Feel the need for more external screens to go with your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro? On Tuesday Hyper rolled out its new HyperDrive 4K Multi-Display Docking Station. It’ll help you connect up to three 4K displays with a 60Hz refresh rate.

And what’s more, the dock works with every MacBook made since 2016, Hyper said.

Is it reasonable to call a computer setup “budget-friendly” if it includes a new 16-inch M1 MacBook Pro? Well, is there such a thing as an Lamborghini economy car? How about a thrift-store Faberge egg? Or maybe a bargain-basement super yacht?

OK, we exaggerate slightly. You don’t have to be a billionaire to afford a nice Mac. But it helps.

Today’s featured setup makes a go of getting some “budget-friendly” cred despite its high-powered centerpiece — with mixed results.

Apple’s next MacBook Pro upgrade could be right around the corner. Supply chain sources claim a new model with a next-generation M2 chip will be unveiled during Cupertino’s spring event next month.

Aside from the silicon upgrade, the new MacBook Pro is expected to employ the same internals as existing models. Apple suppliers reportedly kept production going during the Lunar New Year to prepare for the machine’s arrival.

On Fridays it’s fun to focus on computer setups with entertaining features whenever possible. Sometimes it’s seriously vintage gear. Or it could be wacky decor. Once in a while, an exotic location pops up. Today we found one where a brand new M1 Pro MacBook meets a kooky crew of bobbleheads and other figures under a really over-the-top camera rig used as a webcam.

If you want to run more than one display with your M1 MacBook Air or M1 MacBook Pro, Sonnet Technologies just made things easier. The company rolled out new dual-display adapters that let you hook up two 4K displays to your laptop using just one of its precious few ports.

Here at Cult of Mac Setups Central, we’ve looked fairly closely at quite a few audio-centric workstations used by the likes of sound designers, video mavens and plain ol’ music fans. Today’s featured setup, with a souped-up 16-inch M1 Max MacBook at its core, belongs to an out-and-out audio engineer from Canada named James.

Apple will scrap the 13-inch MacBook Pro this year after introducing a new 14-inch model with a next-generation “M2” chip, one tipster claims.

The company is also said to be planning a new entry-level iPad with a 10.2-inch display — the last iteration before a big redesign is rolled out in 2023 — that will offer super-speedy 5G connectivity for the first time.

With all due respect to some of the whiz-bang, over-the top computer setups we’ve looked at here at Cult of Mac, you don’t have to spend a zillion bucks and a year of your life putting together a highly effective workstation.

Today’s featured setup is not without flair and it gets the job done — all for the price of an M1 MacBook Air plus a few hundred bones, more or less.

Reader and technologist Andrew (last name redacted, so to speak) runs a “boutique AV, IT [and] cyber systems integration company from a home office” in London — though he supports sites worldwide. Clearly, he has a lot to do.

And he does it using a late-2013 Mac Pro he fondly said should be on the Death Star from Star Wars, plus a 2017 MacBook Pro he described to Cult of Mac as “perhaps the worst-constructed laptop I have ever owned.”

Apple engineers and other staffers who helped develop the M1 chip are receiving T-shirts to celebrate its one-year anniversary. The shirts feature a picture of an M1 chip, according to a photo posted to Twitter by a senior Apple worker.

“Every so often, something comes along that changes everything,” reads an accompanying note. “Congratulations and thank you for helping make Apple ‌M1‌ possible!”