Mac Setups: The Multi-Mac Desk of a Web Developer

This weeks featured Mac desk setup comes to us from web developer and student Jonathan C., who uses multiple iOS devices and Macs tied together with the help of Teleport to work in unison. Let’s learn a bit more about each device and how they’re used!

Describe the Apple hardware on your desk and what you use it for?

Broken down by primary Apple device, I’ve got:

• MacBook Air 13” (2013 model) – Intel Haswell i7 Core 1.7GHz Dual Core CPU, 8GB RAM and 256GB PCIe SSD (docked in images)
• 22″ Samsung Monitor 1080p
• 1TB External Hard Drive
• Apple Wired Keyboard and a Logitech Mouse

I use this Mac for school and web development when I’m away from home. At home its quite convenient to just plug some cables in and have a “desktop” like experience.

• iMac 21.5″ (mid 2011 model) – Intel Core i5 2.5GHz Quad Core CPU, 500GB 7,200 RPM Hard Drive, 8GB RAM, AMD Radeon 6750M GPU
• Apple Bluetooth Keyboard and Magic Mouse

I use this Mac primarily for Photoshop CS6, Adobe Premiere CS6, Adobe Lightroom 5 and After Effects CS6, and for web development as well.

• iPad Air 32GB White

Used as a media device to watch movies, look at the news, YouTube, and play some games when I’m bored.

• iPod Nano 5G 16GB

I use this to listen to music when I don’t have my iPhone with me. Also use it as a pedometer when I jog around the neighborhood.

• iPad 32GB with Retina Display

This used to be my media device, but now I mostly use it to reply to some emails, Skype, and go online while I’m doing something on my Macs without having to open mail or Skype.

• MacBook (mid 2007 model) – Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz Dual Core, 4GB RAM, 500GB 5400 RPM HD

I use this device to test websites and software on for my friends and myself, it’s useful to see how they run on different browsers and operating systems. This Mac runs Ubuntu 12.04, Windows 7, Mac OS X 10.7, and Mac OS X 10.6.

What are some of your essential Mac apps?

I use Sublime Text 2, Adobe Photoshop CS6, Adobe Premiere CS6, Adobe After Effects CS6, Adobe Lightroom 5, Chrome, Skype, Caffeine, Drop Box, Terminal, Limechat and Teleport. I can’t live without all of these, I use them everyday.

Do you have any tips you want to share?

A big tip for having multiple computers is to use Teleport, it’s an app that lets you share your Mac mouse and keyboard across different computers. It’s completely seamless and works great. (Note from the editor: you can read how to setup Teleport for keyboard and mouse sharing between Macs here, it’s free, easy to use, and highly recommended for multi-Mac environments.)

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Have a sweet Apple setup or fancy Mac desk that you want featured on OSXDaily in our weekly series? Answer some questions and send in some good pictures of your setup and it could happen!