Mac Setups: Mac Pro with Swivel Mounted Apple Cinema 27″ Display

The weekend is here, which means it’s time to share another featured Mac desk setup! This time we’ve got the awesome Mac Pro setup of OS X programmer and freelance book writer Buick W. Let’s learn a bit more about the hardware in this setup and which iOS and OS X apps are must-haves as well.

(By the way, for those who haven’t seen a new Mac Pro yet in person, you can get an idea of just how compact the 2013 Mac Pro is by looking at it alongside the 10oz can next to it, there’s a lot of power in that little package!)

Tell us a bit about the hardware in your Mac setup

• Mac Pro – Late 2013, High-end Model with Six cores Intel Xeon E5 v2 CPU and 64 GB of RAM
• MacBook Pro 15″ with Retina Display (Mid 2012 model, High-end BTO with quad core Intel Core i7 Ivy Bridge CPU, 16 GB of RAM and 768 GB of Flash Drive
• MacBook Air 13″ – Mid 2013 Entry Model
• Apple LED Cinema Display 27″
• iPhone 5s – Space Gray 32 GB Model
• iPad 3rd gen – White & silver 16 GB Model
• Apple Time Capsule 3TB for Time Machine backups and Wi-Fi base station
• Apple Wireless Keyboard
• Apple Magic Trackpad

The Cinema Display stand was removed and the display has been mounted to an adjustable swivel base, the display is pictured here flush with the desk:

What do you use your Apple gear for? Why’d you choose this setup?

I’m an OS X programmer and freelance book writer, one of my books is called OS X Masters “OS X 高手进阶”, it is a bestseller OS X book in the Chinese market. I need a tough Mac for the programming work, so the Mac Pro became my first choice. As for the writing work, a MacBook Pro with Retina display is the best choice for editing.

What apps do you use most often? Do you have any favorite apps or recommendations?

I use a lot of apps for my work, these are the essentials and what I use them for:

• OmniFocus: for task management
• OmniPlan: for software project schedule
• OmniOutliner and Ulysses: for text authoring and book writing
• OmniGraffle: for software prototype and graphs in the book
• Napkin and Snagit for screenshots and annotation
• Evernote and DEVONthink Pro Office: for the personal information management and personal knowledge base
• Fantastical: my default Calendar app for both Mac and iPhone
• 1Password: encrypted data and password management
• Ember: graphic resource management
• iTerm: used as default command line interface utility instead of Terminal app
• Cornerstone: source code and text file version control
• Sequel Pro: for blog and MySQL database management
• Transmit: SFTP client
• Dropbox, Droplr, and CloudApp: important data backup and file sharing
• Homebrew: for OS X software package management
• Little Snitch and IceFloor: firewall and connection security
• iStat Menus, Memory Diag, and atMonitor: system monitoring
• TinkerTool System V2: for system maintenance and tuning
• LogMeIn Ignition: for remote control.
• Tweetbot for Mac and iOS: social networking
• Keyboard Maestro and TextExpander

Thanks for sharing your setup Buick!

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Send us your Mac & Apple setups!

Do you have an awesome Apple setup, nice Mac desk, or otherwise interesting workstation that you want to share with OSXDaily and our readers? Take a few good pictures, answer these questions about the setup, and send it all in to osxdailycom@gmail.com – you might just be featured!