Ever show off your painstakingly constructed computer setup only to have everybody race past the gear just to ogle what’s showing on the screen(s)? The desktop wallpaper.
It’s kind of like that with today’s featured setup, the brainchild of a graphic designer.
He put together the dual-monitor setup around a 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro with a lineup of nice touches. And he also made the neato race-car wallpaper that got most of the attention.
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.
Apple’s newest iPad Air has received some stellar reviews, though murmuring from some quarters claims it’s a bit on the flimsy side. But the owner of today’s featured setup seems over the moon about the new addition to her workstation, centered by an M1 MacBook Air and an LG display.
And she’s eager to get going with the new, much-ballyhooed Universal Control functionality using the new tablet, despite challenges.
Apple has made iPad Air battery replacements slightly easier with a small but welcome change to the newest model. While it’s still difficult to get inside the device, removing its large battery pack is a simpler task for repairers.
It’s just one of many improvements you get with the fifth-generation iPad Air.
We haven’t seen a tremendous number of computer setups centered on powerhouse 16-inch M1 Max MacBook Pros — much less such workstations featuring both dual displays and paired original HomePods!
But today’s featured setup is an exception. It boasts those impressive characteristics as well as a useful lesson about not judging a book by its cover as well as striving to be kind online.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The first Mac Studio benchmarks make Apple’s much-ballyhooed M1 Ultra chip sound less amazing than we hoped. Maybe it’s not the unhinged beast we expected! But then, what do benchmarks really mean, anyway?
Also on The CultCast:
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MacBook Air fans may have to wait longer than expected for the ultraportable’s next big redesign. It was predicted to come early this year, but a new report claims it won’t be ready until sometime during the second half of 2022.
There’s also bad news for MacBook Pro fans. It seems updates to the 14- and 16-inch models, which could bring next-generation “M2 Pro” and “M2 Max” chipsets, won’t appear until 2023.
It requires a lot of bandwidth to drive the super-sharp 5K screen in Apple’s new Studio Display, and some devices just don’t cut it. Those hoping to use one with iPad Air will be disappointed to learn that a big upgrade is necessary.
Studio Display is only compatible with the fifth-generation iPad Air, announced during Apple’s big Peek Performance event on Tuesday. The fourth-generation model, released in October 2020, is left out in the cold — like iPad mini.
Apple is said to be planning a major MacBook Air refresh with an all-new design for 2022. But it may not get an “M2” chipset upgrade, as some rumors have suggested. It could also miss out on a mini-LED display.
Here’s what you can expect, according to one analyst who has proven reliable in the past.
Apple could make the Mac mini, its smallest desktop, even smaller if it really wanted to. One YouTuber proved that by taking the machine’s internals and packing them into a custom shell that’s 78% more compact than the original.
It’s just as fast as an unadulterated M1 Mac mini, but looks more like an Apple TV (in size, at least) than a powerful desktop. And it has MagSafe charging!