Apple doesn’t have a very long list of unpopular products or features, but whatever list of shame it may keep probably includes MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar. But not everyone hates the feature. The Python developer who runs today’s MacBook Pro setup actually loves it.
A more than capable M3 Pro MacBook Pro powers today’s computer setup, but its six-speaker sound system won’t be needed. That’s because the medical student who own the rig has the good taste to include fantastic KEF LS50 Wireless II speakers.
He’ll just have to keep the powerful speakers’ volume in check to avoid having to see an ear doctor.
A Dell curved 4K monitor — especially a big 40-incher — can make an excellent external display, if today’s featured MacBook Air and MacBook Pro setup is any indication. The user put the dramatic display together with a 27-inch 4K monitor after trying two other configurations.
Who doesn’t love a good MacBook? Or maybe two MacBooks, like in today’s setup. The guy has his own M2 MacBook Air, a formidable machine. But he’s lucky enough to add to it an absolutely screaming M3 Max MacBook Pro courtesy of his employer. Nice perk, that.
He can also thank work for his second 4K display. But it doesn’t top his own.
If you are in the market for a slim laptop, there are few options better than the 15-inch MacBook Air. But if you look beyond Apple’s ecosystem, there’s the Dell XPS 15. It packs a slim and lightweight design and offers more value for money than the MacBook. So, which 15-inch laptop wins the MacBook Air vs. Dell XPS 15 smackdown?
Find out in this buying guide, which compares the two laptops on their designs, displays, performance, ports, battery lives and prices.
A systems engineer who works for a software developer showed off today’s M1 Pro MacBook Pro setup, which features unusual audio. Razer Nommo Chroma gaming speakers rarely come up in setups despite their high coolness factor. They look a bit like highway patrol speed guns. And the noise-canceling wireless earbuds are a favorite — Soundcore Space A40.
We see many, many dual-display computer setups in our coverage, with the vast majority being two screens of the same size, whether they’re oriented differently or not. But that’s not always the case. Today’s M1 Pro MacBook Pro and Windows laptop rig sports different-size dual displays that even have different resolutions. But it works for the user, a systems engineer who works for a software developer.
It’s the best of both worlds: A computer setup with a Mac and a PC. They each have their strengths. But how best to use both in the same workstation? Well, today’s setup does it with a MacBook Pro and Anker dock arrangement.
The user, a systems engineer for a software developer, relies on an Anker 5-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 dock to connect an M1 Pro MacBook Pro and Windows laptop to displays that suit them, plus other peripherals.
The M1 Ultra Mac Studio set a new benchmark for computing power in a package smaller than Mac Pro when it came out in spring 2022. Today’s setup sparked discussion about the relative merits of the powerful desktop machine, with one user citing a surprising point of praise — the Mac Pro braided power cord!
Trend alert: We’re seeing more computer setups cutting down from dual apple studio display setups — or sometimes a few — to one external display. This is no scientific survey, but today’s setup looks like another example of several we’ve seen popping up on social media lately where a user wants to simplify and focus in that way.
And commenters compared the choice of display that remained — a Dell 4K gaming monitor — favorably to Studio Display.
Paired for stereo sound, two full-size HomePod smart speakers — the original or second generation — are a thing of auditory beauty. And they don’t just sound great, they look good, too. Yet we don’t see paired HomePods much in computer setups (HomePod minis yes, the big ones, no).
Today’s MacBook Pro setup takes full advantage of Apple audio, however, and the user couldn’t be happier. Well, except with Siri, that is. Check out their setup’s cheerful day version (above) and moody night version (below).
For the second time in as many weeks we’ve come across someone ditching a nice external display and keeping just one — and this time it’s to add a second powerful MacBook Pro used as both a computer and a secondary display. In fact, now it’s triple-display setup, but two of them are laptops on stands.
Dell introduced new 34-inch and 40-inch ultra-wide, curved, high-resolution monitors Thursday ahead of CES 2024 in Las Vegas, including a big 5K screen that ratchets up the competition against Studio Display and other smaller 5K screens. Dell’s new monitors go on sale in late February.
Both screens are certified for eye comfort, but the larger one is “the world’s first 40-inch 5K monitor certified for five-star eye comfort,” the company said.
Ah, the magic of Christmas. Even a grownup can get deliriously excited about unwrapping a rich haul of computer gear that turns a Charlie Brown Christmas tree of a setup into a powerful workstation that would intimidate Ebeneezer Scrooge. You can also relive the magic and watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales free this season.
Today’s user had a decent MacBook Pro and iPad Pro to begin with, but ended up with a proper, highly functional setup. And commenters had further suggestions for additions, too. Hey, the more the merrier!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If you’re not elevating your laptop, iPad and displays on mounts and arms, you’re limiting your computer setup. Today’s feature MacBook Pro and iPad setup illustrates the point well by putting those devices and dual displays on four separate mounts, some with moveable arms.
That makes all of those devices more flexible, and much easier to move around than they would be on stationary stands. It also frees up space on the desk.
One thing we love about Apple is the staying power of its beautiful displays. We see the Studio Display maker’s much older Cinema Displays and Thunderbolt Displays used in modern computer setups pretty regularly.
Today’s MacBook Pro setup recently added a docking station to charge the laptop while connecting it to a classic LED Cinema Display.
I moved to a new home over the weekend, and in it I’ve already built a new workstation. What better time to revamp things? Actually, it’s more like another stage in my computer setup’s herky-jerky evolution.
I went from just a PC laptop a few years ago to various iterations of a MacBook Pro workstation to my new rig, featuring dual monitors, a standing desk and a proper office chair for the first time in ages.
Anyone looking to run different peripherals with both Mac and PC might take a look at today’s setup advice-fest. The user runs a Mac mini with dual displays and typical Apple input devices, but wants to add a Dell laptop from work into the mix.
They got plenty of advice on doing just that with the right kind of dock or KVM switch, below.
Today’s featured setup sports a powerful M2 Ultra Mac Studio desktop computer and four screens, three of them with sparkling 4K resolution. But until recently it was an M2 Max MacBook Pro setup upgraded from an M1 MacBook Pro.
Why the switch to Mac Studio? Hey, sometimes you just need a more badass computer. Especially when you work in 3D rendering and you rarely take the laptop off its dock anyway.
Today’s featured Mac Studio setup found an interesting way to arrange its four displays — three little ones in a row and one huge one broadcasting the Bat-Signal on top.
With Batman undoubtedly on his way (OK, maybe it’s just the logo, not the actual signal), the workstation also boasts a 12.9-inch iPad Pro with Apple’s Smart Folio and a remarkably affordable mechanical keyboard for use with the desktop machine.
Computer-setup gawkers on social media love their symmetry. It’s really just human nature to prefer those clean lines and even spacing — you know, stopping short of full-blown obsessive compulsive disorder and blowing a gasket if one little cable appears out of place.
Today’s M1 Ultra Mac Studio workstation brings not only powerhouse computing, but a few tricks of the trade when it comes to creating that pleasing symmetry. And it packs an interesting device we don’t see very often.
Our travels online among computer setups show that a great many Apple users don’t choose Magic Mouse — and many even detest it. So they select popular products from Logitech and other makers. But some people, like graphic designers, passionately defend Apple’s sleek and slippery mouse, and today’s featured MacBook Pro-and-custom-PC setup is a testament to that. Long live Magic Mouse!
Who doesn’t love a clean, uncluttered computer setup? It doesn’t have to be “minimalist,” like it’s trying to impersonate a Zen rock garden, it just has to be simple and productive.
Today’s featured 15-inch M2 Pro MacBook Air and 11-inch M2 iPad Pro setup gets by quite nicely with one external monitor and the use of Sidecar.
We love it when computer setup users show their work as they trudge toward home-office nirvana. Today’s featured MacBook Pro and iPad Pro setup does it in a subtle way, providing “before” and “after” photos showing incremental changes that improved the workstation.
You can see the before photograph below and the after shot above.
Getting a complex computer setup just-so can be a daunting experience for even seasoned users. Maybe somebody should create a diagram or something? Well, someone did, making a highly capable MacBook Pro-and-PC setup with external display, storage, audio and more look even more complicated than it really is.
The sleekly executed diagram delighted viewers on social media. Check it out below.