Ikea - page 2

Back in our day — when we walked 5 miles uphill to school both ways — students were lucky to have plywood on cinderblocks for a desk and a laptop weighing, oh, let’s say 25 pounds (we’re too old to remember things).

Nowadays, these kids have pretty swanky computer setups with desktop machines you could toss in a knapsack. Today’s featured item boasts a Mac mini, a MacBook Pro, a 4K display, Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad 2 and a Lego building set to die for.

At Cult of Mac we love retro Apple gear. Today’s featured setup pairs a powerful new M1 Max MacBook with a beautiful old Cinema Display plus the iconic Harman Kardon SoundSticks speaker system.

And if you love the old Cinema Displays but worry their resolution won’t cut it nowadays, read on.

In today’s featured computer setup, owned by a web developer, a 2012 Mac mini shares the spotlight with a new 16-inch M1 MacBook Pro.

Before you think, “Wow, the Mac mini must be amazing, competing with that sleek new laptop,” nah, this is more like take-your-great-grandfather-to-work day for the elderly little desktop machine.

It’s around because it still works for light lifting. And it does indeed show impressive longevity.

A new external display for your computer setup is usually a joy to behold. It is, after all, what you look at most. And you probably just replaced your old one with a bigger, brighter and more beautiful new one. But sometimes buyer’s remorse creeps in. Is it actually the best screen for your needs that you can afford?

Today’s featured setup comes from a software coder who has started to have doubts about a substantial recent monitor purchase. Will he succumb to them? He’s keeping his eye on the return deadline and asking for advice.

When you look at the gear in today’s setup you might say, what is this, an ad for Elgato? The workstation is rife with Elgato devices widely used by streamers for video-production workflows, like its popular Facecam, Wave:3 microphone and Stream Deck.

But the MacBook Pro setup isn’t used for streaming at all.

The software engineer who occupies the well-appointed workstation finds perfectly productive things to do with all that Elgato gear, other than streaming.

Sometimes the hero of a computer setup isn’t the computer itself. And it may not be a slick external display or other peripherals, either. In today’s featured MacBook Pro setup, a newly added LG UltraFine display gets some attention, but the real star is something a bit more pedestrian mounted on the wall behind it.

Pegboards may have no world-changing technology built into them, but they can radically change your setup for the better as an inventive storage and charging solution.

Graphic design is one of the best uses of a powerful computer like the Mac Studio, assuming it’s paired with a magnificent display. In today’s featured computer setup, the Mac Studio handles the job. But the LG UltraWide monitor falls a bit short, due to some recurring connectivity issues.

And the setup features some interesting bits that might give you ideas about how to organize your own workstation.

The term “money pit” usually refers to an old house that needs a lot of expensive work that never seems to end. But it could actually refer to a computer setup, too. After all, it’s never really finished and the next round of irresistible gear is always about to come out.

Today’s featured Mac Studio setup is a good example. After years of saving and planning, a setup centered on a struggling 2015 iMac metastasized, at great cost, into a Mac Studio powerhouse with dual Studio Displays.

Some computer setups will make you green with envy, considering their gear’s quantity as well as quality. Take today’s featured setup, a delight for both gamers and podcasters.

It sports not just a new M1 MacBook, but also a powerful custom gaming PC. It boasts not just a solid 27-inch full HD display, but a monster 49-inch super-ultra-wide screen. And it relies on not just a good webcam, but a premium mirrorless digital camera.

And the list goes on, extending to audio and even a new mechanical keyboard. Read on.

We like Friday Setups posts to be on the fun side. We look for entertaining gear, wacky decor and exotic locations. Today we found a Dutch guy who works in IT management via his M1 iMac.

That doesn’t sound especially fun, but he also wields a pretty badass electric guitar.

He runs the axe into a Focusrite audio interface and listens to his musical creations on a killer set of cans, too.

Today’s featured M1 Pro MacBook workstation has a new Studio Display with bias lighting, illuminating the wall behind the display. It comes from three strategically placed Philips Hue Play bars that really make that corner of the small apartment “pop.”

You can have a lot of good gear in your computer setup but still feel it falls short somehow. Like with today’s featured setup, you could have a recent MacBook Pro and an Xbox Series X gaming console. You could have a sweet curved gaming monitor. You might even have a kick-ass Lego Technic McLaren Formula 1 Race Car mounted on the wall.

But do you have stellar audio or just OK audio? That’s the issue our setup’s owner faces.

We love serious audio here at Setups Central. But is it possible for the audio gear in your computer setup to be too serious? For example, can your desktop speakers be too comically oversized, as if you’re making some sort of visual joke about your life being all about the music?

In today’s featured setup, a magnificent 32-inch Pro Display XDR actually manages to look puny in between two monstrously huge Yamaha powered studio monitors. And yet, believe it or not, they may not actually be too big.

At a glance, today’s featured computer setup appears simpler than it really is. It showcases a Mac mini, a pair of mounted monitors and some typical-looking input devices. A row of water bottles stands to the right because the owner, who lives in India, is big on hydration as summer hits the subcontinent.

But there’s more to the setup than meets the eye. And some of it escapes the camera’s lens.

Some computer setups just say “slick.” They declare, in their perfection, “I might actually be staged.” They suggest, without a trace of shyness, much less humility, “There’s no way I look this clean all the damn time.”

Neither a speck of dust nor a stray cable to be seen.

But then again, some workstations are cleaned up with the arrival of a major new addition and made ready for the one photo where they’ll look their Sunday best. That’s likely the case with today’s featured setup, with its dark-stained woods and its lights just so. After all, it just got a brand new Mac Studio.

Who doesn’t like to have a little fun on a Friday, especially when it’s also April Fools’ Day? Not that today’s featured setup is a joke or fake in any way. It’s real. It’s serious. Not as serious as a heart attack, maybe. But it’s a working setup that likes to have a good time, let’s say.

The seriousness stems mainly from a late-model MacBook Pro and a killer ultra-wide LG display. The good time comes from the super-cool Lego Technic racing cars on the wall — two for now, with a third to come. Each one of these things has thousands of pieces.

Cue the lights, strike up the music and let the garden party begin. Ikea’s got a new outdoor lantern coming. What’s interesting is that it doubles as the first Bluetooth speaker on the market with Spotify Tap built in.

The one-touch Spotify functionality isn’t the only music streaming service you can use with the lamp, called the Ikea Vappeby. But it’s handy.

Ever had trouble getting your Mac to recognize third-party peripherals, like a keyboard and mouse? Today’s featured setup is built around a brand-new Mac Studio mounted neatly on a pegboard behind a Samsung super ultra-wide display. But the Apple desktop computer refused to pair with a Logitech keyboard and mouse, according to the owner.

He said he had to go and buy Apple’s Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse to establish working input devices. So what happened?

With Apple’s big “Peek Performance” event only just past and deliveries of newly release products in progress, we see computer setups with new Mac Studio desktops and Studio Display monitors cropping up on social media sites.

Checking in with real people and their first impressions about the gear — and their answers to others’ questions about it — can be a pretty good early look at how things are going with Apple’s latest products.

Ever wonder how people get crazy-cool mood lighting in and around their computer setups? You see it all the time in folks’ photos on social media sites. The hardware — computer, displays, peripherals, other gear — may be fabulous in its own right, but the lighting just takes it to another level.

Or not. Sometimes lighting ends up being too flashy — as in, on the verge of fit-inducing. And sometimes it’s just too much of one thing. Today’s featured setup shows a cool blue wash that might just drown productivity. Or maybe it’s just for off-duty hours.

Whatever your preferences, an increasing array of products can help you get your setup light show on.

Who doesn’t love good optical illusions? And they’re especially cool when they result from an unexpected action that works as well as the expected action. Today’s featured computer setup surprised us with a floating display.

Thing is, though, the screen is not mounted on the wall. And it’s not levitating, either.

When you spend a third or more of your waking hours all but chained to a computer setup, you might as well make it a pleasant place to spend time. That’s what most of Cult of Mac‘s Setups coverage is all about, really — glorifying both the high-tech performance and the stylish comfort that ease your enslavement to whatever it is you do with tech.

Today’s 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro-based featured setup shows a “before and after” transition. Musician and Salesforce consultant Jon Young said a revamp of his wife’s “nicer and more spacious” work area inspired his changes. “Mine just has more gadgets lol,” he said.

If you’re an avid gamer, or maybe just an aspiring one, it pays to know which displays and accessories will best serve your needs. Not just any display, input device and headset will keep up with today’s graphically rich games. The dual M1 Mac and Sony PlayStation 5 computer setup we look at today demonstrates some good choices you might consider.

Redditor smhppp uses an M1 Mac mini for personal uses, an M1 MacBook Air for work and a Sony PS5 for gaming. They showed their setup in a post entitled, “Current setup, spec in comments for those interested.” It’s one of those one-vertical-and-one horizontal-display setups so many people are trying lately.

If you look up “11.11” in the Slang Dictionary, it says, “If it’s 11:11, make a wish! Some people believe 11:11 is a magic number or lucky time of day, good for making a wish … or reaching cosmic enlightenment.” Well, if something’s enlightened, or at least en-whitened, it’s today’s Mac mini-based setup.

It’s all there in black and white, really, with “11.11” writ large on the dual displays — probably via the Fliqlo screensaver, though it could be a clock app — and Nintendo gaming consoles aplenty.

With the new M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro models selling like hotcakes, a lot of people are wondering how to incorporate their new laptops into their computer setups. Is it enough just to use the laptop, or should it be used with an external keyboard, mouse or trackpad, as well as an external monitor? If you’re setting up your Mac and find that Bluetooth is off, you may need to know how to turn Bluetooth on Mac without mouse or keyboard.