Mac Setups: Desk of a Film Pro & Craigslist Deal Hunter

This weeks featured Mac setup comes to us from Jonathan G., a film professional who also happens to be an industrious and effective Craigslist deal hunter… not sure what that means? Well, read on to find out!

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you arrived at this Mac setup?

I am a film school grad / computer hobbyist / Craigslist addict and I have a Mac Set up to prove it. As a former college student I didn’t have the budget to afford a nice set up like the professionals, so I turned to Craigslist for all my Mac needs. Every part of my set up was not only purchased on Craigslist, but in total it cost me less than a brand new MacBook Pro.

What do you use your Apple gear for?

I use my set up to help me write, direct, produce, and edit videos for various small businesses, Kickstarter campaigns, as well as my own short films and projects. I like to use 3 screens so that I can edit, browse, and watch Netflix all at the same time.

What hardware is included in your current Mac setup?

The setup includes the following gear, also listed is the price paid for each item found by hunting out deals on Craigslist:

• 13” MacBook Pro (mid 2010) with 8GB of RAM – $800
• iPad Mini – $250
• Auvio Bluetooth Speaker – $20
• 20” Apple Cinema Display – $50
• 30Gig iPod (2) – $30 each
• Black leather office chair – $20

Last but not least, I scored all of the following for the unbelievable total price of $60:

• 3 Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboards
• 2 Apple Magic Trackpads
• 1 Apple USB Full Keyboard
• 1 mStand Laptop Stand by Rain Design
• 1 Twelve South BookArc Stand for iPad

Total cost of my entire setup: $1,260

As for the desk itself, it is actually a picnic table I got from Lowe’s for about $30. Hidden behind everything are several external HDDs (also from Craigslist) that I use to store my footage.

For those wondering, the cinema display isn’t broken, it’s showing a pixelated version of the famous painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.

I recommend the Auvio bluetooth speaker. Its pretty loud and clear for is small size and minimal design as well as completely rechargeable. I don’t use this for sound when editing though.

What are some of the Mac and iOS apps you use most often?

For Mac, the following OS X apps are critical:

• Final Draft (for script writing)
• Adobe Premiere (for video editing)
• Gorilla (for scheduling and budgeting)

On my iPad, I use the following:

• iBooks (to manage my PDF scripts and shot lists)
• Shot Designer (to design shots of course)
• Paper by 53 (for quick idea sketches)

Any other great Craigslist finds?

What I like to buy most on Craigslist are broken computers that I repair in my free time. Recently I brought back to life an original 1984 Macintosh 128k and resorted it to a fully functional working condition. I bought it on Craigslist for $20!

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Do you have an interesting Apple or Mac setup you want to share with OSXDaily? Answer some questions, take a few good pictures, and mail it all in to osxdailycom@gmail.com ! Or maybe for now you’re just looking to check out our past Mac setups instead? Have at it!