OK, so for a few years I've been trying to fight the battle of using my computer to the fullest while still attempting to keep the clutter down.
My wife has been brainwashed by Pottery Barn magazines that show an iMac or MacBook on a nice desk with narry a cable or cord in sight. I tell her that may work for people who use their computer for under 2 hours per day and simply check email and surf the web. I use my computer for everything. From paying bills to video and photo editing.
All of this leads to more gadgets, each with an interface cable and some with a power cord. I'm trying to cut down on the cable clutter and go as wireless as possible.
I have a digital camcorder, digital camera, printer, external hard drives for video editing, external speakers, my iPhone, her iPod, ethernet connection and I'm sure more that I can't remember right now.
Here is my setup so far. Looking for any other tips or ideas you all have.
iMac C2D 20" - last of the white ones.
Apple BT wireless keyboard
Logitech BT wireless mouse
Griffin Simplifi: iPhone dock and Memory card reader in one. One device replaces old card reader + iphone dock/cable. Connected to iMac via USB.
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/simplifi
Drobo: storage robot. Loaded with 4 hard drives, used for iTunes library and video editing. Too slow for iPhoto. One (large) device replaces 4 firewire hard drives that I use to have for video and iTunes. Connected via FW.
http://www.drobo.com
Firewire HD: still have one other FW hard drive, this is daisy chained to the drobo. This is IDE HD that wouldn't work in drobo so kept it around.
Speakers: cheap Altec Lansing speakers. These kill me. So many small wires. iMac to Speaker. Right speaker to Left, to subwoffer and power. Can I find some good, fairly inexpensive wireless speakers?
Internet: Up until two days ago I was connecting to Fios wireless router via ethernet. Now I'm going to try 802.11. See how performance is. I always felt it was stupid to do wireless if my router is 3 feet away. What do you think?
Time Capsule: Just picked up a refurb time capsule. Drobo doesn't work well with Time Machine and my other drive was too small. Plus this allows me to share the printer. Removed Printer USB cable from the computer.
Camera: Memory card is loaded into Simplfi.
Camcorder: Still on MiniDV so that means FW cable to transfer footage when I need to. Maybe time to upgrade to CF-based camcorder, then can use the Simplifi to transfer footage.
Cable clutter: Regardless of wireless, most of these devices need power. This is the other killer. So many adapters, all differnt sizes/shapes. Blue Lounge CableBox is a very simple idea that works well. just pick up and drop your power strip into the box. Hide the rat's nest. But, if you have large adapters plugged into power strip it gets hard to fit into the CableBox.
http://www.bluelounge.com/cablebox.php
So, right now I have plugged into my iMac:
Speakers
FW: Drobo
USB: Simplifi
I guess wireless speakers would be the only thing left to tackle.
I'm wondering if anyone else has tackeled this issue? Any pics of your setup?
My wife has been brainwashed by Pottery Barn magazines that show an iMac or MacBook on a nice desk with narry a cable or cord in sight. I tell her that may work for people who use their computer for under 2 hours per day and simply check email and surf the web. I use my computer for everything. From paying bills to video and photo editing.
All of this leads to more gadgets, each with an interface cable and some with a power cord. I'm trying to cut down on the cable clutter and go as wireless as possible.
I have a digital camcorder, digital camera, printer, external hard drives for video editing, external speakers, my iPhone, her iPod, ethernet connection and I'm sure more that I can't remember right now.
Here is my setup so far. Looking for any other tips or ideas you all have.
iMac C2D 20" - last of the white ones.
Apple BT wireless keyboard
Logitech BT wireless mouse
Griffin Simplifi: iPhone dock and Memory card reader in one. One device replaces old card reader + iphone dock/cable. Connected to iMac via USB.
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/simplifi
Drobo: storage robot. Loaded with 4 hard drives, used for iTunes library and video editing. Too slow for iPhoto. One (large) device replaces 4 firewire hard drives that I use to have for video and iTunes. Connected via FW.
http://www.drobo.com
Firewire HD: still have one other FW hard drive, this is daisy chained to the drobo. This is IDE HD that wouldn't work in drobo so kept it around.
Speakers: cheap Altec Lansing speakers. These kill me. So many small wires. iMac to Speaker. Right speaker to Left, to subwoffer and power. Can I find some good, fairly inexpensive wireless speakers?
Internet: Up until two days ago I was connecting to Fios wireless router via ethernet. Now I'm going to try 802.11. See how performance is. I always felt it was stupid to do wireless if my router is 3 feet away. What do you think?
Time Capsule: Just picked up a refurb time capsule. Drobo doesn't work well with Time Machine and my other drive was too small. Plus this allows me to share the printer. Removed Printer USB cable from the computer.
Camera: Memory card is loaded into Simplfi.
Camcorder: Still on MiniDV so that means FW cable to transfer footage when I need to. Maybe time to upgrade to CF-based camcorder, then can use the Simplifi to transfer footage.
Cable clutter: Regardless of wireless, most of these devices need power. This is the other killer. So many adapters, all differnt sizes/shapes. Blue Lounge CableBox is a very simple idea that works well. just pick up and drop your power strip into the box. Hide the rat's nest. But, if you have large adapters plugged into power strip it gets hard to fit into the CableBox.
http://www.bluelounge.com/cablebox.php
So, right now I have plugged into my iMac:
Speakers
FW: Drobo
USB: Simplifi
I guess wireless speakers would be the only thing left to tackle.
I'm wondering if anyone else has tackeled this issue? Any pics of your setup?