I recently upgraded my entire computing setup and came away with a number of lessons I thought I’d share with all of you, not only to save you time and effort but also to perhaps add some perspective into this process. So, let me begin.
I am - and have always been - an Apply user. Even when everyone was expecting Apple to fold back in the early 90s, I was using a PowerBook Duo and a PowerBook 1400cs - long before the first iMac and Apple becoming hip again. So, I’ve experienced Apple’s entire journey - the good, the bad and then the good again - in all its glory: insanely expensive systems, lack of peripherals, buggy operating system and so on and their improvements over time. Why am I saying this? To explain that I’m neither a fanboy nor a new convert and I have not been using them simply because they are, now, cool. I use them because I feel comfortable with them, they work mostly without issues and have always simply been tools for me - good ones. It’s as simple as that.
Because I know the history, I have never been a first adopter - I waited more than 18 months before I moved to the PowerPCs, almost a year before I moved to OS X and I tested three different Intel-based machines before I moved over - you see, when your entire work ecosystem relies on a machine made by a single manufacturer, you need to be extremely careful. You cannot afford to follow trends mindlessly and then simply complain about things going wrong - while hip, this frankly stupid approach costs money and time.
About 13 years ago I opted for the iMac (many reasons behind this, none of them worth mentioning here) and stayed with it until last week when I finally moved onto the Mac Studio. Why? Many reasons:
Apple has no plans to release an M processor 27” (or larger - as many were expecting) iMac
the MacMini is simply too limited in terms of memory expandability and available ports
the various laptops suffer - currently - from the same limitations
Now, things may change in a few months or more, but following my recent camera upgrades and introduction of filming in my projects, my 4 year old iMac was showing signs of its age and I needed an upgrade - so, after extensive research (I must have read more than two hundred different reviews and seen dozens upon dozens of videos describing the performance of the new M machines), last week I ordered a mid-range MacStudio with the M1X chip, 64GB RAM, 10-core CPU and 32-core GPU - as far as I was able to figure out, a true beast and a significant upgrade from my i7 iMac.
With it I also invested in the following:
32” wide 4k monitor (not as great as the 5k iMac, but very good - so far anyway)
2TB external SSD (to house my CaptureOne catalogue)
external speakers
noise cancelling microphone
Being me, I even created connectivity diagrams BEFORE I clicked the “Buy Now” button on the website, to ensure I had everything I needed. In this, I have to admit I failed - I ended up having to order a few more things before the setup was exactly as I needed. Let me explain:
The Studio has a 4 USB-C ports at the back, 1 HDMI port and 2 USB 3.0 ports. It also has 2 USB-C ports at the front (but hey, who wants a bunch of cables in front of their machine going back to connect to peripherals, right?) Now, let’s add all the peripherals I needed:
screen: I needed to use one of the USB-C ports to connect my screen as it provided a 4 port USB 3.0 Hub and that would have been useless had I opted for the HDMI cable.
24TB drive containing all my images
2TB drive containing my catalogue
8TB miscellaneous items drive
1TB Music and Movies SSD drive
CF Express card reader
Speakers (because the MacStudio speakers are not, shall we say, good ones)
Microphone
Screen light bar
mouse (my vertical mouse needs a port)
So, you get the idea, right? USB 3.0 was probably good for SOME of them (the light bar, the speakers, the mouse), but lets not forget that I also need at least two ports to charge the various peripherals and other devices: keyboard, iPad and iPhone, so two more ports are needed for that too.
Now, some of you will point out that you may not need all that stuff and that might indeed be the case - but maybe, in that case, the Mac Studio is not for you or, even if you believe it is, that’s also cool - this is the setup I need for 2023 and beyond as my business evolves. Back to the setup then.
I realised I needed:
a USB-C hub (and let me tell you, there are VERY few USB-C only hubs out there and none of them offer more than 4 ports)
some additional cables (mostly because SOME of the peripherals came with USB others with USB-C and harmonising is, trust me, the only way forward otherwise you’ll end up needing two different hubs) because, and believe me here, the last thing you want is 30m of cabling snaking around everywhere behind your monitor or your desk
a cable management system
NOTE: a couple of notes on cabling: most USB-C cables range from 1-2m and most of them are plastic coated. This means they are not only hard to bend but also more fragile if you try to pack them tightly. My recommendation would be to opt for cloth covered cables which are much, much shorter (no need to go overboard, but there are some excellent 50 and 60cm cables which will most likely cover every single one of your needs AND keep your desk tidy. Also invest in some simple cable management systems (I would advise against the plastic tubing as it’s too unwieldy and looks like crap) - there are cloth-type ties with velcro which work very, very well.
What I ended up with was the above and, right now, it not only works, but it’s tidy, efficient and allows me, as you can see, SOME leeway for expansion: I have two USB 3.0 ports for ad-hoc connections and my two front USB-C ports for USB sticks and other small things. Now, I know that if I ever move to a dual 5k monitor setup (which I would like to), things would need to change and I’ll need to re-engineer some of my setup, but that’s probably a good few months away, so I wont worry about it now. The final setup looks something like this:
The setup as it is today - minus the microphone (that usually rests all the way to the right)
BUT, what did I get out of all this? Well, let me tell you:
a blazingly fast machine. CaptureOne with its Travel Catalogue of over 230k images now opens in 5-6’’ (as opposed to 30-40’’ before) and closes almost instantly.
Photoshop now opens almost instantly and works insanely fast, even with 10 large images open at the same time
Office applications launch (including the annoying verification stage Mac OS X seems to impose) almost instantly
I can edit 4k video with multiple layers in real-time, with effects and sound layers without impact on the other applications I’m working with.
Is everything perfect? No… something things are less so:
the brightness of my new monitor does not compare with that of the 5k iMac (but, at the same time, it has non-reflective surface which cuts down on those issues quite significantly
I now have a dozen components to replace my all-in-one unit (and I still don’t have a camera - bear that in mind!)
if I ever need to adjust cables or replace any of the components I mention above I am looking into more than just unplug-and-replace, not something I’m particularly looking forward to
my desk looks a lot more “cluttered” than before, but not annoyingly so (for me anyway)
Some final thoughts and perspective:
I guess everything is a trade these days - we move on to mirrorless cameras and we have to get used to electronic viewfinders with their delays, their less-than-natural image and the lack of shutter sounds in exchange for performance and technological advances. We trade in our comfortable all-in-one machine for a componentised one (with everything I mention above) in return for performance, we embed video into our way of working (because now our cameras support really good video) so we can tell stories much better in return for an additional 1-3kgs of weight in our bags and more complexity in our every day lives while on-site.
Here are some links for the equipment I purchased and mention above (I am not promoting any of the equipment listed here, just linking what I purchased - please feel free to do your own research and select what suits you and your budget best):