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maikerukun

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 22, 2009
719
1,037
Like this?

View attachment 2168515

The 5,1 and 7,1 are nearly identical in size, just that the 7,1 is maybe very slightly less tall. The 6,1 is obviously way smaller. The 7,1 case cover is very, very heavy to lift and is a very tight fit.

Inside the 6,1 is jammed full of components, no more room left for anything else. The 5,1 and 7,1 might be externally similar size, but the 7,1 is far smarter inside - much more room to upgrade. It only has one CPU, while the 5,1 has to make room for two of them.

Of them all, the 7,1 has greatest impression of quality. Serious thought went into the design of that machine. The 6,1 is quite scary to pull apart, you end up with a desk full of computer parts and no computer anymore. ;)

Out of them all, the 6,1 is still relatively fast and you can take it with you, it is not heavy. Even with my injuries I can carry it about in a bag.

The other two are not portable at all - they are equally heavy. With the 5,1 Apple deserves credit for creating a machine that still serves so many people and is able to be upgraded far beyond what was originally intended. The 7,1 takes what the 5,1 did well and does it better. And just subjectively I think it looks amazing sitting on the desk, it is beautiful modern design.
Very fun seeing them all together.
 

maikerukun

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 22, 2009
719
1,037
Been a while over here...I wonder who has done any updates to their battle stations :) I added a new piece of kit to mine, but as I'm currently on a project, I haven't had a chance to clean up since it's been installed...will update once I do though :)
 

mattspace

macrumors 68040
Jun 5, 2013
3,340
2,974
Australia
Been a while over here...I wonder who has done any updates to their battle stations :) I added a new piece of kit to mine, but as I'm currently on a project, I haven't had a chance to clean up since it's been installed...will update once I do though :)

I’m in the middle of a huge rewiring to install my 7,1 in a cupboard (after reinforcing the shelf) with all 3 displays on 7.5m displayport cables to my desk. Cupboard also has my photography drybox, a 2009 A/V mini, and a temp NAS 2012 mini, while I get all the data sorted from the decommissioned 4,1/5,1. Plan is for the NAS mini to stay on High Sierra, and inherit the Time Machine backups & data management (Hazel Workflows etc) from the old High Sierra cMP, until I can get a Synology solution for it. The fresh Ventura 7,1 won’t have any local storage for files.

If we don’t sell the house soon, I suspect I might end up putting an Aircon zone into the top of the cupboard, so I can temperature control it.
 
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maikerukun

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 22, 2009
719
1,037
I’m in the middle of a huge rewiring to install my 7,1 in a cupboard (after reinforcing the shelf) with all 3 displays on 7.5m displayport cables to my desk. Cupboard also has my photography drybox, a 2009 A/V mini, and a temp NAS 2012 mini, while I get all the data sorted from the decommissioned 4,1/5,1. Plan is for the NAS mini to stay on High Sierra, and inherit the Time Machine backups & data management (Hazel Workflows etc) from the old High Sierra cMP, until I can get a Synology solution for it. The fresh Ventura 7,1 won’t have any local storage for files.

If we don’t sell the house soon, I suspect I might end up putting an Aircon zone into the top of the cupboard, so I can temperature control it.
Is it too much of a mess to see right now? Please post some pix for sure when it's done! Sounds awesome!
 
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DCBassman

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2021
765
592
West Devon, UK
Here's my heap of junk!
20230711_201432.jpg

L-R: HP2211X monitor, conneted to bothe the cMP3,1 and the Windows machine. The Windows machine is an Acer mATX board in a monster Corsair Obsidian 750D case with a Corsair 650W PSU, total overkill, but it was all freebies, so...
The Windows behemoth is a Haswell i3-4160 with 16GB of, you guessed it, Corsair RAM ( my younger son and I like Corsair...) and is Rufus-patched to run Windows 11 Pro.
The iMac 10,1 is running Linux Mint 21.1 natively and doing it very well. The cheesegrater is running High Sierra, again very well, but I will probably move it on soon.
 

rocketbuc

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2017
350
323
IMG_0405.jpeg
IMG_0407.jpeg
IMG_0406.jpeg


Slightly updated my setup. M2 Air still resides in a specific drawer in Clamshell mode, is connected to a hidden USB hub that allows to charge and sync the 13 mini, hook up to the Kensington mouse and some other hidden charging cables (USB-C on the right side of the desk, Micro USB on the left side).

Still working on some minor tweaks and improvements. Cable management under the desk still needs some inspiration (see next post). Would love to your hear your opinions and ideas!
 

rocketbuc

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2017
350
323
IMG_0408.jpeg IMG_0409.jpeg

Cable management is mostly under control but I could not figure out a good option to "channel" the cables from the desk to the drawer. The cable length varies greatly between drawer closed and open. Until I get a USB-C monitor that can be connected with one cable, there is no way around channeling the HMDI + USB-A + USB-C cross from the desk to the drawer. Any ideas and improvements are welcome. :)
 

flygbuss

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2018
730
1,266
Stockholm, Sweden
Cable management is mostly under control but I could not figure out a good option to "channel" the cables from the desk to the drawer. The cable length varies greatly between drawer closed and open. Until I get a USB-C monitor that can be connected with one cable, there is no way around channeling the HMDI + USB-A + USB-C cross from the desk to the drawer. Any ideas and improvements are welcome. :)
I like the woven cable protectors. They come in several sizes and you can easily combine and hide plenty of cables.
IMG_4148.jpeg
Cat cables for networking and display extension, analog and digital audio (24 channels) , clock and other stuff.
It would look really messy without those.

Or even on the desk it helps to contain cable chaos.
IMG_4057.jpeg
For example cat and power supply..
 

mattspace

macrumors 68040
Jun 5, 2013
3,340
2,974
Australia
Is it too much of a mess to see right now? Please post some pix for sure when it's done! Sounds awesome!
Well, its clean enough to see now - taking a break after wrestling with three 7.5m displayport cables for a day, trying to figure out which one best connects with which display. Tomorrow, the desk gets some attention.

MP-shelf.jpg

Display & power cables routed along the underside of the machine, with adhered 3M Command Hooks.

A little DIY tip for reinforcing a shelf that might sag under the weight of chonky equipment - slotted steel L channel screwed to the shelf’s front edge, to prevent flex. Then L brackets - bonus the long slots in the channel mean the bracket screws have leeway for positioning.

Shelf.jpg
 
Last edited:

AZhappyjack

Suspended
Jul 3, 2011
10,183
23,657
Happy Jack, AZ
Is that clock in the corner (6:54) an old smartphone?

No... it's from Amazon... wife had it sitting in a closet, so I grabbed it.

 
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JazzyGB1

macrumors 6502
Jan 18, 2002
304
333
UK
I'm showing this because it's the tidy side.
Off camera I've an old iMac, emac and various other legacy bits that are way too messy to be shown! :)
 
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