Setups - page 21

Garvin Ling is a Seattle-based coder whose setup was designed to handle some pretty heavy-duty stuff. The Samsung CJ89 43-inch UltraWide is an absolute mammoth of a monitor. It gives him a ton of screen real estate without sacrificing quality. He runs his setup off a MacBook Pro.

He has an Apple Magic Keyboard with the Numeric Keypad, which accompanies both a Logitech MX Master 2s and an Apple Magic Trackpad. This mouse-trackpad two-punch combination makes for easier and quicker coding and editing.

Programmer Dylan Garrett used to have a dual monitor rig, until he became enlightened in the ways of the UltraWide. Although the extra screen space that comes with having two monitors was an obvious plus, their resolutions were terrible and he decided to throw them both in the trash and adopt the LG 34-inch UltraWide as his sole monitor.

Vigo Krumins is a German-based web designer and when it comes to accessories he does not mess around. He collaborates with different high-quality accessory companies to build his dream setup. He says “companies reach out to me and if I like their stuff, we agree that they send me their products and I feature them in my posts giving my honest opinion about them.”

His monitor is a blast from the past. He has an Apple Cinema Display. Even though Apple discontinued them in 2011, the screen quality is still great. The exterior even resembles the Pro XDR display, albeit bulkier. He has the late 2008 version and has no plans to replace it with a newer monitor, unless of course, “Apple will release a cheaper version of the Apple Pro Display XDR.” Keep dreaming Vigo!

Luke Peluso runs a mid-sized IT company from his desk so organization is essential. He has to be in constant communication with his team and his clients. That is why he uses both a MacBook and an iPad: the MacBook for work, and the iPad for communication.

His MacBook is a 2019 13-inch MacBook Pro and he primarily uses it for “agency management type software and few Windows-only apps.” The iPad is the 2019 iPad Pro that he uses with a Brydge Pro+ Wireless Keyboard. The iPad is for “iMessage and Zoom meetings,” Peluso says, and that having “separate large device just for communications is very helpful.”

Jordan Pulmano is a professional cinematographer and photographer so he wanted a desk with style, specifically minimalist style. He has two LG 27-inch FreeSync monitors. He got his first in 2017 and liked it so much he decided to get a new one. They are both held up by a pair of North Bayou Monitor Stands. He thought about getting a dual monitor stand but he rearranges his desk a lot and did not want to remove a monitor and have one arm exposed.

He has both the Magic Mouse and Keyboard. The setup is MacBook-run but he stows his laptop in a VIVO Sliding Laptop Tray. This gives him a convenient place to store his MacBook while freeing up space on his desk.

Jake Weisler is a professional wedding photographer and a content creator for Full Time Filmmaker, which produces crash courses about filmmaking. So having lots of storage — a whopping 56 terabytes — is key to his success.

At the center of this setup is the incredible 27-inch iMac Pro. Weisler uses a Magic Trackpad and Magic Keyboard with the additional Numeric Keypad. He also sports an Azio Retro Classic Mouse, which actually has a leather topping for some genuine comfort. As an editor, he needs both a trackpad and a mouse because he uses them simultaneously to scroll, click and swipe.

YouTuber Jared Busch is a tech reviewer so when it comes to desk setups, he doesn’t mess around. Most of his gear is for gaming — and for making tech reviews on his YouTube channel.

He runs this setup off a 2016 MacBook Pro. He has a testoserone-filled 35-inch Acer Predator Z35P Curved Monitor, which he calls “one of the best 21:9 gaming monitors available right now!” But he might change it because it has a “bit too much of an aggressive look” to it.

When accountant and realtor Tausif Hussain built his setup he was looking for wellness and nature themes.

He uses a Jarvis Bamboo Standing Desk, which is both eco-friendly and joint-friendly. He also has a Muvmat, an anti-fatigue mat that is also a foot massager. The Muvmat simulates standing in a forest; it is filled with bumps that imitate rocks, branches, and twigs. And pretty much every device rests on top of some wooden accessory or stand.

Ben Boxer is a busy student always on the go, so naturally he has a MacBook setup. “One thing that is really important with any setup is speed and portability,” he said, “that is why everything here is driven off of a laptop.”

All of his gear is connected to a CalDigit TS3 Thunderbolt 3 Dock and it only takes one cord to plug it into his MacBook. He says he has 25 TB of storage connected to it.

When tech YouTuber Danny Winget mapped out his dream setup, he was looking to achieve one thing: stark minimalism. He certainly found it. On his desk he has a screen, a keyboard and mouse, and not much else. What makes his desk notable though, is that everything is Pro and everything is smart — even his coffee cup.

iPad setups are often seen as limiting and hard to work with. They require a lot of accessories and peripherals. They do have some advantages though, besides a lower price point. They are more versatile and travel-friendly. And as iPads are getting bigger and more powerful, iPad-based setups are becoming less bohemian.

Photographer Ryszard Sikorski has one of the cleanest setups I have seen. He actually finds an iPad setup quite liberating. “What I like is that I can use [the iPad] how I need it,” he said. “It’s not static.”

Ben Hess is a professional cinematographer — and he has the gear to prove it. He rocks an iMac Pro that’s hooked up to a 27-inch LG 5K UltraFine Monitor, giving him acres of premium screen real estate.

But the highlight of this rig is not the $5,000 computer or the $1,300 screen. It’s his $27,000 Red Gemini Camera and $5,000 lens. Hess comes to play. The Red Gemini is top-shelf, and an Atlas anamorphic lens gives him the eye of a hawk.

Last week, a new job forced Ollie Parker to build his work-from-home setup. No small task, but the British accountant made the most of it and he quickly whipped up a cozy setup great for grinding.

“I just finished the build of it all last week as I started a new job working from home,” he said. “And then I have my Xbox connected and play some Warzone in my spare time.”

The heart of Parker’s setup is a 2019 MacBook Pro attached to a 34-inch LG UltraWide Curved Monitor mounted on a Humanscale MW Monitor Arm.

Tyler Stalman is a professional photographer whose workspace is pretty small, but he manages to make a lot of it.

Stalman’s MacBook Pro-powered setup centers on a 27-inch LG UltraFine 5K Monitor, which finally allows him to process his work in full 4K resolution. He was shooting in 4K but was unable to see his shots in full res until he took the plunge and got himself the UltraFine monitor.

If most UltraWide monitors are impressive, then a 49-inch UltraWide is jaw-dropping. That is just the start of programmer Justin Chau’s amazing setup, which took years to assemble. Above his 49-incher, he has a 32-inch Dell S Series Monitor, which gives him an insane amount of screen real estate.

At the beginning of the year, the owner of this striking setup decided to start from scratch. He abandoned his two-monitor config and went with something more minimal — the impeccable $6,000, 32-inch Apple Pro Display XDR. Thats why, for him, scaling down to one monitor is actually an upgrade.

A MacBook Pro runs this triathlete’s setup. Brice Van Der Post is always on the go so it makes sense that he uses a laptop to power his rig, instead of being chained down by a desktop.

The highlight of this desk might actually be the desk itself. Since Van Der Post works for a furniture company, his factory custom-built the desk for him. The 70×30-inch unfinished teak top gives him ample space for his work. It is also a great canvas for all of the tech on it.

He has a 34-inch LG UltraWide Curved Monitor, which continues to make frequent appearances in our ‘Setups’ series, and a Logitech MX Master 2S, which is a multitasker’s dream mouse.

Van Der Post also has a pair of KRK studio monitors for audio, while a M-Audio AIR Hub take the speakers to the next level.

Busy medical student Zach Hicks spent years developing this mouth-watering, Mac mini-powered setup. His main screen is actually a 43-inch smart TV, which gives him a bunch of screen real estate so he can open up a lot of PowerPoint presentations at once.

To accompany these big screens, he uses an Apple Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse. A HomePod pumps out the audio, while two Philips Hue Bloom lamps illuminate everything. And, if you are wondering about the Apple boxes above his desk, they serve as a visual reminder of his journey to build this dream setup.

Jody Whitesides is a television and film composer so naturally his setup is audio-focused. Even with all the high-tech audio gear, it is hard to out-stage his epic 34-inch ultra-wide monitor.

He rocks both the Apple Magic Trackpad and a Logitech mouse. He has both because some tasks are easier to edit using a mouse and others with a trackpad, so it gives him the best of both worlds. The keyboard — a Komplete Kontrol Controller — gives him an additional 88 keys right above his Apple Magic Keyboard.

To handle all of his audio, Whitesides uses a PreSonas monitoring station to easily switch audio outputs. And the Apollo 8 Recording Interface gives him the power to handle all of this gear at once.

For the actual audio itself, he has a pair of KRK V4 Series Speakers to accompany a pair of Genelec 8020D Studio Speakers.

Driving all this is a 2013 “trashcan” Mac Pro, out of shot.

An ultrawide curved monitor takes any setup to the next level, and Cesar Azaustre’s MacBook-powered rig is no exception. It took a three-year span for the Spanish front-end engineer to assemble this setup — and it does not disappoint.

To control things on his massive $800 screen, he uses the Apple Magic Keyboard and the Logitech MX Anywhere wireless mouse. For Zoom meetings, he leans on a Logitech Pro Stream Camera and a Røde microphone, both top-of-the-line products.

Front-end web developer Aral Tasher’s MacBook-powered rig is minimal but powerful. With just his laptop, a 49-inch monitor and a Thunderbolt 3 cable, he gets desktop-level performance from his humble MacBook.

To hold his MacBook, the nerve center of the setup, he uses a premium wood mount by Grovemade. This is paired with a custom-built keyboard from KBDfans, and a top-of-the-line MX Master 3 mouse from Logitech.

Tasher is also wired for sound. A pair of KRK studio monitors and LG noise-canceling headphones would make any audiophile jealous.

An epic screen is the hallmark of any great setup, and Gary Dee’s video-editing suite is certainly no exception. Dee, a cinematographer and drone pilot, previously used two monitors, but he decided to declutter his desk and replace them with an UltraWide 34-incher from LG Electronics. The massive monitor still leaves him with plenty of screen real estate.

In terms of audio, a pair of Bose speakers give him banging sound. And he uses a high-quality Røde microphone. To complement his minimalist desk, he uses a Rain Design mStand to hold his MacBook.

It looks like Thomas Parson, a videographer from Wales, works in ex-Apple designer Jony Ive’s famous white room, using just a MacBook Pro and a 24-inch ASUS monitor, with an iPad as a second screen.

He props up the MacBook in a special vertical laptop stand that nicely adds to the overall minimalist design of his rig. He uses Apple’s Magic Keyboard and Mouse and for audio he has a duo of Logitech desk speakers and a pair of Razer gaming headphones.

A set of origami-style lights illuminate the cozy setup of Instagram user @mrisad, an integration delivery manager. The Nanoleaf lights floating above his dual monitors evoke the control panels from some ’70s sci-fi show. And they’re integrated with HomeKit, Apple’s home-automation platform.

The heart of his rig is a beautiful pair of screens. The large main screen is a $1,000 curved, 38-inch screen from LG. The second screen is a 28-inch Asus gaming monitor. He hooked them both up to a Mac mini, and elegantly suspended them in midair by an inexpensive ($40) but fully articulated desktop stand.

To round out his setup, @mrisad has a Magic Keyboard and Trackpad from Apple, and a trio of chargers for his iPhone, iPad and AirPods. As for audio, he has a HomePod and a pair of Sennheiser noise-canceling headphones.

Waqas Qazi may be a freelance Hollywood colorist, but his desk setup is worthy of an emperor. His jaw-dropping rig boasts three monitors to play with, and a trio of bookshelf speakers to pump out the audio. Plus, he has a DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel, for color-grading and editing, and the Elgato Stream Deck XL, which is great for multitasking.

And don’t forget that cheese-grater Mac Pro!