Two Screens, One MacBook Pro, and a Minimalist Office Dream
New Office
The technology giants’ marketing has worked again. Having bought the last of the Intel generation of Apple Macintosh computers—a specced-out Intel i9 iMac about five years ago—I’ve been feeling a little left behind. At the time, Apple was about to transition to their own Apple Silicon ‘M series’ of chips. Rather than take the plunge, I stuck with the tried-and-tested Intel series of processors. But now, Apple is onto the fourth generation of their M series, and the latest round of machines with the new M4 processors and ‘Apple Intelligence’ looked very enticing. My Intel-based Mac now felt old-fashioned, so it was time for an upgrade.
My Previous Setup
My setup before the upgrade was an i9 iMac with its gorgeous 27” 5K display, 96GB of RAM, and a 1TB internal drive. This was connected to two external 24” monitors, giving me a three-screen setup, plus several external drives (totaling 15TB of storage). While functional, the external monitors were mismatched and a little dated.
Unfortunately, Apple no longer offers an iMac that meets my needs. The 24” screen is too small, and the maximum 32GB of RAM wouldn’t be sufficient. I was going to have to move away from the convenience of the all-in-one iMac.
Choosing New Monitors
Since I wasn’t sticking with an all-in-one computer, I needed at least another 27” monitor. Replacing my two older 24” monitors was also on the cards. My idea was to get two 27” 4K displays to pair with the new computer.
Initially, I had my eyes on the Alogic Clarity range with a dual monitor arm for mounting. However, I came across the LG UltraFine range on Ergo stands and decided they were a better alternative. The Ergo stands were built-in, saving some money, and the screens were 32” instead of 27”. Two of these would provide more screen real estate than my previous setup—an upgrade in all respects. They were also considerably cheaper than the Alogic Clarity monitors. With the monitors sorted, it was time to choose the Mac itself.
The New Mac
The new M4 Mac Mini was tempting. It had pretty much everything I needed in a tiny package. However, by the time I upgraded the processor, RAM, and hard drive, it wasn’t as cheap as its base-model pricing suggested. Apple’s costs for RAM and SSD upgrades are notoriously high.
I considered waiting until June for the Mac Studio release, which promised to be a beast of a machine—but it would, of course, be more expensive.
Then there was the laptop option, essentially a return to the all-in-one concept in a portable format. I had been using desktops for years because they traditionally offered more ‘bang for your buck’ and better performance. Historically, laptops were limited by the need to balance power with battery life and cooling. However, the new M-series chips are so power-efficient that laptops now have the same processors and power as their desktop counterparts.
Why a Laptop?
A laptop brought the additional advantage of portability. While I would use it mainly at my desk tethered to a dock and external monitors, I liked the flexibility of taking it with me or using it on my lap in the lounge. The price difference between a desktop and an equivalently specced laptop wasn’t too drastic. A MacBook Pro with the same M4 Pro processor, 48GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD was ‘only’ about £480 more than a Mac Mini with the same specs. For that price, the laptop included a 14” XDR display, battery, keyboard, trackpad, and webcam.
The idea of a 14” MacBook Pro paired with two 32” displays became increasingly attractive. In the end, that’s exactly what I decided to go for.
The Final Setup
To complement the MacBook Pro, I also bought a CalDigit TS4 Dock. This dock allows me to connect the two external displays, all my external hard drives, other USB peripherals, speakers, and power supply through a single Thunderbolt cable to the MacBook Pro. This setup makes it easy to disconnect when I want portability. The dock also includes a 2.5GB Ethernet port, which was important to me since the MacBook Pro lacks an Ethernet socket. While Wi-Fi gives me decent speeds (around 300Mbps), Ethernet boosts this to about 1.2Gbps—a nice bonus.
Here’s my new office setup:
- MacBook Pro (M4 Pro) with 48GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.
- Two 32” 4K LG UltraFine displays on Ergo stands.
- CalDigit TS4 Dock connecting everything with a single Thunderbolt cable.
The Transition
The Migration Assistant successfully transferred all my data and settings from my iMac, making the transition smooth. There were a few logins and authentications required, some security settings to permit, and updates needed for software to run on Apple Silicon, but overall, it was painless. However, my Backblaze backups are still catching up, which has been a minor annoyance.
My desk now looks quite minimalist, which I love. There are no visible cables, though if you crawl under the desk, it’s still a spaghetti-like mess of cables, power bricks, and sockets. One day, I’ll tidy it up—but for now, I’ll leave it hidden and forget about it. Maybe some bus-powered hard drive to replace my external drives will help here!
Final Thoughts
Adjusting to the new layout has been easy so far. The setup feels modern, powerful, and clean. While I miss the simplicity of the iMac, the flexibility and performance of this new setup make it a worthy upgrade. It’s not Instagram-perfect, but it works perfectly for me—and that’s what matters most.
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As you would expect I didn’t really know what you were “talking ” about but it does look neat and tidy so I approve x