Redditor Singulaffect stirred up a swarm of comments recently when posting a MacBook Pro-based setup featuring an LG 21-inch 4K display but no speakers — and two sets of AirPods. But what really stole the show was a Palm Vx from 1999.
San Francisco-based designer Arun Venkatesan is about to take delivery on a 2020 MacBook Air with an M1 chip to replace the 2013 MacBook Air he uses in tandem with his 2018 MacBook Pro. But the new Mac isn’t really what he’s excited about.
He thinks less about having the latest technology and more about how his tools fit into his design philosophy, which he wrote about at length here. Form and function meet in his elegant and minimal setup.
iOS software engineer Christian Roman has a “love-hate relationship” with his impressive triple 5K display setup.
“It’s fantastic when it works,” he told Cult of Mac. “It’s a nightmare when macOS suddenly decides to stop working with triple screens.”
This video download post is presented by SnapDownloader.
So many videos online, so little time. If you want some help downloading videos to your heart’s content from a tremendous number of popular websites — even simultaneously — you might want to try SnapDownloader for free. If you like it, you’ll be glad to know it’s inexpensive and super-easy to use, whether your computer’s operating system is macOS or Windows.
Vincent Belotti, a mechanical engineering student at Farmingdale State College on Long Island, New York, has a colorful setup — and we’re not just talking about his screensaver. He 3D-prints some of the components in it himself, and he can’t get enough decor related to his favorite games.
As an engineering student, Belotti has made 3D printing into a hobby. He uses his MacBook Pro to model and slice prints that become components to enhance his setup. They include an Apple Watch dock, shown on the right side of his desk in these photos, and 3D figurines on the shelf above his monitor.
Tony Walker has been an Apple user since 2003. As a college student in his early 20s, he did his classwork on a 12-inch PowerBook G4 and a 3rd generation iPod during downtime at his graveyard-shift job.
Things have changed a little almost two decades later.
Shad Ahmad was a hard-studying freshman majoring in biology and minoring in history at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Going home to continue classes for a semester remotely from his parents’ house in Wisconsin may not have been ideal, but Ahmad found a comforting upside. Integrated smart technology makes his life easier, he told Cult of Mac.
Austin, Texas-based photographer Matt Tran initially built his impressive setup to share his pics on Instagram, and you can certainly see a lot of them there. But now he uses his workstation, centered on a MacBook Pro and two monitors of vastly different sizes, to film and edit videos.
“I like having the 38-inch [LG] ultrawide to view the timeline on Final Cut Pro and the smaller, 15.6-inch Desklab portable monitor to review the footage,” he told Cult of Mac.
Ryan Brookes, who works in sales for a financial services firm in Denver, Colorado, likes his open spaces. That includes indoor ones, like a spare, clean setup on his desk. Physical space helps him think, he told Cult of Mac.
His Mac mini with an M1 chip tethered to a 49-inch Samsung curved monitor probably help him think, too. Those and his iPad, which he will soon pair with a Keychron K1 Mechanical Keyboard.
David Wilcox is an IT consultant working from home in Bristol, England. His remote work situation means he gets to tweak his setup just as he likes, he told Cult of Mac.
Wilcox’s central command is a 27-inch 5K iMac from 2019. Humming along with it are two 28-inch U2HE850 monitors paired and run together via a Startech Thunderbolt 3 to Dual DisplayPort Adapter.
With that much screen real estate and a plethora of networking gear, he gets a lot done.
“My first computer was a Sinclair [Research] ZX81,” he said, referring to a machine made by Timex Corp. in the United Kingdom starting in 1981. “So this setup is just about a home-computing Nirvana!”
Basking Ridge, New Jersey-based Edward Wang, Ph.D., is an executive director with Quest Diagnostics. He took some serious time and effort making his setup a clean and powerful tool for health care work and audiovisual play. Once he diagnosed and treated a cable-management malady stemming from several separate pieces of computer and audio equipment, his setup delighted him.
Brisbane, Australia-based defense contractor Duncan Shultz loves Dungeons & Dragons. And that’s the main action his Mac-mini-and-wide-screen setup sees, although he also admits to using it to work for a living. An Aasimar Sorcerer’s got to eat, after all.
“The wide screen is simply awesome for my uses,” Shultz told Cult of Mac. “Specifically in running online D&D games. I can have video conferencing, multiple browsers, streaming software and other tools all open and accessible.”
In addition to the aforementioned sorcerer character — goes by the name of Selinth, BTW — Schultz is a dungeon master for Curse of Strahd campaigns, one online and one in person. Online he uses the Roll20 website and in person he uses EncounterPlus for iOS and macOS.
An IT professional who specializes in Mac and iOS home implementations probably has a leg up on the next guy when it comes to building an Apple-centric home office and man cave.
Or is it a man cave and home office? We’ll let Paul O’Toole, an IT pro from Worcestershire, England, decide that. It’s his, after all. He calls it a “sitting room,” actually.
He turned his garage into an office and movie palace, thanks to an LG 34UC99 curved monitor and a pair of HomePods running with his Mac Pro.
Gareth Owen is a London-based professional sound designer whose job involves extensive CAD and acoustic modeling, but he also does sound effects work and multitrack mixing.
So he built a setup that functions as both his home office and a basic home studio.
Miami-based Curtis Sponsler has been a 3D animator and motion graphics designer for more than 30 years. These days, that work takes copious amounts of computing power and massive storage capacity.
Fortunately, his current iMac Pro-based setup handles his needs well.
The man even built his own render farm in a closet with dedicated air conditioning to store and cool his video-rendering machines.
This refurbished device post is presented by Australia-based reseller Phonebot.
Every year, millions of people around the world flock to stores and wait online for the biggest sales events of the year: end of financial year sales, Boxing Day deals and Black Friday. These beloved events have become synonymous with massive discounts. Retailers everywhere offer attractive sale prices on electronics, smartphones and a ton of other products.
For many retailers, the focus these days tends to be on electronics. So if you are in the market for a new smartphone, these sales events are an optimal time to get one. You can count on seeing some significant discounts on the latest refurbished Android and iPhone models in different storage options.
Ed Yoon has a job many music fans and players would covet. He’s chief operating officer of high-end electric guitar maker and distributor Strandberg Guitars USA in Riverside, California. As you might guess from his line of work, he’s a major audiophile. And his office setup makes a lot of noise to that effect.
OK, not “noise.” Beautiful music.
Even before the pandemic, Yoon had been working a lot from home to manage the company’s operations. Then, as COVID-19 spread, remote work became the norm. Unlike most of us, he needed more than just a desk and a computer with decent speakers. He had to have mind-blowing audio.
This wireless charger post is presented by Alogic.
During the holiday season, it’s not unusual for folks to find additional devices in their lives as a result of gift-giving. And more devices means more gadgets that need charging. Fortunately, Alogic has you covered. It now offers two chargers in its multi-coil wireless charging station range to keep your iPhone and all your accessories going.
This video converter post is presented by Digiarty.
Digiarty has updated its MacX Video Converter Pro software for 4K ultra-high-definition video processing. Right now, you can get the improved product at a big discount — or even free — for a limited time. Plus, you get some additional free software, too.
This iOS GPS spoofing post is presented by Wondershare, maker of Dr. Fone – Virtual Location (iOS).
People have been tricking their smartphone apps into thinking they’re somewhere else for a long time. That’s called global positioning system (GPS) spoofing. And while there are surely illegal reasons to do it, there are also plenty of legal ones.
Anyone addicted to Pokémon Go who just sprained their ankle or got snowed in knows what I’m talking about. You still gotta play. And when the game depends upon GPS — as a huge number of location-based augmented reality games do — you need your iPhone to indicate you actually got off the couch.
And the great thing is, whatever your reason for faking your GPS location with an iPhone, Dr. Fone – Virtual Location (iOS) now makes it easy to do, with no jailbreaking required. Alth0ugh Apple does not support GPS spoofing, location changing certainly isn’t just for Android smartphones anymore.
This iPhone case post is presented by Totallee.
With iPhone prices rising to heights that make the devices more of a serious investment with each new model, those lucky enough to find themselves the proud owner of a new device had better protect it. That means putting it in a case. Some people hate that because it bulks up and obscures their sleek and beautiful new smartphone.
But your new case doesn’t have to look like it’s as protective as blast barriers and barbed wire. You could try the case that is almost like no case at all — the Totallee clear case for iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max. The thin, flexible, transparent case is for anyone who wants to protect their brand-new iPhone while retaining its aesthetic.
This air purifier post is presented by Molekule.
If there was ever a year that cried out for clearing the air, it’s 2020. Many a pundit has called these 12 months “challenging” in many ways. This holiday season, with so many people spending most of their time at home, why not give yourself and others the gift of literally cleaned air? You can do that with a technologically advanced — and Apple HomeKit-compatible — Molekule air purifier, such as the Air Mini+. They’re on sale through Dec. 31.
This software key post is presented by VIPkeysale.com.
It’s that time of year again. What time is that? Winter holiday time. Time to stay inside at home — whether from the cold or because of COVID-19 — and bask in the warm glow of your device screens. That’s especially fun and easy when VIPkeysale.com offers you (and all Cult of Mac readers) 16% off gaming and other software product keys.
And if you’re giving gifts this holiday season, sales like this one might just give you some extra reason for holiday cheer. Just remember to check out with your purchase on the website using the coupon code VIPMAC.
This VideoProc Mac video editing post is presented by Digiarty.
When the holidays roll around, your impulse to make scads of digital videos and then doctor them up for friends and family may be stronger than ever this year. After all, lots of people will not see as many loved ones in person because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That makes it a good time to invest in fast, capable and easy-to-use video editing software at a great price. So rejoice, because Digiarty is offering Cult of Mac readers lifetime-use licenses for its VideoProc Mac editing and processing software at 60% off for Christmas.
This iCloud access post is presented by Tenorshare.
Tenorshare 4MeKey is a tool you can use on an iOS device to bypass iCloud activation lock without needing to key in an account password. The tool is useful when you have forgotten the password for the lock.
