing the folders I leave to the bottom left of the left display, etc. I can’t speak for everyone but for me, yes, it does allow me to move the cursor faster and being able to use both trackpads in DJay Pro simultaneously is a major plus.
Great Philips Hue lighting
The other doubled-up gear in the setup concerns its lovely lighting — namely two different Philips Hue light sets.
“It’s the Philips Hue light system,” Jordan explained. “Two Hue Plays (one on the back of each monitor) a Philips Hue Light Strip behind the desk and a spare Philips Hue Play along the left side of the desk to hit the wall for indirect lighting.”
Here’s more on how he handles his lighting:
I change the light scene depending on my mood. For me, I’ve noticed using bright and warm colors throughout the day just makes me happier.
I’ll sometimes change it to cooler temperatures which gives it a somewhat Star Wars/Storm Trooper feel but for me that lasts about a day or two.
I’ll also change it to softer pastel colors during the day which also looks very nice and helps offset the natural light the comes through heavily throughout the day.
Shop these items now:
Computers:
Display, light bar and webcam:
Input devices:
Audio:
Additional lighting:
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.
This Apple laptop features an M3 Max chip with 14‑core CPU and 30‑core GPU, plus a 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR Display, 36GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD Storage. Works with iPhone/iPad; Silver.
