The Anker Apex Thunderbolt 4 dock has a whopping 12 ports. Photo: Anker
Anker’s new Apex Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station, available July 1, sports a familiar design but packs an usually high number of ports for the maker’s typical consumer wares — 12. They include a 90-watt power pass-through slot and legacy options.
And now for an M1 Mac and a long arm for the laptop stand. Photo: KhanathanJr
These days, the M1-processor Macs are calling to a lot of people, and Redditor KhanathanJr is no exception. He’s a first-time MacBook fan wielding a formidable 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro packing an 8-core Intel i9 processor, 16 GB of RAM and a reasonably good graphics card, but … you know.
Pick up Anker’s awesome 5-in-1 USB-C hub and charger on Amazon today and get a generous $40 off the usual price.
The PowerPort hub keeps your iPad, MacBook and more topped up while allowing you to connect up to four USB devices and a 4K monitor over HDMI. It’s now at its lowest-ever price for a limited time only.
Three setups in one makes for hot fun in the Arizona sun. Photo: Tyler Botha
Arizona-based Tyler Botha, aka theallseeingeye on Reddit, is a TV-focused copywriter for a San Francisco startup and a retired pro DJ. The setup and epic gear list he sent to our attention does triple duty with a capable “WFH Desk,” a powerful “Gaming Corner” and a remarkably complete “DJ Desk.”
Talk about “complete.” Botha’s gear list, represented in the links below, is probably the longest one ever published in a Cult of Mac Setups article. You don’t have to be a DJ to appreciate it, but it helps.
With an ultra-compact design that makes it easy to take anywhere, Anker’s terrific 18W USB-C charger is ideal for those who are always on the go. It will charge your iPhone, iPad, and lots more.
The Anker Nano II family offers big power n small packages. Photo: Anker
Anyone accustomed to the hefty MacBook power brick might want to sit down before they see the Anker Nano II 65W. This is far, far smaller than Apple’s wall charger, but can still put out 65 watts. The secret is gallium nitride.
Anker also introduced on Monday versions with 45W and 30W.
What would you add to this setup? Photo: jondajaba@Reddit
Redditor jondajaba recently finished putting together a computer setup and asked in a post for recommendations on what’s missing that he might add. Naturally, setup mavens far and wide who live and breathe this stuff replied with plenty of advice.
Nanoleaf Shapes give you interesting lighting options. Photo: arnaki_gkioulmpasi@reddit
If one thing catches your eye first about Redditor arnaki_gkioulmpasi’s setup, it’s probably the interesting light show on the wall behind it. That array is made up of Nanoleaf Shapes that can be arranged any which way.
Those cool-looking lights, along with a Yeelight Screen Light Bar Pro atop the Dell 32-inch curved 4K monitor and a standing lamp next to the desk, keep eyestrain to a minimum.
The Anker PowerCore Magnetic 5K is the clip-on power bank we’ve been hoping for. Mostly. Photo: Anker
Anker will apparently launch the first power bank that uses the MagSafe system to magnetically attach to an iPhone 12 series model. The PowerCore Magnetic 5K will be able to transmit 5000mAh to Apple’s latest handsets through inductive charging.
However, the external battery doesn’t fully support the new MagSafe system so it doesn’t offer enhanced charging speeds.
Don’t let the small size of the Aukey Omnia Mix fool you. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The Aukey Omnia Mix wall charger offers a USB-C port that can handle anything from an iPhone to a MacBook. It’s palm-size but the 65W portable power adapter also includes a USB-A port for other electronics, like an Apple Watch.
My real-world testing included using the affordable charger with multiple Apple devices. Here’s how it stood up.
The Anker Magnetic Wireless Power Bank attaches to an iPhone 12 when needed, but is easily removable. Photo: Anker
Anker’s latest external battery uses magnets to attach itself to an iPhone 12 for wireless charging. It enables the handset to juice up while it’s being used on the move.
The accessory maker also unveiled at CES 2021 a 3-in-1 wireless charger with an removable 10,000 mAh battery.
Bag batteries, cables, wireless chargers, and more. Photo: Anker
Need reliable charging accessories, do-it-all USB-C hubs or affordable wireless headphones? Check out Amazon’s big sale on must-have iPhone, iPad and Mac accessories from Anker.
Don’t disrupt your desk with a dozen dangling dongles every time you need to connect peripherals to your MacBook. Anker’s excellent 7-in-2 USB-C hub is a much cleaner, more elegant solution that’s now $15 cheaper.
Enjoy this limited-time discount before it disappears.
If you plan to connect any peripherals to your MacBook or iPad Pro, you’ll likely need a decent USB-C hub. This highly rated, 7-in-1 solution from Anker is ideal — and it’s now 25% cheaper for a limited time.
It supports traditional USB-A devices, external monitors, SD cards and more. It’s the only USB-C hub most users will ever need.
Amazon is dropping big discounts on Anker’s awesome new USB-C chargers with gallium nitride (GaN) charging technology. Get your 60W plug, with enough power for almost anything, at $16 off today.
Jake Weisler is a professional wedding photographer and a content creator for Full Time Filmmaker, which produces crash courses about filmmaking. So having lots of storage — a whopping 56 terabytes — is key to his success.
At the center of this setup is the incredible 27-inch iMac Pro. Weisler uses a Magic Trackpad and Magic Keyboard with the additional Numeric Keypad. He also sports an Azio Retro Classic Mouse, which actually has a leather topping for some genuine comfort. As an editor, he needs both a trackpad and a mouse because he uses them simultaneously to scroll, click and swipe.
The Anker PowerExpand Elite includes so many ports it’s almost easier to list the ones it doesn’t have. Photo: Anker
Anker boasts that the just-released PowerExpand Elite hub lets you “connect everything imaginable,” and there’s a certain amount of justification. This accessory has no less that 13 ports. There’s Thunderbolt 3, USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, audio ports, memory card readers, and more.
The company also launched on Wednesday the Anker PowerExpand, which “only” has seven ports of a range of types.
Sitting in a movie theater is a luxury many of us won’t get to enjoy again for a long time. So bring the cinema home to you with huge savings on Anker projectors today only.
Prices start at under $160 (down from $229.99) for the Nebula Prizm II, which offers 1080p video, built-in speakers, and a long-life lamp that lasts up to 30,000 hours before it needs changing.
A set of origami-style lights illuminate the cozy setup of Instagram user @mrisad, an integration delivery manager. The Nanoleaf lights floating above his dual monitors evoke the control panels from some ’70s sci-fi show. And they’re integrated with HomeKit, Apple’s home-automation platform.
The heart of his rig is a beautiful pair of screens. The large main screen is a $1,000 curved, 38-inch screen from LG. The second screen is a 28-inch Asus gaming monitor. He hooked them both up to a Mac mini, and elegantly suspended them in midair by an inexpensive ($40) but fully articulated desktop stand.
To round out his setup, @mrisad has a Magic Keyboard and Trackpad from Apple, and a trio of chargers for his iPhone, iPad and AirPods. As for audio, he has a HomePod and a pair of Sennheiser noise-canceling headphones.
One of these two has a lot more computing power. It’s probably not the one you’d expect. Photo: Wikipedia CC/Anker
Even today’s simplest accessories include more powerful computers than were used decades ago. To demonstrate, an engineer set out to prove that a USB-C charger from accessory-maker Anker includes a more capable CPU than the one that guided Apollo 11 to the Moon.
The biggest photography stories of the decade all involved the iPhone in some way. The approaching decade’s first story will likely be the rise of add-on strobe lights for iPhone photographers.
Less than two weeks after news broke that Apple told accessories companies that it would add flash support for the iPhone 11 lineup, Anker is claiming to have the first MFi flash unit that plugs right into the Lightning port.
Don't know what to buy? Let Cult of Mac help. Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
With so many iPhone accessories available today, it’s hard to know where to start when buying holiday gifts for the iPhone lover in your life. But Cult of Mac can help.
We’ve rounded up some of the best accessories out there for iPhone owners. We’ve got great cases, superb headphones, gorgeous charging stands, and more.
Prices start at just $25, and many of the products are currently on sale for Black Friday. Snap them up while they’re cheap!
Bag 'em! It's time to accessorize that monster laptop. Photo: WaterField Designs
Your shiny new 16-inch MacBook Pro arrives this week, and of course you want to deck it out with all the latest accessories. What you need will depend on what you use your computer for, but almost everyone will want a case, a keyboard and a mouse. And there are plenty of other MacBook Pro accessories you might need to get the job done.
Check out our guide for dongles, cables and even battery packs that will help you get the most out of your new MacBook Pro.