What's your current Apple/Mac setup at home (and at work)

Apple General
#21

Late 2009 iMac is my main machine - does everything I can ask of it and then some more. I also have a 2006 black MacBook that I used a a semi-portable machine - semi-portable because the battery has karked it and needs replacement.

My Mrs has a 2012 MacBook Pro that she uses for study. The large screen is easier on her eyes than our desktop Macs and she has some portability.

We use a 2008 iMac as a media system.

What I’m pleasantly surprised with is that the iMacs are running really well after all these years. 6 and 7 years respectively without missong a beat, no hard drive failures etc.

Everything else - Mac SE/30, PowerBook 165, Newton 2100, Apple //c - is in storage and taken out for special occasions or “museum nights”

#22

I’m in the process of reshuffling the entire contents of my house, so at the moment my current Mac setup has been condensed into the space of a single coffee table.

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I suppose the theme of my setup is “recycled”. I repair Macs by trade (thankfully not at home because my personal setup is awful and hardly static-safe at the moment) so I find the process of reviving a dead machine rather fascinating. I prefer to repair defective or damaged hardware whenever I get the chance.

I use a MacBook Air (13" Mid 2012) as my daily driver, which is the only machine I actually purchased brand new. My desktop computer is an iMac (20" Mid 2007), tossed out with video artifacting and now running with an upgraded ATI Radeon 2600 Pro video card. My work computer and most recent build is a MacBook Pro (17" Late 2011) that suffered a coffee spill, ruining the keyboard and killing the onboard SATA connector for the internal hard drive. I replaced the keyboard and relocated the drive to the onboard Optical Drive SATA header with the use of a MacFixit data doubler. Time Machine backups are stored on a LaCie d2 Quadra.

I have three more machines in the works at the moment, a 2011 13-inch MacBook Pro (pictured open on the desk) that is awaiting a replacement Logic Board I currently have on order, a 2011 15-inch MacBook Pro with intermittent video issues and another 20-inch iMac that burned up when a capacitor on the video card ignited. It’s repaired, but it needs a few screws to complete it.

Other than that I have some other machines here and there, including an Apple II Plus and a Macintosh 512K that occasionally get powered on for the odd demo or classic technology session. I still use an iPhone 4S as a mobile and for portable music, I use an iPod mini (2nd Generation) with a 16GB SanDisk CompactFlash conversion.

I’m in the process of ordering a new desk and some better lighting, so hopefully I’ll have a much more professional looking and feeling setup soon.

#23

Nice curtains and desk btw.

#25

Late-2013 Retina MBP 15in
iPhone 6
iPad Air 2
aTV 3
2009 Mac Mini running Plex duties

Nice and simple :slight_smile:

#26

Amazing how many people (me included) are using “old” computers. You can’t imagine a 2008 Windows machine being able to keep up with today’s demands (in fact more on that later…)

My every day computer is a 2011 11 inch Air and it’s still going strong. I tend to buy the best I can afford at the time and upgrade the memory etc so they last a long time, but I reckon it’ll be the next to be replaced, maybe with a second gen New Mac Book if/when they come out.

At home I have a 2012 Mac Mini that is my media computer and has all iTunes/photos and all my files. I also have an Elgato TV tuner and a Cinema Display and that’s my TV.

I have the iPhone 6 and the first gen iPad mini. I use iTunes Match to have access to all my music everywhere even though the files live on my Mac mini, and iCloud to sync photos with the full size originals going to the Mac mini and thumbnails everywhere else.

I also use SugarSync which shares and syncs my folders via the cloud so I always have access to the files I need on all devices.

At work I use my MacBook Air as most things are cloud based and the company supplied PC sits unloved in retirement in the corner. It’s a 2008 or 9 HP desktop thing with Windows XP. It takes literally 20 minutes to turn on. I use it once in a blue moon as some stuff needs IE (don’t ask!). I could get them to get me a new one but I really don’t like using Windows so I’m happy to supply and use my own Mac!

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#27

At home:

Primary Mac - 2011 iMac. 3.4ghz i7, 16gb RAM, 2gb GC, 512gb SSD & 4TB SSHD. Got a cheap refurb elgato thunderbolt dock for this too when I added the SSD and swapped to the SSHD.

Laptop - 2007 MBP. 2.2ghz C2D, 4gb RAM, 480gb SSD. Rarely pull this guy out anymore, but he is there whenever I need him.

PC - Custom Built - 6 core 3.3ghz 5820k i7, 16gb RAM, cheap GC, 256gb SSD & 4TB WD Black HDD. This was mainly built for running virtual machines. Currently virtualising ESXi and other systems for testing purposes.

Others: iPhone 6s and an iPad 4. Also have an old G5 tower with a Xserve RAID attached to it (7TB storage). Got the Xserve as I had the G5 already and wanted to play around with it a bit. Don’t leave it powered on but it makes a handy data dump when I need to format a computer.

Work:

Dell Latitude E6530. i7, 16gb RAM, 500gb SSD. It does the job but only just. I regularly have multiple VM’s open on it and it struggles quite a bit under load.

#28

I was just going to say the same thing! For a group of enthusiasts we seem to have a lot of old(er) equipment! Except for phones… most people seem to be rocking newer phones, although I suppose that’s a fair reflection of the 2 year upgrade cycle the carriers offer.

In our house we have a shitload of Apple gear which has accumulated over the years. Most of it is still in daily use, some could be consolidated but when it’s already there and working change seems like a lot of effort :stuck_out_tongue:

In our house we have a couple of Early 2011 MacBook Airs, one for my Wife (with an upgraded 512GB SSD) and a 256GB one for my 10 year old Son.

I’m on an Early 2013 rMBP, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD which I see no reason to upgrade.

I have a 27" Thunderbolt display, although that’s largely been commandeered by the 10 year old these days and I get to borrow it when I can get him off Minecraft and off my desk. There is also a Belkin Thunderbolt Dock and 24" Samsung screen in storage that we haven’t used in a year since we moved house.

There is a 2010 and a 2012 Mac Mini running HTPC on our two TV’s (Kodi) as well as OSX Server for caching and iTunes for playback vis the iOS remote app to the various AirPlay speakers around the house (although since Pandora came along we use that very little these days). There is an AppleTV Gen 3 on the main TV for Netflix and Hulu and I’m considering the new one and attempting Plex again… If Kodi comes to the new ATV I will be sold.

The three kids have iPod Touches of various vintages the newest being a 2012 5th gen, these are pure music machines and live on docks. They also have 2 x iPad Mini Gen 1 (which are starting to show their age a little) and my eldest inherited my Mini 2 with Retina after I realised I never used it.

My wife has also has a Mini 2 with Retina which she uses constantly, even more so than her new iPhone 6S… although she LOVES the camera, especially as an upgrade from the 5S camera. I have the iPhone 6 Plus and while I like the new 6S Plus I can’t see enough added benefits to justify the cost of the upgrade.

Lastly my fridge has a iPad 3. This provides music in the kitchen through an AirPlay speaker as well as recipes, a timer and a digital photo frame, occasionally Netflix or live TV (thanks to an Elgato EyeTV Netstream).

About the only real upgrade I’ve seriously considered in recent times is a new machine for my Son since Minecraft seems to really stress out the old MacBook Air. Part of me wants to sell off the Thunderbolt Display and get an equivalent 27" Dell or Samsung instead so I could use it for PC’s and older Macs as well (it’s a damn shame Apple have limited such a glorious display to Apple machines only (and even then 2011+).

So yeah… more tech than normal humans need.

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#29

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2012 13" MacBook Pro unibody, but just purchased in March, still under warranty, has AppleCare on it. Had a 2010, sold it to a neighbor who is herself an Australian! Internet runs through a 1TB AirPort Time Capsule. Wireless keyboard stolen from my mother’s iMac. I helped her switch to from a Dell, (she wanted to keep her ergonomic DVORAK keyboard that has to be at least 15 years old now). The Magic Mouse she bought me for Christmas a few years back. Then there’s also my 1TB drive which only holds about 20 years (well, almost, 1998, I think) worth of animation files. And my 32GB iPhone 5C (which I think is finally working correctly and back to stock now?) and my 64Gb iPhone 6S, both pink (well, the 6S is “rose gold” but whatever).

Not pictured: 32GB iPhone 4 serves as my Honda’s in-dash entertainment centre (audio/GPS navigation/sometimes video). 2006 MacBook Black/2008 MacBook White in storage and sort of in parts, both have things wrong with them, I was trying to see if I could make a Macbook Oreo out of them, but my skills aren’t so good yet (I’ve resurrected some G4s Gigabit towers in my time, but that was a while back).

I’ve had a wide variety of Apple devices over the years, but I tend to always repair, refurbish, repurpose, and resell, so I don’t amass the collection of other people. If I never sold my Apple devices, at this point I’d be up to something like three towers, five laptops, five iPhones, three iPods, two monitors, and a whole lot of accessories of all stripes. Too difficult to move between three continents.

#30

I did a refresh of my gear over the past 12 - 18 months. I usually try and upgrade around the 5 year mark.

So… my current setup is:

2013 27" iMac (core i5)
Early 2014 13" MacBookAir
Me: iPhone6 64Gb and iPad 4 (32gb)
Wife: iPhone 6S and iPad mini 2.
My wife also has a nice little Toshiba ultrabook for work. While its plastic, its a really nice machine.
We also have 1 AppleTV4 and 2 AppleTV 3’s.

I also have a QNAP NAS and various other networking devices floating around the house.

Thats about it I suppose.

#31

Set up consists of:

  • Early 2011 MacBook Pro 13" (had it since new)
  • iPad Mini 1 16GB with cellular
  • iPhone 6 64GB Gold
  • iPod Classic 60GB?
  • iPod Shuffle 2GB
  • iPod Touch 3rd Gen 32GB
  • iPhone 5S 16GB Silver, water damaged iPhone 4S.

I am thinking of upgrading my Macbook but it still works!

I am also thinking of getting one of the newer iPad Minis or upgrading to an Air since I use that the most.

#32

I run a lot of older stuff too; Apple gear stays useful in my experience.

Main work machine is a 2008 Mac Pro 2.8GHz with an Intel 300GB SSD and 8GB of RAM. That drives a couple of EIZO EV2436W monitors and connects to a 2009 Mac Mini Server running 10.6.8. It is very similar in performance to my main home machine, a 2012 Mac Mini 2.6GHz quad core i7 with an Apple 256GB SSD and 16GB RAM. That drives an EIZO CG241W and a Dell U2410 and connects to a Synology DS1512+ At work I also have 4 Mac Minis from around 2007 onwards. Other than that there are various iPhones (3GS & 5) and iPads (2 & 3) and an ATV3 in the lounge.

#33

Right now, I’m running a Mid-2014 15" Retina MacBook Pro - 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, GeForce GT 750M and 2.5GHz i7 CPU. Hooked up to a 27" Dell U2711 monitor. I’ve got a 32GB iPad Air 1 that I use a fair bit as well. iPhone is a 6s 64GB.

Here’s a pic of my desk:

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I love that people are still using the 2008 Mac Pro (MacPro 3,1!). That thing still kicks hard. I had one, should never have sold it and just kept using it all this time. Awesome ROI on that beast. Chuck in an SSD and a modern graphics card and it’ll work perfectly fine with almost anything you can throw at it.

#34

Including old stuff I don’t use any more*:
Original iPod (5GB/FireWire)*
iPod Mini*
iPod shuffle 2gen*
iPod Touch 3gen
iPod Classic 80GB
iPod Classic 160GB
iPhone 5S
iPhone 6
iPad 2
iPad 4
iMac 27" x 2
Mac Mini (HTPC)
Macbook (2015)
Airport extreme
Airport express
Apple TV 4gen

#35

Did you ever finish your blog, re: setting up the new house, connectivity?

I’m in the process and would be interested what you ended up with.

(sorry for the sidetrack on the thread)

#36

MacPro 2009 with BenQ 27" LCD Monitor
iPad Mini
iPad 2
iPhone 5

These are the daily usage machines, not mentioning AppleTV in each room :slight_smile:

#37

New apartment, new set up:

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Yes, that is a car seat from my Honda. Replaced the seats with racing seats from Recaro. So now the stock seats are furniture.

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#38

I need a real desk. Added Bose speakers, Sony headphones, some LED lights for night.

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#39

Nice to see the old 17". Had three of those over the years. Beast of a machine.

#40

A brilliant machine for sure, with a brilliant display. I sold that particular machine recently, but I replaced it with a 17-inch Mid 2009 model. Still prefer that screen compared to a Retina, to be honest.

That setup has changed a lot since that picture was taken, different desk, different house, different computers. I’ll have to take a new photo at some point.

#41

Nothing terribly exciting at the moment.

My home desktop: A Lenovo Thinkcentre running Windows 7.
My laptop: 13" MacBook Pro 2011 model with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.
My phone: iPhone 5S 16GB with a 32GB space pack.
My game pad: Currently a Nintendo Switch with a pro controller and joycon set.
Including stuff I don’t use anymore: A PowerMac G5 and Xserve G5

I’m not doing anything terribly high paid at the moment. This is what comes with the life of a post-graduate research candidate. Not enough money for new computer hardware at the moment and other interests really. My thesis takes up the majority of my time at the moment.

I would like to eventually move on to a newer MacBook but I can’t see the point really. The 2011/12 13" MacBook Pro is the most modular MacBook that is currently available. If I were to move on it would most likely be a similar age 15" MacBook Pro with an i7 CPU. It’s the pinacle of MacBook’s before they started soldering everything to the board.

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