Dual screen rImac Utopia, what's your dream desktop set-up?

[johnnyturbouk]

Having managed to overcome my OCD and facile decision not to upgrade to the latest rImac, I pulled the plug and ordered my RiMac:

I am now in the market looking for the ultimate nirvana in customised workstation. I have been lurking over the macpro forums on MR to see if a similar post has been made, when i cam across this:
http://osxdaily.com/category/mac-setups/

I am looking for a sleek and elegant setup, and am limited by living in the UK, where things are a tad bit more expensive than the states.


My Hardware:
-4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 Skylake, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 512 SSD, AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB
- Dell U2713HM
- rMBP late 2013
-Ipad Air 2
- Iphone 6s+
- Apple watch
- Nexus 7HD [makes a superb paper wight]
-Logitech Z553 Speakers
- QNAP TS-251+ <Time capsule, Plex media server, personal cloud storage>
- plenty of crap i need to re-organise and store.

The best set-up that would fit my needs would be this one:

I would be very interested in what other MR user's desktop/workstation are.

 

[makrom]

View attachment 600296

This looks awfully unergonomical. If I wanted to go down that road, I'd get a VESA iMac.
My desktop is pretty unspectacular, glass table, iMac, Magic Trackpad 2, Logitech G710, large mouse pad for a Logitech G602 and tons of junk on top of that (cameras, lenses, copter stuff, batteries battery chargers, and so on).
I yet have to figure out the best layout to accommodate both the trackpad as well as the mouse. Also the keyboard is quite bulky, but I can't help but love the mechanical keys and the programmable ones. From an aesthetic point of view, it's no looker though.

 

[vkd]

My dream iMac setup is a 27" one that plays all the latest games without having to use Microsoft software. Second best would be to connect a games console, either Xbox or Playstation and use the iMac as a monitor. For reasons as yet not divulged, Apple does not sell such a product either now nor in the foreseeable future.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

My dream iMac setup is a 27" one that plays all the latest games without having to use Microsoft software. Second best would be to connect a games console, either Xbox or Playstation and use the iMac as a monitor. For reasons as yet not divulged, Apple does not sell such a product either now nor in the foreseeable future.

The reasons for some of these things are obvious.

There is no real incentive for developers to develop OSX versions of their games as macs aren't great for gaming, apples hardware is capable of playing the games but the developers won't bother with a mac version. Apple develops it's drivers and chooses it's graphics cards with pro apps in mind not gaming this is because they don't make gaming computers and never have.

Games consoles cannot use a 5K screen it takes a double connection with thunderbolt 2 bandwidth over Display port, something that the 5K iMac is not set up to do, as there is no standard connector apple had to develop their own soltion just to get the computer to run it. 5K all in ones are literally years ahead of the competition.

 

[makrom]

The reasons for some of these things are obvious.

There is no real incentive for developers to develop OSX versions of their games as macs aren't great for gaming, apples hardware is capable of playing the games but the developers won't bother with a mac version. Apple develops it's drivers and chooses it's graphics cards with pro apps in mind not gaming this is because they don't make gaming computers and never have.

Games consoles cannot use a 5K screen it takes a double connection with thunderbolt 2 bandwidth over Display port, something that the 5K iMac is not set up to do, as there is no standard connector apple had to develop their own soltion just to get the computer to run it. 5K all in ones are literally years ahead of the competition.

You are obviously right, but the gaming situation has improved a lot over the last few years. Not only that the amount of games that run natively in OS X has increased, but also that many of them don't run much slower than on Windows. At least for casual gamers that don't expect every single game to be available, OS X can be enough.
For the display input, technically it should easily be possible to add an input that only supports resolutions of up to 2160p. But I can't imagine that there's enough demand for such an addition, I guess people who want to use their iMacs' screen to run consoles are quite the minority.

 

[johnnyturbouk]

This looks awfully unergonomical. If I wanted to go down that road, I'd get a VESA iMac.
My desktop is pretty unspectacular, glass table, iMac, Magic Trackpad 2, Logitech G710, large mouse pad for a Logitech G602 and tons of junk on top of that (cameras, lenses, copter stuff, batteries battery chargers, and so on).
I yet have to figure out the best layout to accommodate both the trackpad as well as the mouse. Also the keyboard is quite bulky, but I can't help but love the mechanical keys and the programmable ones. From an aesthetic point of view, it's no looker though.

I respect your view, I however prefer an aesthetic, minimalistic/zen set-up, with all the clutter and crap safely hidden in my draws. I do ont think that the above set-up is unergonomical, it has some flaws, but the overall aesthetics and implementation looks amazing IMHO.

Vesa would be a good option too

 

[makrom]

I respect your view, I however prefer an aesthetic, minimalistic/zen set-up, with all the clutter and crap safely hidden in my draws. I do ont think that the above set-up is unergonomical, it has some flaws, but the overall aesthetics and implementation looks amazing IMHO.

Vesa would be a good option too

Oh I by no means tried to impose my desktop layout to anyone, this is mostly the product of me being too lazy to take care of it.
But about the ergonomical aspect, your eyes are supposed to be level with the upper edge of the screen for an ergonomical position of your spine while your arms shouldn't have more than a 90° angle. And with this setup, the screen would be much too high, resulting in instinctively positioning the head slightly bent back. This will put your spine in a misaligned position and eventually cause neck and back issues if you don't propperly compensate for that.

This isn't much of a point of view thing rather than a matter of current medical insight on that subject. It could be a point of view issue whether one rather cares about ergonomics or aesthetics though.

 

[johnnyturbouk]

Oh I by no means tried to impose my desktop layout to anyone, this is mostly the product of me being to lazy to take care of it.
But about the ergonomical aspect, your eyes are supposed to be level with the upper edge of the screen for an ergonomical position of your spine while your arms shouldn't have more than a 90° angle. And with this setup, the screen would be much too high, resulting in instinctively positioning the head slightly bent back. This will put your spine in a misaligned position and eventually cause neck and back issues if you don't propperly compensate for that.

This isn't much of a point of view thing rather than a matter of current medical insight on that subject. It could be a point of view issue whether one rather cares about ergonomics or aesthetics though.

Interesting, sounds very sensible and well thought out; wish they had taught this at med school during our ortho and musculoskeletal modules, rather than the the incessant and fanatical need to memorise swaths of anatomy. I think the chair one is using and other good tenants of sitting 'properly' is also important, my ortho and physio colleagues constantly reminds me how poor my posture is.

 

[makrom]

Interesting, sounds very sensible and well thought out; wish they had taught this at med school during our ortho and musculoskeletal modules, rather than the the incessant and fanatical need to memorise swaths of anatomy. I think the chair one is using and other good tenants of sitting 'properly' is also important, my ortho and physio colleagues constantly reminds me how poor my posture is.

Of course the chair is just as important. This page here shows it quite well:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/office-ergonomics/art-20046169

I have no clue how credible this site is. But while it might not be the NEJM, it's pretty much what you get from other sources. While you are talking about poor posture now, talk to someone with a desk job in their 40s or 50s. There are so many of them with serious spinal issues. Of course this is also associated with lack of exercise, but none the less...

 

[tillsbury]

As a long-term intensive computer user in their "late 40s" (ahem) and an ex-wife who specialised in workstation ergonomics assessment, I can confirm that the 27" imac is best placed at keyboard level. If anything I'd prefer it a fraction shorter, and I'm pretty tall. You'll destroy your neck having it way up there. Also, note that those drawers will be useless as soon as you put anything on the desk, as you'll have to move it to open them.

And a crummy join in the desktop right in the middle of the keyboard? That would drive me insane...

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Well, my dream setup can't exist until the Retina iMac supports video input, because I'd want two of them - one as the "master" device, displaying on both iMac's displays, and the second one as "server" running virtual machines in the background.

 

[johnnyturbouk]

Damn it you guys with your practical suggestion, I think I have had my soul corrupted by Ive's cult of apple minimalism, thinness, style, magic, deeply introspective and emotional white.

You'll destroy your neck having it way up there. Also, note that those drawers will be useless as soon as you put anything on the desk, as you'll have to move it to open them.

Agreed, I would not have the iMac on the drawers, rather I would have the iMac and my dell on a VESA mounted desk mount at the corner, like this:

Well, my dream setup can't exist until the Retina iMac supports video input, because I'd want two of them

Agreed, thence I had decided to wait for the next version of rImac, presuming they would allow TDM. However, if I waited until next year, it would of cost me over $800 in discounts and savings [apple education discount, AMEX cash-back for a new account, and an apple voucher].

Does anyone have pictures of their current desktop set-up, I would be intrigued to see how others have solved their workflow needs.

 

[vkd]

The reasons for some of these things are obvious.

There is no real incentive for developers to develop OSX versions of their games as macs aren't great for gaming, apples hardware is capable of playing the games but the developers won't bother with a mac version. Apple develops it's drivers and chooses it's graphics cards with pro apps in mind not gaming this is because they don't make gaming computers and never have.

This everybody already knows but thank you very much for reminding us.

Games consoles cannot use a 5K screen it takes a double connection with thunderbolt 2 bandwidth over Display port, something that the 5K iMac is not set up to do, as there is no standard connector apple had to develop their own soltion just to get the computer to run it. 5K all in ones are literally years ahead of the competition.

Excessive technological information does not a solution make. What it does show, though, is how limited the 5k iMac actually is, most likely by design.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

This everybody already knows but thank you very much for reminding us.
Excessive technological information does not a solution make. What it does show, though, is how limited the 5k iMac actually is, most likely by design.

The iMac is in no way limited it is a perfect all in one desktop solution, it is not a big heavy noisy desktop with huge graphics cards it is a slim elegant all in one, the most powerful one you can buy at that.

If you need a big graphics heavy computer you have a choice, buy any one of a million PC's in whatever configuration you want and hook up a 5K screen or buy a mac pro and hook up a 5K screen.