Mac Setups: The Desk of a Video Editor & Communications Student

It’s time for another sweet Mac setup post! This weeks highlighted workstation is from Anthony Y., a video editor who is studying communications. Let’s learn a bit about the hardware, and how Anthony uses his Apple gear:

What hardware does your setup consist of?

Primary hardware includes:

• MacBook Pro 15″ with Retina Display, Late 2013 (shown in center)
• 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 processor
• 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 memory
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 750 2 GB graphics
• 512 GB flash storage
• OS X Mavericks
• 3360 x 2100 resolution
• Two 20” Apple Cinema Displays (Model A1081), 1680 x 1050 resolution
• Apple Wired Full Size Keyboard
• Apple Magic Mouse
• Apple Magic Trackpad
• iPhone 5S, 16 GB
• iPad, white 4th Generation, 16 GB Wi-Fi
• MacBook Air with 13″ Display, Mid-2012 (closed on the left, shown in use below)
• 2 GHz Intel Core i7
• 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 memory
• Intel HD Graphics 4000 1 GB graphics
• 512 GB flash storage
• OSX Mavericks
• 1440 x 900 resolution
• Wacom Intuous Touch Pen Tablet

The screen saver running on the MacBook Pro and dual cinema displays is called Minimal Clock (it’s free, covered by OSXDaily here).

Secondary hardware:

• Wooden block I brought back from a trip to France
• mStand Laptop Stand by Rain Design (for the MacBook Pro
• Apple USB SuperDrive
• Seagate Expansion 3 TB USB 3.0 desktop External Drive (hidden under the mStand). This drive is shared by partitioning into two segments; 2 TB for Time Machine backup, and 1 TB for photo and video storage
• Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB Portable Hard Drive
• Belkin SuperSpeed USB 3.0 4-Port Hub (hidden on back of mStand). Used to connect both Seagate drives, as well as the Apple SuperDrive

Other hardware that isn’t pictured at this desk includes the following:

• Dekke Slope iPad stand (shown in the portable setup shot below)
• Koss ProDJ200 Full Size Headphones
• Apple Earbuds
• iPod Classic, 160 GB

What do you use your Apple gear for?

I am a communication student, and video editor. I use the MacBook Pro driving both cinema displays primarily for video editing.

Tell us a bit about how you work and what apps you use?

I work within the Adobe Creative Cloud platform for editing… most often using Premiere Pro and After Effects. I break out the Wacom tablet for animation and graphics. I set my iPad to the left of the keyboard and run CTRL+Console, a digital jog and shuttle wheel that interfaces on the iPad and communicates with Premiere on the MacBook Pro. In addition to backing up to the 3 TB drive, I keep my working files on Dropbox.

On the very good chance I am not home, I use Air Display 2 for Mac and iPad while working at a local coffee shop. Air Display allows me to add a second monitor on the go with the iPad. Here’s a picture of my coffee shop setup before I got my MacBook Pro:

As a student, I use Evernote for note taking and organization, and the iWork suite for presentations, papers, and spreadsheets. Sometimes when I need to collaborate with others on a document I will use Google Docs.

Almost all of my other communication is done with Mail and Messages, the default apps included in iOS and OS X.

As for the MacBook Air, it’s my old workhorse that I am starting to phase out of heavy use. It will become my travel computer, and eventually I plan to sell it.

Do you have any productivity tricks you want to share?

I use an app called Coffitivity a lot to increase productivity. Studies show that ambient noise increases creativity and productivity, and Coffitivity generates ambient noise that mimics the sounds from a coffee shop. So, iTunes + Coffitivity in the background is great, and I use it regardless of where I am.

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Do you want your Apple setup to be considered for a featured setups highlight on OSXDaily? Take a few good pictures, answer a couple of questions about hardware and how you use your gear, and send it to us at osxdailycom@gmail.com !