If you look at enough computer setups, you get used to seeing the amazing technology that impresses people on social media sites. But then, sometimes the cool innovation, or let’s say killer retro-innovation, is just an unfamiliar form of whiteboard with dry-erase notes scribbled on it.
Redditor TheCrunks has an admirably capable but compact setup with plenty of tech to like.
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Redditor StevenJ95 recently moved from an apartment to a house, allowing him to have a new home office. For the first time. He’s got room enough in there for his MacBook Pro, his Samsung curved ultrawide monitor and even his Tesla Model S, Cybertruck and Supercharger.
OK, those last three are two diecast model cars and a cute little desktop Tesla charger for phones and such. But he does have a real Tesla Model 3 — which he sensibly parks elsewhere — as well as a lot of enthusiasm for the brand, judging by how he decorates his setup.
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.
It’s Christmas in May, June and July. Many people are taking delivery on the colorful new M1 iMacs. Others are jealously awaiting delivery while drooling over photographic evidence on social media of others’ recent shipments.
And computer setups everywhere are being refreshed with the dazzling new all-in-one machines (see Cult of Mac’s M1 iMac review roundup). Redditor 17parkc is just one example, sporting a brand-spanking-new blue iMac. They even posted a video showing off the upgrade.
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Designer and concept artist Antonio De Rosa came out with a drop-dead gorgeous rendering of a 16-inch MacBook Pro with an MX1 chip earlier this week that Cult of Mac reported on as a look at something possibly close to the real thing, based on recent leaks and rumors.
A substantially modified 16-inch MBP could be announced as soon as the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on June 7.
As for the designer of the speculative Apple concept, we decided to chat him up, much like we did recently with another render-master we know.
While London-based dental student and Redditor callum-edw studies how to fix your teeth, maybe you should study how he builds a classy computer setup with solid tech plus a few swanky details and DIY touches.
Callum’s rig centers on a MacBook Air M1 tethered to a 24-inch Dell U2419HC UltraSharp external monitor.
How many large displays is “overdoing it” in a computer setup? Redditor dm-86 suggested they’d gone too far with four, but that only ties one of our other favorites.
Some commenters joked around that they saw plenty of space for more in the imposing setup, or bank of screens, if you will.
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If you owned a new MacBook Air with an M1 chip and 16GB of unified memory, how much would you have to do at once for it to freeze, bringing up the spinning beach ball of death?
Redditor Typical_Andrew had a run at that.
This Apple Enterprise Management post is presented by Jamf.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic changed how employers and employees operate, remote work had become increasingly prevalent. By 2016, 43% of the U.S. workforce worked from home at least to some extent, according to Gallup. The pandemic added millions more and might tilt the balance toward remote work permanently.
So, now more than ever, organizations large and small must figure out how to manage, connect and secure all devices their staff members use, in workplaces and remotely. For enterprises that prefer to have iPhones, Macs and iPads in the mix, effective Apple Enterprise Management is crucial.
In the before-and-after pics of Reddit user yyzgal’s dual-monitor/MacBook Pro setup, guess which one has the stenography machine? Trick question. They both have it.
And it’s what most Redditors admiring the new-and-improved setup wanted to talk about in the comments section of yyzgal’s setup post. Well, that and the Sonnet eGPU Breakaway Puck hidden behind the laptop in the setup’s “after” photo (above).
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It’s only Monday, but Dutch videographer, designer and web production artist Dion Tavenier probably wins this week’s award for setup design. Cool, spare, architectural — get the Museum of Modern Setups on the phone!
If only there was such a museum. Or such an award.
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.
It’s not every day you come across a high school student running a successful tech-based business – never mind one whose 3D renderings are routinely seen by thousands of people. But that’s the case with 17-year-old New Yorker Ian Zelbo and his RendersbyIan.
His detailed and realistic renders of leaked tech products, including Macs, get loads of exposure on social media from his clients, the likes of Jon Prosser of @FrontPageTech and Sam Kohl of iupdate.
When you look at lots of computer setups people pimp out on social media, you see the same questions cropping up among the comments. One common query: What good are monitor light bars? And what are they for, exactly?
It came up again the other day when Redditor Strigga posted about their MacBook Pro-based setup. Almost at the same time, we saw it again in Maize-Calm’s post about finishing up a setup with, guess what, a light bar.
By the time of its release in March 1997, the over-the-top-shelf powerhouse known as the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh had seen its initial price of $9,000 cut to $7,499, or about $12,000 in today’s dollars.
The interesting-but-still-hopelessly unaffordable system — for a time delivered door-to-door and set up by tuxedoed concierges — failed in the marketplace. It went on to become a collector’s item.
These days, a Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, or TAM, often sells for around $1,500. So Redditor Cbaltz2 kind of scored when he picked one up a while back on eBay for $800. And remarkably, he found a good use for it in the here and now.
The big open window shown in the photo above certainly helps keep the place lit for free in bright daylight. But what does Redditor Kwipz do about cheap lighting for the darker hours?
They spend a few bucks. Literally.
These days, lots of folks rock two or three or even four large monitors in their computer setups. But some people go for one huge, mesmerizing display, like kenneth_powers1, among other Redditors — and it’s a TV set, at that.
Powers credits fellow Redditor TerronG for the inspiration to use a Samsung 43-inch TU-8000 series 4K Smart TV with his aging computer. Powers uses it with a 2013 MacBook Pro and a PC he built himself. TerronG runs a similar TU7000 series TV with a 2012 Mac mini upgraded with a newer SSD and additional RAM.
Illustrator and graphic designer andygigante_82 knows how to place his computer setup in an entertaining context. The fantastical space is his “Little Hobby Hole” — which he writes with a trademark symbol — as depicted in his Reddit post.
Looking at his photos, you might not notice the computer gear. That’s understandable, given every shot’s explosion of dynamic graphics, colorful action figures, skateboards festooned with his own graphic designs and more.
OK, maybe it’s a tad premature to freak out over couples’ setups being some sort of thing now. After all, the sample size here is just one, and we have no intention of carrying out any kind of exhaustive and exhausting survey or study on the matter.
Redditor thateconomistguy presents a “couples study space” where he and his girlfriend pore over economics research side by side under the frames in which they plan to display their upcoming master’s degree diplomas.
Redditor KunalBH bought a compact, no-frills Anker keyboard to use with his iPad in 2017. Now he’s asking the universe for help finding a worthy replacement (or additional) keyboard for his MacBook Pro-based setup.
Passionate suggestions are pouring in. See below for some of the leading contenders.