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NrFive

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 18, 2021
17
21
I'm getting the new Macbook Pro M1 (14 inch).

I want to use this device also in a docked setting, so it can replace our current 12 year old Windows machine.

What I'm going for:
  • 49 inch ultrawide monitor: Currently looking at the Samsung Odyssey G9 or the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9.
  • A storage solution for 8+ TB worth of media storage (photos/videos/documents) with option to expand later on.
  • Keyboard: This will probably be the Magic Keyboard with built in Touch ID which should easily work with password manager if I'm not mistaken.
  • Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3.
  • A docking station to make everything work together at best performance possible. So the monitor should be able to display full resolution and max MHz (though I read somewhere that 120 MHz is max possible).
  • Single cable from Macbook Pro to docking station to easily dock and undock.
How best to proceed? What advice do you have for me concerning this setup and what items do I need to get to make this all work properly? I currently only have - or will have - the Macbook and the mouse, so suggestions for monitor, cables, docking station and storage solution are welcome!

Many many thanks in advance!
 

dallegre

macrumors regular
Feb 25, 2016
229
227
I would probably recommend and OWC TB4 dock and OWC Thunderbay 4 (DAS). This will give you your single cable solution. The dock comes with the cable that you need, you may need an adapter cable for the monitor if you don't already have a TB/USB-C cable there. I would advise running at least 16TB in the DAS/NAS, so you can run in RAID 1 (to get 8TB mirrored). Keep in mind you'll need to upgrade all 4 drives to increase the storage. This is ideal if you're accessing the storage mostly via the attached workstation. If you want storage accessible throughout your home, you may want to look into a NAS. I'm not up to speed on what NAS works best with MacOS, but I know some can be finnicky, so be careful if you go the NAS route. If a NAS/DAS is way out of the question in terms of cost, you can always buy a couple WD Elements drives (use one as primary and one as a backup). I use Cronosync for backing up external drives this way. Cheap and effective.







There's nothing wrong with the Magic keyboard (except cost maybe), and I actually prefer the Magic Mouse for Mac. I know you said that you have a mouse, but I really like the Logitech M590 and use it for PC stuff, so you may look into that one as a potential alternative to the MX Master 3 if it ever dies on you. I would also check out the Nuphy Air75. I wanted something a little different than the Magic keyboard, and I'm loving these (have two of them). Similar profile to a MBP keyboard, mechanical feel with a little less travel, supports up to 4 devices, but you lose touchID obviously.
 
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NrFive

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 18, 2021
17
21
Never heard of the OWC brand, I guess not that popular here in The Netherlands. Does this combination work with a Samsung Odyssey (Neo) G9?

Also thank you for the advice / suggestions!
 

dallegre

macrumors regular
Feb 25, 2016
229
227
Never heard of the OWC brand, I guess not that popular here in The Netherlands. Does this combination work with a Samsung Odyssey (Neo) G9?

Also thank you for the advice / suggestions!

I'm not that familiar with ultra-wide displays, but the OWC dock supports a single 8k display, so I think it should work in theory. There are several TB4 docks on the market and they all use basically the same design and should perform very similarly (Sonnet, Kensington, etc). The main reason I suggested OWC was for the Thunderbay, which is a little more geared toward use with MacOS than a lot of DAS/NAS products.
 
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