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

@gehenna Yup. It’s a 2006 though, so it’s not much use, as a single core, 32 bit processor. I skinned it nicely though under Linux Mint 19:

Very cool. Those polycarbs were the bain of my life unfortunately. My wife had several versions, and all of them had multiple top case cracks that needed replacements.

Yeah, the white versions were the worst, @gehenna. I’m on my third keyboard and now the back bottom around the speaker grills are straight just flaking off. I have a spare bottom case, but I’m not looking forward to doing the transplant. I really wish Apple had used a better quality plastic for the whites. Also the wireless card connector has stopped working, so I need an external wifi nub. The card is identical to the one in the 2006, so I swapped it out and it worked just fine, which proves that it’s the connector on the logicboard and that concerns me. Otherwise, given that the Penryn is a pretty capable processor, it runs pretty much everything (on Linux) that I would need it to run. The only thing I can’t handle really in 2018 is the display. That TFT TN panel is just painful compared to my various other displays (Retina, AMOLED, 4K, etc). The colors, the viewing angles, the brightness, the resolution… Wish I had the skills to actually replace the screen with something nicer. That said, I’ve decided that if the screen goes before the logic board, I’m going to turn it into a media center and put it under a TV. I just haven’t quite worked out the planning for that yet.

It does. :stuck_out_tongue:

Wait, really, @jaysee, I thought it did! It’s now showing up, where does it show up?

EDIT: Derp, I am an idiot. I just expected it to show up in About This Mac, but instead:

1 Like

Under System Information → Graphics. The “About this Mac” screen will only show both if the discrete GPU is the currently in use card I think. :slight_smile:

I’ve used this app sometimes in the past to see: https://gfx.io

Does it switch automatically, or is there a way I need to tell it to switch?

It’ll switch automatically when needed, unless you have external display connected in which case it’s always on. It’s also always on in Windows as no bootcamp support for live switching (and I’d assume Linux).

SwFrom this:

To this:

So much better is an understatement, at least now I can fit all my shit on the desk and tidied the room up with some Ikea bookshelves.

1 Like

My setup itself is lame (in terms of photos), but here’s a text description :slight_smile:

Main Machine: Mid 2012 MacBook Pro 13 Inch

  • 2.9 Ghz Dual Core i7

  • 16GB of 1600MHZ Ram

  • 2TB Samsung Evo 860

iPad: iPad Pro 10.5 (Wifi Only)

  • 256GB Storage

  • Apple Keyboard Cover + Apple Pencil

iPhone: iPhone SE

  • 128GB Storage

Apple Watch: Series 1

  • 42mm

Backup Devices (Main)

  • iPad (iPad 2, 64GB, Wifi + 3G)

  • iPhone (iPhone 4, 16GB

  • Mac (MacBook Pro 13 Inch Mid 2010, 4GB ram, 500GB HDD)

My current work setup at my new job. MacBook Pro and latest iPad Pro. Running 2 external displays.

1 Like

Some serious changes in 4 years -

Three machines are currently in service:

  • MacBook Pro (15" NR 2012) for mild performance
  • MacBook Air (13" 2015) for mobility
  • MacBook Pro (17" 2009) for occasional use

My current phone is an iPhone 5s 32GB.

The LG Flatron 22" monitor supports VGA, DVI and HDMI. The 1990 Sony Trinitron 21" CRT supports Composite and Scaled HDMI, and is used mainly for testing and playing older Nintendo consoles.

Any older computers and equipment that were gathering dust have been sold, including my Apple II and Macintosh 512. Collecting old machines became tedious and too space-consuming. One notable exception is the fully-restored IBM XT, which is still here and is now a demo machine for shows and events.

Because the setup does double duty as a workspace and as a repair bench, it doesn’t offer much in terms of aesthetics. If I can move the repairs into a separate dedicated workspace soon, then I’ll look at improving the look, feel and lighting.

Your seat is still plastic wrapped!

2 Likes

There’s a reason for that; It’s a new purchase, and I’m still working out how to keep our new kitten from clawing at it.

Mid 2011 21.5" iMac with 12GB RAM and 500GB hard drive.
2010 white unibody MacBook 8GB RAM and 250GB SSD
Apple TV 4
iPhone 7
3rd generation iPad (I know it’s old but is only used for Spotify and it does the job admirably connected to a Panasonic stereo)

Would love to know how to keep kittens from scratching furniture… Our two kittens (well they’re now a year and three quarters so no longer kittens) do…

Tried this? https://www.petbarn.com.au/aristopet-no-scratch-spray-for-cats-125ml

Otherwise it’s all training and get a scratching post (might need to show the kitten how to do it :slight_smile: )

1 Like

Haven’t tried the spray - have tried a heap of other things - non scratch film, putting scratching poles next to the furniture… etc They still do it.

I bought that stuff last year, but it made no difference.

Thankfully they’re well behaved and aren’t scratching the furniture as much as they used to.

At work:

Middle monitor is the one I usually attach to whatever MacBook I am working on at the time (everything on the desk is property of work, save for whatever MacBook I bring from home). However, since I am attempting to see if the 2008 MacBook White is capable enough with Linux Mint 19 with macOS themeing and workflow to survive me my five weeks in Europe starting in a week. Hopefully, the answer is yes.

I have house sitters already in my place, so I totally rearranged my space to create two desks for them, and all of my computers and my monitor are squeezed into a corner until I get back, but usually my home set up looks like this. It includes the PC I made out of spare parts I collected from work and my union (otherwise would have been junk), my post-Sierra incompatible GPU (GTX 660), put in a new case with custom power cables and matching red fans. I think I spent about $150 on those new parts, everything else is sources from machines headed to recycling. It’s running Kubuntu, but I’ll probably change it Linux Mint running XFCE now that I have it running really well on the MacBook White.