We enjoy seeing computer setups grow and change. We last looked at today’s featured setup when its user described it as “temporary” back in June. Since then it has metastasized into a monstrous beast with a maxed-out Mac Pro, a 16-inch M1 Max MacBook Pro, a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, iPad mini and dual Pro Display XDRs.
And the custom-made desk with lights against a dramatic backdrop of 3D wall panels really enhances the setup, too.
Display towers — when monitors are stacked on top of each other — aren’t super common in computer setups. But they’re not terribly rare, either. From time to time we’ve even seen three stacked horizontally in the middle with two posted vertically on the sides. But today’s featured triple-display MacBook Pro setup sports an unusual choice at its base.
You can’t miss the 49-inch Samsung curved ultra-wide screen in the middle and the nice 34-inch LG 4K display on top. But at the bottom lurks a TidByt, which is a retro display for sports scores, stock prices and more. We don’t recall seeing one featured in a setup.
Getting great new gear for your computer setup has more than just the obvious benefit of awesomeness. Sometimes it’s the perfect reason to improve your setup in ways most people put off, like the dreaded cleaning up of cable clutter.
That’s what happened with today’s featured dual-display-and-M1 Max MacBook Pro setup. The user finally got his new Studio Display, and good things followed in the terms of taming the cable monster.
If you’ve got a tiny desk for a workspace, you’ve got to make the most of it. Today’s featured computer setup centers on an M1 MacBook Air driving a small 4K external display, clearly going away from the trend toward big-screen-TV-sized displays for a reason — namely, vanishingly small desk space.
A small external display is one way to save room. But the user has some other tricks up his sleeve, as well. Let’s take a look.
Modern computer setups lean more and more on smart lighting for practical uses and to set the mood. Some of it can even pulse and change in sync to music or action on your screen.
Today’s featured MacBook Pro setup leans heavily on colorful Nanoleaf smart-light patterns on the walls — so much so that people compared it to a strip club.
Some people like a lot screens in their computer setup, others like to be glued to one and one only. In today’s featured computer setup, the user wrestles with the question of whether to keep his iPad Pro front and center, right in front of the external display, or just leave it out. Meanwhile, a MacBook Pro sits off to the side in clamshell mode.
Because the user asked for opinions on social media, he got them. Lots of them. But it proved to be a tricky question to answer definitively.
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.
Powerful MacBook Pro — check. Extremely capable USB dock — check. Dazzling displays properly mounted in different orientations — check. Two of the best input devices you can buy — check.
Today’s featured computer setup seems to have it all without going overboard, and it all rests easily on a solid standing desk from New Zealand.
And the user even recommends deals on truly stellar noise-canceling headphones. Read on for more and don’t miss the gear list at the bottom of the page.
It’s funny when you see a student’s computer setup on social media with gear that looks like it costs a bazillion bucks. Like, what, did Elon Musk go back to college for some reason? Maybe to escape the $44 billion dumpster fire that is Twitter?
Well, today’s clean and practical MacBook Pro setup is the real thing — a starving student’s workstation cobbled together on a budget.
Let’s look at how the user saved some money.
A great computer setup starts with a solid desk — preferably a standing desk, so you can sit or stand as your aching body requires. Today’s featured setup finds a MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, Studio Display and Dell 4K monitor resting easy on a stout maple standing desk and monitor riser.
Wherever you see wood in the photograph, know that it’s 3 inches thick. That’s one way to reduce monitor wobbling.
Las Vegas-based graphic designer, video editor and photographer Allen Williams recently made the move from an older iMac to a brand new Mac Studio and Studio Display combo.
He shared his updated computer setup — and a bit about what a difference it makes in his work — with Cult of Mac this week.
Some folks insist people never change, others say they often do. And proof of the latter shows up in today’s featured Mac Studio computer setup featuring Apple’s magnificent 6K Pro Display XDR.
It belongs to a Linux-loving software programmer who used to be strongly anti-Apple, according to her husband.
People who show off their computer setups often go for a clean, spare look without much, if any, clutter — from cables or anything else. But few have as clean and spacious a look as today’s featured MacBook Pro setup with two Studio Displays. To learn more about this setup, check out the details here.
There are many ways of making a setup minimalistic without simply leaving out the crucial gear. In this case, it has a lot to do with a very cool desk with some interesting features.
We love it when a computer setup we’ve looked at before gets a facelift, or some sort of significant update. Today’s featured MacBook Pro setup stuck with the laptop, an interesting usage of a portable display and a highly unusual mechanical keyboard. But it added a beautiful gaming monitor, a rarely seen vertical mouse and some other details.
And of course it kept its beloved Lego Wall-E. And it even found a practical use for extra Lego bricks.
In the world of computer setups, sometimes it seems like some sort of display arms race is going on. Even five or six screens isn’t uncommon anymore, with a few external displays added to the devices with built-in screens, and all in play in the workstation.
But how about no external displays? Does that work for you? It does for today’s featured MacBook Pro and iPad Air setup. See why below. And don’t overlook that unassuming but very special desk lamp, either.
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.
Some people need more than one or two displays. Like software developers. Today’s featured MacBook Pro-and-custom-PC setup manages to rely on five different screens like some sort of mini Mission Control. But launches controlled from here are new software products and updates, not rockets.
The Mac Pro of recent vintage is famously compared to a cheese grater because of the holes in its casing’s design that look like a huge version of the kitchen tool. But did you know it’s not the only high-end product Apple makes that follows that design?
Today’s featured M1 Max MacBook Pro setup shows it. How often do you see the back of a Pro Display XDR in photographs? Plenty of people admiring the setup expressed surprise that the backside of Apple’s top display is full-on cheese grater.
As winter shambles coldly toward much of the U.S. and the world, feast your eyes on a beautiful, custom-built backyard shed housing a hot Mac mini computer setup (in the photo above). It doesn’t even need heating because it’s in California. Jealous yet?
Today’s featured setup pairs a Mac mini with dual HP displays, a Logitech webcam designed for the Pro Display XDR and some slick audio gear we haven’t seen before.
Once you shell out a couple thousand bucks or more for a marvelous Mac Studio desktop machine, how do you add an ultra-wide display without running up your already-tortured credit cards?
Today’s featured dual-monitor Mac Studio setup solved the problem by going back in time. Its owner added an ultra-wide display — and much of the other gear in the workstation — from a few years ago.
Maybe you can’t be bothered to fuss over cable management. But some tricks for a cleaner-looking computer setup are so easy anybody can pull them off with minimal effort. Take today’s featured MacBook Pro setup, for example.
Its owner is primarily concerned about replacing aging dual displays, and we’ll cover some advice on that. But he also gets a valuable lesson about how to present a cleaner workstation by making one simple change.
Once in a while a computer setup comes along that shows off its owner’s invention. Sometimes it’s something perfectly utilitarian and sometimes it’s something weird and wonderful (examples below).
In today’s featured MacBook Pro and Intel NUC PC setup, we find a nifty folding MagSafe charging stand just about to go on the market.
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.
Who says Macs aren’t good for gaming? M1 Macs seem to be improving Apple’s reputation on that front, as shown in today’s featured M1 Max MacBook Pro computer setup.
With Apple’s most powerful laptop driving a stunning 5K Studio Display, this player is in gaming paradise. And he digs the display’s sound, too.
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.