Mac Setup: Clean & Simple Mac Mini Desk
If you like simple and clean workstation setups, this weeks Mac desk should be right up your alley. Coming to us from Ed W., he uses his Mac mini for photo editing and word processing, and it also doubles as a media server. Hardware includes:
- Apple Cinema Display 27″
- Mac Mini – 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo 8GB RAM and 500GB HD
- Twelve South BackPack
shelf attached to the Cinema Display holding 1TB External HD - Apple wireless keyboard and trackpad joined with a Henge Clique
shelf attached to the Cinema Display holding 1TB External HD
Not shown is an iPhone 4 16GB, used to take the picture, and you can’t see the Backpack shelf because it attaches to the back of the Cinema Displays and iMacs.
The wallpaper on the Cinema Display is from OS X Mountain Lion. If you don’t want to wait until it’s released later this month you can get that one directly or see all the wallpapers here.
Do you want to be a featured Mac setup on OSXDaily? Send in a good picture or two with a list of hardware and a brief description of what you use the Apple gear for to osxdailycom@gmail.com
Ed,
Congrats on the nice, clean setup. I would love to have an Apple monitor myself but can’t justify the cost. Can’t believe you found a 27″ for $400 off … I have only seen 24″ Apple displays for that cheap…
Kevin B.
I happened to stumble across it on Kijiji, the guy had to get rid of it so I raced to a bank machine and picked it up that day!
Super nice, especially for an ACD that was 400 off.
I dig it.
This setup was acquired over time. I’ve owned the mini since it was released in 2010, and had it hooked up to a standard monitor and old keyboard/mouse. Eventually I picked up the wireless keyboard/trackpad, and then recently, the monitor. Something of a work in progress..but yes, I agree an iMac, which will likely replace this system, would make more sense. That little guy was actually my first Mac!
Or you could have gotten a 27in iMac, even if it’s used as an external monitor for a Macbook you can use the iMac for that.
there are lots of reasons why you might choose the Mini + Apple Display instead of an iMac – one is that it’s easier to upgrade the Mini (cheaper), no need to throw out the display; another is that the Mini is portable, you can take it with you and connect to any screen or TV via HDMI; another is that it’s very power-efficient, i.e. if you leave it on for long periods, such as to act as a kind of media server, it will use less electricity; and if you also have a laptop, the Apple Display acts as a charging station for your Macbook
I actually managed to pick up that display slightly used for about $400 less than brand new….couldn’t turn that down, especially since I was previously using a crappy Acer monitor.
Sleek setup. But for the money you could just get a stacked iMac, unless they have a laptop they hook up to the ACD too.
But, now when they need to upgrade they can spend half as much vs. an iMac.
exactly
Love this, I just wish the ACD was about $500 cheaper!