Chris Bowler is a member of the team at Fusion Ads. He also links often and has a love for good software.

Chris’s Setup:

1. What does your desk look like?

2. What is your current Mac setup?

My setup is fairly basic. I work daily on a 3 year old white Macbook 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo with 1.5 GB of RAM. Paired with a beautiful matte finish 23″ Apple Cinema Display, this is the best computer setup I’ve ever used. My data is backed up daily via Time Machine to a 500 GB Time Capsule on the other side of the house. I also perform a full backup to a 125 GB external drive every week using SuperDuper.

All input is entered via a wired Apple Aluminum keyboard and a Mighty Mouse. Sound is delivered over a pair of some-particular-model-of-Logitech-speakers-I-cannot-recall.

Oh, and I have a Griffin Simplifi to sync and charge the iPod’s and transfer images from memory cards.

3. Why are you using this setup?

In regards to the peripherals, I loved the Macbook style of keyboard ever since I bought this machine. The Aluminum keyboards are the closest thing I’ve found to the Macbook keyboard and I can’t imagine ever switching to something different. My Mighty Mouse was a gift and for the most part, has done the job.

The portability of a laptop is almost a given these days. The ability to move around the house and take everything I need on the road is priceless. And for the sake of simplicity, I reduced all my computer gear down to the barest necessities. For me, this is the biggest reason for my setup. I could upgrade to a new machine, but I don’t need to. I’ll keep using this one until it dies.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

First things first — the most important piece of software I use is OS X. Those who haven’t had to use anything else for a long time fail to mention this beautiful product far too often.

Apart from the best operating system available, I use the following everyday:

• Mailplane: multiple account support with the gmail threaded conversations. Until something better comes along, I love this app.
• BusyCal: a recent update over my iCal + BusySync setup.
• Safari: Many moons ago I was a hardcore Firefox user (probably due to my Windows usage). Once Safari was available on both operating systems, I never looked back. Now using Firefox on the Mac just feels wrong.
• Fluid + 37signals: at Fusion, we use Backpack, Highrise, Basecamp and Campfire. This setup gives all but Campfire in one application window.
• Propane: and to access Campfire, I use this. It makes Campfire more enjoyable.
• Things: the best task management tool available. I love how this app scales to the needs of the user.
• iTunes: my favorite piece of software. Ever. It’s not perfect, but it meets my needs in every way and only brings pleasure, no pain.
• Yojimbo: I flirted with Evernote for several months. It has some great features as well, but like Firefox, just never quite fit in. Yojimbo is a pleasure to use and has great AppleScript support.
• Tweetie: the unofficial Fusion motto — dance with the one that brung you.
• TextMate: such a great piece of software that I barely scratch the surface of. Mostly used for plain text, HTML and CSS, but it makes me wish I was more technical. Maybe one day.
• Numbers: like most of their work, Apple took a common concept and added some nice polish. We use Numbers to manage our monthly ads and it works so well for us.
• Acorn: I’m not a graphics guy at all, but when I have job that’s too much for Quicksilver and Preview to handle, Acorn is a pleasure to use.
• Awaken: i love this application. I use it to display the time on my secondary monitor, but also occasionally use it to create alarms or time myself.
• LittleSnapper: another nice tool, but one I haven’t used as much as I should. I’m working on it.
• Today: Another tool that sits on my secondary display, Today is my ‘today list’, and syncs with BusyCal (and therefor also syncs with Things).
• Quicksilver: the most important tool on the list, it should be first, middle and last on the list. I can’t imagine living without it — it’s too ingrained within my workflow.

A few other tools that are worth mentioning, but that I don’t use every day: Coda, WriteRoom, and Billings.

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

Simply a first gen iPod Nano and a 1st gen iPod Touch. The nano I keep around for exercise (with the Nike+ kit) and the Touch for everything else.

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

I will probably purchase a new MBP in the next year — with my transition to self-employment, the work supplied second laptop that was primarily used by my wife went away. So our busy house now is at a point where two machines our a need rather than merely a want.

When I do upgrade, it’s probably going to be a 13″ MBP. As well, I will need a cell phone at some point and will get my first iPhone, but would settle for an older used model. And lastly, when the Mighty Mouse dies I’ll probably try something else — possibly a Logitech Revolution MX that everyone raves about.

But the focus will still be on having only what I need — I try my best not to succumb to the constant upgrade cycle that Apple encourages.

More Sweet Setups

Chris’s setup is just one in a series of sweet Mac Setups.

For those chomping at the bit for a setup that doesn’t belong in a magazine, here is a real-life setup submitted by my real-life friend, Josh Farmer. Josh is one of the best dads, husbands, writers, and editors I know. He also has a flare for the sarcastic.

Josh’s Setup:

1. What does your desk look like?

It looks like my kitchen table. After a Church’s Chicken tornado.

2. What is your current Mac setup?

PowerBook G4 15″ laptop and a 500 GB backup disk somewhere in my house . . . really need to find that thing.

3. Why are you using this setup?

Because in my 900-square-foot home, it’s all I’ve got right now (besides the bathroom, which is apparently my fault). I have four children under the age of 5 (no twins), I’m in full-time school, work part-time, do editing and ghostwriting projects on the side, and consume all things related to Apple, Macintosh, and LOLCats. w00t!!!!!11!!

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

Safari for the Web; iTunes for music; iPhoto for pictures; Word for, um, words; InDesign for editing .indd files (upgraded from MS Paint recently). Tinker Tool handles any UI system changes I want to make, but that usually comes down to changing fonts. (Right now I’ve got Hobo, Arial, and Comic Sans in various places. They are extremely legible because each letter is different.)

I have also found that keeping all my applications open makes them readily available and cuts down on their startup time. But I have to keep my iTunes kinda loud to drown out the funny sounds my drive sometimes makes — it’s a difficult balance during the kids’ naptime.

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

I have an original iPod (called a Walkman). Oh, yeah, and I also have a 4GB iPod. It’s blue because I like blue. But it’s so difficult to use. I can’t even get it to play. Every time I hold it, I push the hold button to let it know what I’m doing, but it still won’t work. I have a puppy named Macintosh, so that should count I think.

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

You already forgot my answer to question #3, didn’t you? Seriously, though, if something breaks I’ll obviously have to replace it. They say necessity is the mother of all loans, right?

More Sweet Setups

Josh’s setup is just one in a series of sweet Mac Setups.

Ian P. Hines is a 23-year old technology geek and Baltimore Enthusiast. In the daylight hours he’s a Neighborhood Liaison in the Office of the Mayor of Baltimore, MD, but by night he’ll likely be found coding, scripting, and tweeting away. In September he’ll be having his first child, a boy. He’s been blogging since 2003.

Ian’s Setup:

1. What does your desk look like?

2. What is your current Mac setup?

I’m currently using a 13″ MacBook (White), circa early 2009, as my sole computer. I kept it basic – 2 GHz Intel Cor Duo, 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM – as an exercise in relative minimalism, despite my inner geek urging me to go with the Pro. Backups are done via BackBlaze, which continuously syncs changed whenever I’m connected to WiFi.

When I’m on-the-go, which is most of the day, I’m stuck with (and I mean that) my BlackBerry 8703e(s) (I have two, one for work and one for personal use), courtesy of a two-year Verizon contract. Lets be clear: older BlackBerrys are terrible for anything except email. Period. The newer ones (I’m looking at you, Tour!) might… just might… be up to snuff, but I’m not holding my breath.

The personal BlackBerry isn’t going to be around for too much longer, as it seems to be feuding with my Mac. They aren’t talking at all, and I just can’t have that sort of tension in my life. But more on that in a bit…

3. Why are you using this setup?

I can’t say enough about how much I love the simplicity of this setup (sans BlackBerry).

A few years back, when my first ever laptop died, I made the decision to switch back to a tower. What an awful idea that was. One of the best parts of living in a city is all the great free WiFi (with associated coffee!), and having a desktop meant that I couldn’t bring my work with me. I was desk-bound, and experience has taught me that that just doesn’t work for me.

Now, with the baby on the way, I’ve taken up the challenge of dramatically reducing the amount of excess furniture in the house; the desk space was among the first things to go. These days it’s just me, my MacBook, and the couch. Or the chair. Or the coffee shop. That’s the thing… I work where I want and I love having that flexibility. I’ve found that the freedom to change my scenery has really helped me creatively, and I think that’s been reflected in my fresh approach to the web over the past several months.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

I’ve taken to using Spaces to keep my desktop strictly organized. I currently have twelve spaces, most of which are always active:

• Space One is strictly for browsers. I’m a Safari 4 guy (a recent convert from Firefox 3).
• Space Two is for social applications. Here you’ll find Tweetie & Adium opening at login.
• Space Three houses NetNewsWire, though I think I’m about to catch a Fever.
• Space Four is for the more formal correspondence, via Address Book & Mail.
• Space Five is for the outsiders.
• Space Six is the junk drawer, filled up with Stickies (galore?).
• Space Seven runs iCal, which is used to access my Google CalDAV Calendars locally.
• Space Eight runs iPhoto, and when I’m feeling particularly ambitious Lightroom.
• Space Nine is the jukebox: iTunes, Last.fm, and PandoraFM.
• Space Ten is where the magic happens, via Coda & Transmit (three cheers for the Panic Sale!).
• Space Eleven is dedicated solely to Mint, because an app so beautiful deserves one all to itself.
• And finally, Space Twelve for imaging with LittleSnapper & Photoshop CS 4.

In the background you’ll find these standbys: BackBlaze, Caffeine, Google Quick Search, & Growl.

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

Sadly, no. My wife, however, is running a late-2008 unibody MacBook 13″, which replaced the white MacBook that we lost in a burglary last September. But I personally have been without any Mac peripherals since my fourth generation iPod finally died in 2007.

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

Considering I’m currently running my mobile web on the antiquated 8703e (thanks, Verizon!), an iPhone 3GS is looking pretty good right about now. My Verizon contract expires in November, though if the rumors of a Q1 Verizon iPhone are true that won’t really matter.

I also plan on adding a 500 GB Passport Hard Drive for photo storage, as I prefer to keep the internal drive pretty clutter free.

More Sweet Setups

Ian’s setup is just one in a series of sweet Mac Setups.

Adam Keys makes software, fosters wiener dogs with his wife, collects cool web stuff, and tells jokes.

Adam’s Setup:

1. What does your desk look like?

2. What is your current Mac setup?

I sport the ever-popular MacBook Pro (mid-2008) and 23″ Cinema Display tandem. I’ve got the laptop on a Griffin Technology Elevator stand. My data is kept safe by a 500 GB Western Digital Firewire drive for Time Machine backups and a 250 GB portable drive for Super Duper backups, which I take on the road with me. Music reaches my ears via JBL speakers.

I’m using the wired Apple Aluminum keyboard, which I still enjoy a lot, even though it hasn’t been as good at resisting finger nastiness as I would have hoped. Previously, I used a wireless keyboard and mouse, but the battery swapping was too much of an annoyance, so I’ve gone wired for the keyboard and switched to a Logitech MX Revolution mouse. I’ve been surprised by how much I like the mouse; I use its extra buttons and wheels almost gesturally. In particular, I find the forward/back buttons and the flick-ability of the vertical wheel quite useful.

3. Why are you using this setup?

I’ve tried most of the permutations of these hardware bits, at least the ones you can find on the internet promising to make you a super-productive coding god. While I liked the serenity of just one big display (running the laptop closed), I’ve found it useful to shunt distracting but necessary apps like Campfire and iChat off to the laptop display so I can focus on making stuff on the primary display.

I really love the small size of the Apple wireless keyboard, and thought about getting the wired version of it, but I find my fingers are slightly happier using the full-size keyboard after a long day of coding. I’m also an adherent of Brent Simmons’ philosophy that “every time you touch the mouse, god kills a kitten”. Further, I’d say if you take you hands off home row, kittens are imperiled. So, to the point: I like the discipline imposed by the ever-so-slightly-distant arrow keys. Also, having a number pad is very useful when it comes to things of purely numerical interest.

Now, allow me to go a little far afield from the typical “Setup” format; specifically, the non-computing aspects of my working environs. The desk I have used to have all sorts of bells and whistles: a keyboard tray, a monitor stand, a swing-out drawer and hanging file, etc. Over time, I’ve removed all of those. Now it’s just a wooden working surface and a metal frame. I’ve also sought to get as much off my desk as possible. I’m down to a pen, my glasses, a coaster for the required water beverage and whatever I may be writing on (index cards, a sheet of paper or a notebook). However, a close look will reveal that I’ve yet to do any cable-hiding tricks. I’m still hoping the cable-fairy will visit me.

My second secret weapon: natural light. I’ve got windows on three sides of my desk. I’m not a cave geek and I find it refreshing to look to our back yard, even when it isn’t full of barking dachshunds. My desk faces east so, except for a couple weeks a year where glare is really bad in the mornings, it’s pure bliss.

My third secret weapon: my ever-so-needy orange tabby cat. Sometimes she’ll accidentally move the mouse, but having a pet around is great for occasional workspace distractions.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

Seeing as how I make software, my bread and butter is a text editor. For the past few years, I’ve loved TextMate. It’s minimal, embraces the Unix philosophy, and it’s an idiomatic OS X app. But lately, I’ve been using Emacs. It’s even more distraction-free than TextMate, its got a great ecosystem of extensions and add-ons and it intrigues my inner language nerd. That said, I’m looking forward to see how the next version of TextMate might advance the art of text editors. Aside from text editors, I heavily rely on Terminal.app and all the Unix bits that make OS X wonderful.

For someone who spends a lot of time building web apps, I’ve got an almost curmudgeonly affection for non-web apps. I still use Mail.app, iCal and NetNewsWire. I prefer Twitteriffic over the fancier upstarts. Colloquy, iChat, and Propane round out my collaboration tools. After a long time on OmniWeb, I’m a Safari guy; I just can’t get past Firefox’s platform oddities.

When it comes to writing or getting things done, I lean towards Jesse Grosjean’s excellent WriteRoom and TaskPaper. If I need to step it up, I reach for Scrivener and OmniFocus. I’ve used MarsEdit for posting to my weblog since it was part of NetNewsWire.

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

An Airport Extreme, an Apple TV, a couple iPod speaker docks, an iPhone 3GS, an iPod 60 GB, first and second gen iPods Nano, and a 1 GB shuffle. My older Macs are also about the house: a white G3 iBook, a first-gen Mac Mini and a 20″ Cinema Display.

In short, I pay more for good design and knowing things will work well.

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

As we speak, I’m transferring my brain from the aforementioned laptop to a shiny new 15″ MBP. Super Duper backups are great for this task!

As soon as I have enough coin, I’m going to get one of the new LED Cinema Displays. I’m hoping that by the time I can afford one, they will either offer a 30″ version or science will have delivered a way to run two displays from a single MBP. I’m also feeling the temptation to run out and get a narrow Apple wired keyboard, but hopefully this temptation will pass.

While I’m wishing, let me make up some things that don’t exist but I really want: gaze-tracking software that controls which window is focused, an editor as sensible as TextMate and as powerful as Emacs, the death of telephony and Skype, and an external version of the Apple laptop keyboard and trackpad. These would all be huge upgrades for me.

More Sweet Setups

Adam’s setup is just one in a series of sweet Mac Setups.

Jeff Nouwen is a Canadian database and web developer by day, and a Cocoa developer by night. He can be found scattered about the web on Twitter, his two (infrequently) updated blogs, and at Kepi Software.

Jeff’s Setup:

1. What does your desk look like?

2. What is your current Mac setup?

My primary machine is an 8-core 3.0GHz Mac Pro (the January 2008 model); 6GB RAM; 2.25TB of drive space split between Leopard, Windows XP, Windows 7 RC, and two backup partitions; 512MB GeForce 8800GT; two Dell 2407WFP-HC 24″ monitors; the sleek Apple aluminum keyboard; a Logitech two button scroll mouse; and a nearly 10-year-old set of Altec Lansing ACS54 4.1 speakers.

That’s the powerhorse of my “operations” where about 99.9% of my home computing is done.

Additionally, to the right is a 15″ 800MHz G4 Lampshade iMac being used as a Tiger test machine, though once Snow Leopard ships it’ll likely be retired from service.

To the left is a 12″ 500MHz G3 iBook being used as an interval training timer using Red Sweater’s FlexTime while I’m cranking away on my bike.

Sitting on top of the iBook is my work laptop, a first generation 15″ MacBook Pro that tends to only be used as a demo machine at the office as my main machine there is a PowerMac G5.

3. Why are you using this setup?

In the broader sense, I use a Mac because it’s been my platform of choice ever since my parents bought our first Mac back in 1992. As to the specific setup, the power of an 8-core Mac Pro makes compile times (relatively) short, iMove and Aperture great to use, and gaming under Windows a treat.

Admittedly it’s a beast of a machine, and it cost a pretty penny, but I justify the expense due to my long lag time between computer purchases. The Mac Pro was ordered in January 2008; my previous primary machine was a PowerMac G4 Dual 450Mhz that was purchased seven and a half years prior, and remained stock except for additional RAM. I expect to have the Mac Pro as my main machine for roughly the same amount of time. I could have just purchased a tricked-out iMac twice over the same period and spent about the same, but I’ve always liked the flexibility of a tower Mac for extending the longevity of the machine.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

• LaunchBar: I’m a very keyboard-centric computer user, so LaunchBar fits in perfectly. I use it for far more than just launching apps. Everything from performing searches on various websites (Google, YouTube, IMDB, etc.), controlling iTunes and selecting songs/albums to listen to, the built-in calculator, clipboard history, and ability to pipe files and commands together leads LaunchBar to see a lot of action.
• Adium: I have, and regularly use, accounts on ICQ, AIM, MSN, and Google Talk so it’s pretty much a no-brainer.
• NetNewsWire: For keeping up on other developers’ blogs, tech news, and web comics.
• SuperDuper!: A daily Smart Update cloned backup of my boot drive is the core of my onsite backup strategy, and is paired up with Time Machine.
• teleport: For controlling my Tiger test iMac as there’s no keyboard or mouse plugged into it.
• Safari: My browser of choice.
• Apple Mail: Two IMAP accounts and a POP account deftly handled by Mail which does everything I want it do.
• Tweetie: For keeping up on the ranting and ravings of other Mac developers, and attempting to become “one of us” (if Kevin Hoctor of No Thirst Software lets me).
• Apple Developer Tools: For practically all my development needs.
• TextMate: I had initially used TextMate as my sole code editor back on my PowerMac G4 when the then-current versions of Xcode were painfully slow to use on that old machine. With the editor changes introduced in Xcode 3.0 — coupled with running on the Mac Pro — I switched back to using Xcode as my primary Objective-C editor, but still use TextMate for everything else.
• iTunes: Music has become almost background noise to me. If I’m at a computer, whether at home or at work, I have music going. During times when I really get into the coding “groove”, I flip to the soundtrack of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, a habit carried over from a large group project during my university days while working towards my Comp Sci degree. And yes, I grabbed that IMDB link with LaunchBar.

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

You could say that. I have a burgeoning Apple collection, about a third of which is at my place, while the rest is being stored in my office and my parents’ basement until I get more room to actually start putting it all on display. Some of my more treasured items are a Mac Portable with all original documentation and Apple-branded carrying case, and a QuickTake 150. To top it all off, every piece in the collection is fully functional.

As for Mac gear I actually use regularly, I have a 1GB 2nd generation iPod shuffle (green) for listening to podcasts on the go, and a 32GB 2nd generation iPod touch.

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

As I’m starting to shoot more high definition video, I’m likely going to fill the fourth and final drive bay in the Mac Pro, and possibly acquire a Drobo. I want to pick up a second graphics card to drive a third 24″ monitor so I could play Burnout Paradise on three screens instead of two, but that seems like a less likely purchase.

More Sweet Setups

Jeff’s setup is just one in a series of sweet Mac Setups.

Jay Torres is a sales engineer for an HVAC company based in Corona, CA. When he’s not doing equipment selections or doing take offs, he maintains a blog, posts pictures to Flickr and tries to be interesting on Twitter. He currently lives in Santa Ana, CA.

Jay’s Setup:

1. What Does Your Desk Look Like?

2. What is your current Mac setup?

My current set up consists of a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, 2GB RAM, 160 GB HDD attached to a 24″ Dell monitor. I use Apple’s wireless keyboard and mouse. I thought I’d miss the number pad but I like the fact that its so small and minimalist. I only got the mouse because it matches the keyboard. Don’t judge me.

3. Why are you using this setup?

I got my laptop from my previous job where I convinced the IT department that I could dual boot a Mac into Windows and that it would play nice with our network. Yeah, I had to explain what dual booting was to the IT department of a half a billion dollar company. Since I called on clients all over Los Angeles and Orange County, my computer couldn’t be tied down to a desk. I needed something powerful and portable and the MacBook Pro easily fits the bill. I could be at a client’s office and I could easily whip out my computer and crank out a selection or bring up product data. When I get home, I just plug it into my monitor, reboot into good old OS X and catch up on everything that’s happened during the day. I can’t see myself having a set up other than this.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

• Safari – I thought about this and amazingly, I spend a lot of time in my web browser, both for work and play. I used to be a longtime Camino user but Safari is just so fast, it was hard to go back. I use GMail and its multiple inbox feature to handle both personal and work email and for prioritizing what has to be done. I pretty much rely on Google for everything. Google syncs my contacts and calendars with my iPhone via “the cloud”. Considering that my work doesn’t use an Exchange server, it’s the next best thing. Now if they would just enable push email…

• NetNewsWire – After Safari, the next piece of software I use most is NetNewsWire. I follow ~100 feeds ranging from gadget blogs, finance blogs, design blogs and anything else I find interesting.

• iChat – For my AIM and Google chat accounts. I tried to like Adium but video chat brings me back.

• iTunes – Handles all my music, TV and movie organization. One of three apps that gets launched at log in.

• Tweetie – It does everything I need and nothing more. If they give me the option of getting rid of the dock icon, it’ll be perfect. Also launches at log in.

• MarsEdit – Simple app for posting to my blog.

• iPhoto – I don’t consider photography as a hobby but I do take a lot of pictures of what I do on the weekends (which may be a bad thing if this thing gets published). I use iPhoto to organize and upload to my Flickr page.

• Stickies – For bits of information that I always need to copy and paste into fields.

• Dropbox – I store all my work files in my Dropbox for easy access when I boot into Windows. It’s so seamless, I forget it’s syncing with their servers. I wish I had found this earlier.

• Windows 7 and IE8 – When I quote equipment, our quoting software is web based and only works in Internet Explorer. So I had to install Windows 7 on a 20GB partition on my MacBook Pro. I have Parallels installed but using Windows in it is barely usable. I only set aside 20GB because I don’t really have anything I need to install on the Windows side other than MS Office and a couple other random apps. Although I feel guilty saying this, once I boot into Windows 7, it’s crazy fast.

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

I have a 16GB 1st generation iPhone unlocked on TMobile. I also have an original 5GB iPod (still works!), a 20GB 4G iPod and a green 2G iPod shuffle for working out. I have a 160GB Apple TV. Right next to it, I also have a 500GB Time Capsule that I use for backups and for streaming media that isn’t already stored on the Apple TV.

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

In the near future, I don’t have anything planned but when it’s time, I’d like to get a unibody 15″ MacBook Pro and the 24″ LED Cinema Display. I absolutely love how the monitor has connections for power, USB and audio. Why no one else has thought of this before boggles my mind. I’d love to get an iPhone 3GS, but I’m actually getting a good deal with TMobile and don’t plan on switching anytime soon.

More Sweet Setups

Jay’s setup is just one in a series of Sweet Mac Setups.

Gordon Barr lives in Glasgow, Scotland. He is a part-time programmer, part-time webmaster, part-time IT support helper, and part-time architectural heritage campaigner. He has been described in the newspapers as a ‘boffin’ during attempts to promote Chemistry as a fun and interesting subject through the medium of a life-size fibreglass cow, and as an ‘expert’ when trying to convince people not to knock down interesting old buildings unnecessarily. In his spare time, he runs the online Scottish Cinemas project to catalogue, record and research old cinema and theatre buildings.

Gordon’s Setup:

1. What does your desk look like?

2. What is your current Mac setup?

At work have a Mac Pro (2x Dual Core 2.66Ghz) as my primary workstation, and a Mac Mini 1.66Ghz Core Duo. I’ve three 20in Cinema Displays between them; one on the Mac Mini, and two on the Mac Pro, with a single mouse and keyboard shared between them.
At home, a first generation unibody 13in MacBook. Oh, and an iPhone or two, obviously.

3. Why are you using this setup?

Much of my ‘proper’ work (i.e. that I actually get paid for) involves tying together old legacy Visual Basic and Fortran code and trying to make it play nicely together, so Windows is a necessity. As a result, the Mac Pro is running Windows XP in Bootcamp rather than MacOS X. Pleasingly, the Mac Pro was purchased after I specced up the equivalent Dell workstation at the time, which was nearly UKP £2000 more expensive (!). Who says Macs are pricier?

The Mac Mini is so I don’t have to spend all day in Windows land, and it runs everything else. The cinema displays were gradually purchased over time – I started out with just one of them and added more as budgets allowed.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

I use Synergy to share a single mouse and keyboard between the two machines; I couldn’t live without it. I write and edit manuals and other technical documentation for in-house software, and I could do a lot more on the Mac rather than in Windows if there was still a Mac version of Framemaker (are you listening, Adobe?!). There’s always some Terminal windows open, and often some stuff running over X-windows from our Sun servers too.

I use Spaces to keep things separated – the default one has Mail and iCal which are always open, another with a bunch of terminal windows for local servers, etc., another for Safari and Tweetie, and one for Things.

I’ve recently started using Things (thanks to the review on this very site) to manage my work to do lists, and its ability to sync with the iPhone equivalent is crucial to keeping me (relatively) organised. The venerable but incomparable GraphicConverter is still in my Dock, and used almost daily, even after all these years.

For my side-line in architectural heritage, I take a lot of photos, and managing them is a bit of a nightmare. I’ve recently converted to Aperture for this, and am gradually getting a handle on it. The excellent FlickrExporter for Aperture is also used frequently for my Flickr uploads.

On the Mac, TextWrangler is my editor of choice; on the PC-side, SciTe is rather good.

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

A Time Capsule at home for backups; a large box under the bed full of old cables, power supplies and about 7 different Apple laptop display dongles of various vintages, and a pristine Mac SE that still goes bong when you turn it on – I must find an old keyboard and mouse so I can play with it properly!

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

My iPhone is a 3GS; I appear to have Compulsive Upgrade Disorder when it comes to these things. So when they release a new one, I suspect I will be there. Luckily, I have a bunch of friends who are not such early adopters I can sell last year’s model on to.

More Setups:

Gordon’s setup is just one in a series of Sweet Mac Setups.

Tim Van Damme is a Belgian webdesigner. By day he runs his little freelance company Made by Elephant, but by night he turns into his wild, alter ego called Maxvoltar. He is also a self-claimed celebrity tweeter with millions of followers.

Tim’s Setup:

What does your desk look like?

2. What is your current Mac setup?

I’m using a Unibody MacBook Pro 15.4″ (the one without SD, you know, that old piece of last-year’s hardware?). Besides that, I have a 23″ Apple Cinema Display, a 1Tb external Lacie drive (backup solution #1) and a 1Tb Time Capsule (wireless internet everywhere and backup solution #2).

3. Why are you using this setup?

Years ago I switched to using laptops, and wouldn’t want it any other way. About half the time I work from home (the setup in the pictures), and the other half I’m either at the office, or at a client. Anywhere I arrive, I just open my MacBook and start working where I left off. A laptop might not be the most powerful workstation around, but portability wins over power every time. I must admit having an external monitor is a big plus.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

Apps that are always running include Safari, Photoshop, Espresso, MailPlane, NetNewsWire, Tweetie, Skype, iChat, iTunes and LittleSnapper.

For a full list I’d like to point you to an interview Grace Smith did with me, exploring all the apps in my dock.

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

A white MacBook which used to be mine, but is now being used by my girlfriend, an Apple TV, and an Airport Express that multiplies(?) the Wi-Fi at home.

Almost forgot: an iPhone 3GS.

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

I tend to buy a new iPhone each year, and a new MacBook Pro every 2 years. Maybe I’ll buy a second Cinema Display to use at home, and that 10″ NetBook Apple’s going to launch later this year.

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Tim’s setup is just one in a series of Sweet Mac Setups.

Julian Schrader is the head of one-man-plus-partners web agency Schrader.io Design & Development based in Würzburg, Germany. Besides managing client projects and writing Ruby on Rails, XHTML and CSS, he’s currently studying for a Bachelor of Science in Business Informatics at the University of Würzburg.

Julian’s Setup:

What does your desk look like?

2. What is your current Mac setup?

A 2 × 3.0 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core) Mac Pro, with 6GB of RAM. Unfortunately still with the slow hard drive Apple Refurb put into it, so speed-wise there’s still a bottleneck to bust. To control this machine, I’m using a wireless Apple Keyboard and also a bluetooth Mighty Mouse, which unfortunately sometimes needs a special treatment.

Thanks to eBay, I recently added a second screen to my setup, totaling 2 × 30″ Apple Cinema HD Displays connected to the Mac Pro.

For my audio needs, I’m still using my old Sony stereo—its speakers hide behind the displays, iTunes DJ is shuffling through nearly all genres all day.

Unfortunately this setup isn’t worth anything on-the-go: When I’m working outside or at the university, I rely on my 15″ Unibody MacBook Pro (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB of RAM) and, of course, on my 32GB iPhone 3GS.

3. Why are you using this setup?

Throughout the day, I’m switching between various setups depending on the task at hand. Whether that means “communication”, “coding” or “designing”, I always need to have multiple applications (and windows) open.

As Shawn put it: I’m “a dude with over 8 million pixels worth of screen real estate” (8.192.000 pixels to be precise), and I found large screens to be way more efficient than constantly switching between Leopard’s Spaces, as I did before.

And the MacBook Pro—well, easy: My iPhone can do a lot, but I need a real computer for lectures and the cafeteria, and it’s great to leave the desk for the garden every now and then.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

• Things combined with Things Touch on my iPhone — a killer task management setup for me. Everything goes into Things.
• Safari — browser of choice.
• DropBox — all my projects live in folders synced with DropBox. This ensures that all my data on the MacBook Pro is automagically up-to-date and everything I do at the university is reflected on my Mac Pro.
• iCal — All lectures and appointments go here. Thanks to MobileMe, this is always in sync on my machines and my iPhone always knows where I have to go next.
• mite. — I’m a web guy, so my time tracking lives on the web. DynaMite on the Macs, web interface on my iPhone.
• Mail — can’t get used to GMail. My Google Apps account lives in Mail.
• iTunes — I’m constantly listenin’, told ya.
• Aurora — wakes me up in the morning.
• Tweetie & Tweetie — my Twitter client on the Macs and iPhone.
• Adium — to log on to my XMPP server, OneTeam on the iPhone.
• Skype — constantly in use with my most regular customer.
• Fever — Shaun Inman’s feedreader immediately knocked out NetNewsWire for me.
• TextMate — I do all my coding with it, sometimes even CSS.
• CSSEdit — Explains itself.
• Terminal — Ruby on Rails and server administration via SSH doesn’t work without it.
• GitX — for version control. I version control everything. If it’s not in git, it’s at least in TimeMachine.
• Transmit — for good ol’ (S)FTP and Amazon S3.
• Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator (both CS3) — to edit pictures, and to check out what the designers did for me.
• Numbers, Pages & Keynote — for my office needs and presentations. So much happier with the iWork suite than with Office (which happens to get dusty on my HD).

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

In the right corner of my desk I have a 1TB Time Capsule to connect me to our WiFi and for backing up with TimeMachine.

Mobile devices:

• A 32GB iPhone 3GS, with me all the time.
• An 8GB iPhone, which is used by my girlfriend.
• I used to own still have a 60GB iPod 5G (hidden in my desk’s drawer, never used again since my first iPhone).

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

Nope. Just updated from an iPhone 3G to the 3GS, everything else is fine for now. Well, maybe a faster hard disk for the Mac Pro?

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Julian’s setup is just one in a series of Sweet Mac Setups.

David Appleyard is a freelance designer and blogger based in Manchester, UK. He is the editor of AppStorm, and manages various design-related sites including Design Shack.

David’s Setup:

1. What does your desk look like?

2. What is your current Mac setup?

A 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, with 4GB of RAM. It sits upon a Rain Design mStand which, whilst not the most versatile laptop stand, looks stunning.

I use a 23″ Apple Cinema Display as my primary monitor, along with a Logitech S530 Laser keyboard and mouse. I still rely on a 6 year old set of Altec Lansing 2100 speakers that work flawlessly.

In recent months I have come to love my ScanSnap S300M, a tiny duplex scanner capable of providing a completely paper-free office environment.

3. Why are you using this setup?

I have found that portable Macs offer all the power I require in a far more useful form factor than a desktop. Since purchasing a first generation MacBook I haven’t looked back. Coupling my notebook with a large monitor feels natural and works wonders for productivity.

The original reason I made the move to OS X was for the wonderful user interface. It shunned the brash colours of Windows and appealed to the designer in me. After a few months I began to fall in love with all the other benefits of the platform.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

I use all of the following on a very regular basis:

• Mail – I remain reluctant of moving to a web-based system, and enjoy the simplicity offered by Mail.
• Safari – One of the reasons I originally switched to OS X, and still the fastest browser available for the platform.
• Things – For organizing my life and scheduling tasks to remember in the future. A fantastic user interface.
• NetNewsWire – Great iPhone synchronization makes this my go-to choice for RSS. I’m also experimenting with Fever.
• Tweetie – Having swapped between various Twitter clients, I’ve settled on Tweetie for now.
• DevonThink Pro Office – For maintaining the aforementioned paperless office. It offers incredible OCR for scanned and imported PDF documents.
• Spotify – Being in one of the supported countries, I’m a huge fan of the free streaming music service on offer.
• Pixelmator – For remarkably fast image editing. Not as powerful as Photoshop, but I find myself using it far more often.
• iWork 09 – I completely stepped away from Microsoft Office earlier this year. Pages and Numbers are perfect for my needs.
• Transmit – Still my FTP client of choice, though I also use ExpanDrive from time to time.
• TextMate – For coding and basic text editing.
• Querious – Makes working with MySQL databases enjoyable — no mean feat!

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

I own a 1TB Time Capsule to act as a router and external hard drive for media, along with a 1TB Lacie d2 that mirrors my Time Capsule once a week.

An original MacBook (black) serves as a second machine if my MacBook Pro ever encounters a technical problem or surreptitious burglar.

I also own a few iPhones/iPods:

• A 16GB iPhone 3G, with me at all times.
• An 8GB iPhone now commandeered by my significant other.
• A 3rd generation iPod shuffle for running. Rarely used.

An Apple TV sits in my lounge, though slightly sub-par WiFi reception makes it somewhat of a hassle to use regularly. Plans are in place to run an ethernet cable, but it’s no easy task.

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

I’m thoroughly content with my current Mac setup, though would likely purchase a 30″ LED Cinema Display if Apple ever get around to producing one. I’m also a big fan of the MacBook Pro keyboard, and will pick up a Wireless Apple Keyboard to replace my Logitech at some point in the near future.

More Sweet Setups

David’s setup is just one in a series of Sweet Mac Setups.

Kicking off the first of the reader’s setups is Kevin Rodgers. Kevin is a Senior Systems Engineer for a K-12 public school district in New Jersey. Computers are his forté.

Kevin’s Setup:

1. What does your setup look like?

Home:

Work:

2. What is your current Mac setup?

A 15″ 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro with 2 GB of RAM that I purchased in March 2007. I use it at home and at work.

At home, I connect to a 20″ Apple Cinema Display (ACD), a LaCie 250 GB External FireWire drive, and JBL Spot speakers. The external display at work is a 22″ Dell E228WFP that has the same resolution as the ACD.

In each location, I have an Apple wired keyboard, a Logitech MX Revolution mouse, and a Griffin Elevator desktop stand. A pair of Sony MDR-EX85LP headphones drown out the ambient noises at the office and help me focus on my work.

3. Why are you using this setup?

OS X is the finest operating system I’ve ever used, and the MacBook Pro is powerful enough for everything I need to do. Using the same computer for both home and work means I only have to buy one copy of the applications I use and also negates synchronization problems. I’ve read how people attempt to keep multiple computers in synch, but for me this is a non-issue.

With the laptop situated to the right of an external display, I run all my communication apps on the MacBook Pro’s screen. It’s far enough to the side to not be distracting and close enough for glancing at new items.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

• OS X Mail: I have three email accounts setup: one Mobile Me and two Gmail.
• Microsoft Entourage 2008: I currently use Entourage to connect to our Exchange Server, but will move to OS X Mail on Snow Leopard when it comes out. I’ve tried using Leopard’s Mail for sending and receiving messages, but things got tricky with meeting requests, so I went back to Entourage.
• iCal: I have Entourage synching with iCal so all my work and personal appointments are available. I also use it to track when my bills are due.
• Adium: I like Adium for instant messaging primarily for the border-less window appearance.
• 1Password: Working in the IT field means I have a lot passwords to track (currently over 130). For a while, I was storing them in Yojimbo, but the amount of steps required to access them was slowing me down. 1Password takes care of that with its browser integration and one-click copy button.
• Terminal: I use the Terminal quite a bit for network troubleshooting. Ping, dig, host, and traceroute are some of the most often used utilities. I also use it to connect to network devices and servers over SSH. The display is currently set to 13 pt. white Anonymous Pro (no antialias) on a black background.
• Things: By far, my favorite application for keeping track of all my work and home projects and tasks.
• Yojimbo: This is where I store software serial numbers and license codes, bookmarks for KB articles, quotes from vendors, and web receipts. After I purchase something online, I use the Save PDF to Yojimbo feature to save the confirmation page.
• TextExpander: I use this for expanding email signatures, some canned email responses, and a few Terminal commands. So far, it has saved me from typing over 200,000 characters.
• Google Quick Search Box: For application launching, queuing iTunes music, and showing contact phone numbers in large type.
• SuperDuper!: I let Time Machine handle regular backups and supplement it with full HD clones from SuperDuper! On average, I remember to execute the backup about 3-4 times a week. OK, more like 2-3 times a week.
• Remote Desktop Connection Client 2: Part of my job is working with Windows Servers. The RDC client works perfectly for connecting to them.

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

I have an 802.11g Airport Express and four iPods:

• 1st generation blue 4GB iPod mini: For the iHome alarm clock
• 40GB iPod photo (also known as iPod with color display): For the car
• 2nd generation silver 1GB iPod Shuffle: For working out
• 1st generation 8GB iPod Touch: For the apps

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

I’ve had me eye on an Apple TV and might pick one up soon. I’ll probably buy it from Apple’s Refurbished items store. You get the same product with the same warranty at a cheaper price. Plus, all refurbished products are tested and certified by Apple. Something which cannot be stated for the brand new ones.

More Sweet Setups

Kevin’s setup is just one in a series of Sweet Mac Setups.

Sebastiaan de With specializes in icon and visual interface design, teaches people how to design icons, makes sweet t-shrits, and, most importantly, is a genuinely quality guy.

Sebastiaan’s Setup:

1. What does your desk look like?

2. What is your current Mac setup?

I’m currently using a Mac Pro as my primary workstation, with a 30″ Apple Cinema Display and Wacom Cintiq 12WX attached. I use the Cintiq for occasional drawing, sketching, and signing off paperwork, but as a very ‘posable’ secondary display it’s also quite useful. My desktop hardware is always surrounded by figures and models.

I was using an old first-generation MacBook Pro as my first Mac and out of the office: it used to be a real pain as it has almost completely broke down. The first run of the MacBook Pro was pretty unreliable, and my first unit literally melted. I very happy to have obtained a new laptop during my week in San Francisco at WWDC, the 17″ Macbook Pro.

3. Why are you using this setup?

I got a Mac Pro after saving up enough money because I realized how severely limiting my laptop was. I often found myself back tapping on the laptop case as it was performing some sort of Photoshop operation and being annoyed at the heat it made during operation. It was fantastic to go to a workstation with such raw power, and being able to pick my own display and swap out hardware was a huge plus for me. I never regretted that, as I’ve expanded its graphics, RAM, and storage abilities quite a few times since I got it.

The Cintiq was a hard choice, but very much worth it. I wanted to get back into artistic and ‘freestyle’ art a bit more, and it has really helped.

The 17″ MacBook Pro had been on my wishlist since the unibodies got shown off. The screen simply blows my 30″ Cinema Display out of the water, it’s quite light for its size, and extremely fast. As a plus side, the battery easily lasts for 8 hours. The latest update just adds more beefy specs, and I enjoy still having the ExpressCard slot; I may be that single digit percentage of the Mac userbase that finds those extremely useful for 3G hardware (I’d like to keep my USB ports available, thanks), network adaptors, eSATA, and more.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

I’d say my top 10 of apps is Photoshop CS4, Mail, Safari 4, NetNewsWire, Billings, iPhoto, LittleSnapper, iChat, Tweetie, and Quicktime.

I do all my work, without exception, in Photoshop, so it is almost always open. I get a big pile of email each day, so I have Mail open without exception (it starts when I log in). I do all my blog posting, half my tweeting, and most of my reading in Safari 4. I have almost 300 news sources in NetNewsWire, but they’re never a distraction. I consider it a part of my work to stay on top of everything that’s happening in my professional world. I do all my business work like invoicing, time tracking, and project estimation in Billings.

The rest sort of speak for themselves; I take a lot of photos, I use LittleSnapper with a huge gallery of icon and UI inspiration, keep in touch with iChat and Tweetie and watch videos with Quicktime + Perian.

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

Naturally. I have a third-generation iPod 40 GB (still works!) which I saved up for by working as a dishwasher back in my younger years and serves as a testament to doing hard work to attain beautiful design, an iPod nano (second-generation), a first-generation iPhone and an iPhone 3G. I used to have three iPhones in total; since I live in the Netherlands, I had to buy them off eBay before the iPhone 3G came around. One broke, and I got a new one. The broken iPhone was later replaced in the US by Apple for a completely new unit, so I sold off my spare iPhone to my mom. True story.

I keep the iPhones in xStands: nice, aluminium Cinema Display foot-style holders for iPhones.

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

I keep hoping for a 30″ LED Cinema Display. The iPhone 3G S will be a sure buy later this year, considering how I’d like to test its color profile and specs for software I am making for iPhone and iPhone design / development. I won’t be bothered with supporting my local carrier, though: T-Mobile in the Netherlands is as bad as AT&T, and has no plans to support tethering or make attractive plans. I’ll be buying the iPhone 3G S in Belgium, without a SIM-lock and without a contract.

Accessory-wise, I’d like the mStand for my laptop. It’s a nice stand, similar to the xStand and Cinema Display foot I already have. It’s quite pricy, though.

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Sebastiaan’s setup is just one in a series of Sweet Mac Setups.

Shaun Inman’s jaw-dropping web-design skills, mind-boggling web-development skills, and really awesome name, all set him apart as a man who needs no introduction.

Shaun’s Setup:

1. What does your desk look like?

2. What is your current Mac setup?

I currently use a 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro purchased at the end of 2006 as my primary machine. It’s maxed out at 3 GB of RAM.

Connected are a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0, the full-size aluminum keyboard, a 20″ aluminum Apple LCD, the Bose Companion 3 speaker system, an original iSight, the Samson C01U USB Studio Condenser Microphone and the M-Audio 61-key USB keyboard.

3. Why are you using this setup?

I do a fare bit of travel and prior to this laptop I used a G5 at home and an iBook on the road. I just got tired of syncing before and after trips. The Intellimouse is the perfect fit for my hand; the copy/paste/back/forward buttons seem to have been designed with my thumb specifically in mind. The new Apple keyboards are equally delightful to use. The rest I neither love nor hate; they just get the job done.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

No real surprises here. I use the following on a daily basis:

• Quicksilver strictly as an application launcher
• Mail for all my passive aggressive needs
• TextMate for code wrangling
• Photoshop CS 3 for pixel pushing (anti-aliased or otherise)
• Transmit for breaking things on live servers in real-time
• BBEdit 8.2.6 for its Find and Replace with support for regular expressions and Find Differences
• Safari for Twitter, Shortwave, Fever, Mint and Google
• MAMP for local development

Frequently if not daily:

• GarageBand for music composition and recording
• Terminal for really breaking things on live servers in real-time

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

Wi-fi is provided by an Airport Extreme. I’ve also hooked up the old G5 to the flat-screen in the family room. I picked up a cheap PlayStation-to-USB adaptor and setup ControllerMate to control the Finder, DVD Player, VLC and a number of emulators (NES, SNES, Gameboy Advance and PlayStation). I also have a jail-broken iPhone (for my carrier, not the apps).

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

Of course! In the next month or so I’m planning on picking up a new MacBook Pro and a Wacom Cintiq 12WX. Also, since my iPhone is jailbroken I’m planning on picking up an iPod touch as an easier-to-maintain development device.

More Sweet Setups

Shaun’s setup is just one in a series of Sweet Mac Setups.

For years John Hicks has been a top-shelf new-fangled media designer. He currently works for Opera Software and publishes the Rissington Podcast.

Jon’s Setup:

1. What does your desk look like?

2. What is your current Mac setup?

I have a unibody MacBook Pro (2.5ghz, 4gb RAM, 300gb HD) which is hooked up to one of the new 24″ LED Cinema Displays, with Apple keyboard and Logitech Revolution MX mouse. Backups are done onto a 1tb Western Digital MyBook, and online with Dropbox (see below).

3. Why are you using this setup?

I work in many locations aside the office — home, trips to Opera in Norway or Sweden, and we often spend around 6 weeks a year up in Glasgow. Working from a MacBook Pro means I always have my files and setup with me. Years ago I used to sync a PowerBook and G5 twice a day, and it became too tedious.

4. What software do you use on a daily basis, and for what do you use it?

Dropbox is my hero. I keep all my work in a Dropbox folder, so that I not only get an online backup, but also easy versioning. Once I forgot my Macbook Pro, and thanks to Dropbox, I was able to work from another machine.

Quicksilver, Main Menu, Caffeine, and BusySync are my favourite ‘blend in so much I take them for granted’ apps.

For work I use Fireworks, Coda, VMWare, xScope, IconBuilder, Candybar, Illustrator, LittleSnapper, CSS Edit and Leap. I’m also a Yojimbo lover for storing everything else.

5. Do you own any other Mac gear?

I still own a 1st generation MacBook Pro, as well as a last generation G4 Powerbook and 1st generation Titanium Powerbook. The Titanium is held together by stickers (I lost all the screws), and the stickers help prevent electric shocks from the coating that has been rubbed away on the top!

6. Do you have any future upgrades planned?

Having got recent upgrades: new MacBook Pro and LED Display, not much. But I do plan on getting a 32gb iPhone 3G S when it comes out! I held back from upgrading to the second version (3G), as I really wanted a better camera and much more storage space, which the 3G S has. Weird name though.

More Sweet Setups

Jon’s setup is just one in a series of Sweet Mac Setups.