Apple users: do you desktop or laptop?

I used to have an iMac on my desk as a secondary computer, but since getting a M3 Macbook Air I’ve totally switched over to the “buy a decent monitor and plug whatever laptop you want in” model. Work Windows POS during the day and Macbook Air when I want an actual pleasurable experience. Save the money you’d spend on the iMac for upgrading everything else. I went with;

Monitor – 4k 27″ USB-C Dell – I don’t like ultra wide jobs and this was best no-silly-money USB-C 4K 27″ I could find.

Keyboard and mouse – Logitech Master MX – lovely kit that is labelled for both Windows and Mac. For Windows I have the Logitech dongle plugged into a USB port on the monitor so PC sees them when I plug it into the USB-C. Mac is handled direct by bluetooth. Silly money for a keyboard and mouse, but are a pleasure to use and you’ve just not bought an iMac!

Right, I have cancelled!

Think the set up @timmy’s has suggested will work – and still allows both of us to plug our work Windows machines in if we really need too. The keyboard makes a lot of sense to me! And about 73% cheaper then a iMac, without the risk of the screen dying in 2 years time!

And now I have the money to do the garden, which makes me feel a lot less stressed!

Maybe some shiny speakers and an iMac mini can follow in due course, when I have some spare pennies.

Maybe some shiny speakers 

I have one of these sat behind the monitor (you can just about see it on my picture on the previous page)

Available from Cex for a bargain £10 – it’s just connected to our home wifi network via Airplay. The sound quality is very good (and the iPod port closes neatly away).

My M1 macbook pro spends most of it’s life on mains power, and is now 3 years old with a battery capacity of 91%, so is looking on average 3% per-year. I’ve previously had Dell’s and thinkpads, all of which had replacement batteries by this age, so this is something apple seem to have got right.

I think that leaving it off mains power when not in use may actually be worse, since it doesn’t truly go to sleep when idle even with the lid shut, and still does background things. Leave it unplugged for a weekend and I see the charge can have dropped by a fair bit, so would probably cause more battery wear through additional charging.

I was a big fan of the 27″ iMac (had 4 for work, just retired the penultimate one this week – replaced with a Mini & 30″ LG monitor from CostCo which was very cheap!!) as it was cracking VFM – you basically got a massive, awesome display for free. The new iMacs don’t make sense for me, smaller monitor, poor VFM vs a Mini or woeful performance vs Studio. Plus decent monitors from Dell, Samsung, LG have got a lot cheaper over the last few years.

My m1 MacBook Pro (14”) is also 3 years old and spends most of that plugged in. Battery health 88% – it’s enough to still just about manage a full day of work out and about without needing to plug it in.

At home I leave the lid shut and have 2x 27” 4k monitors, an apple bluetooth keyboard and a Logitech mx master mouse. The only thing I don’t like is the speakers sound weird with the lid shut. So I generally wear headphones.

Using a M1 air here. For certain task really need 2 proper screens so use the workaround with display adaptor and a hub. Hooked upto a 32 and 24 inch screens. For a while I used the laptop keyboard and trackpad but now have Logitech mouse and keyboard which are amazing.

I have a lot of data analysis software and patient data which has to be run on the hospital network so I can either use the issued device which is really flaky offsite or I can remote into a VDI and then use this or just take over my desktop onsite. I travel a reasonable amount so having the battery and small size of the MacBook is ideal and also the speed of booting up helps.

dont mind the pink curtains. Used to be my daughters bedroom!

M1 Macbook Pro here. Used Macbooks best part of a decade now, dual monitors, plugged into charger 24/7, MX Master mouse, and clicky keyboard for maximum fun.

The only thing I don’t like is the speakers sound weird with the lid shut. So I generally wear headphones.

The microphone doesn’t work well either. Lid open for zoom calls, or external mic required.

If the resolution looks a bit funky Better Display should sort it. On my original monitor I had to use it to enable HiDPI or something similar to get it looking right.

I changed the monitor soon after for a 4K one, cheap off eBay, and the picture is much better.

OP: hope you don’t mind me jumping in this but I have a not dissimilar query…

For some reason the Display Monitor has taken my fancy (but not the cost, £1.5k!) so some little internet digging and the BenQ monitors seem to have a decent rep/rec on various places.

Looking at 27” only. The 32” have better features (but cost more £400!) and I guess I’m just looking at personal/casual use for MacBook but potential for hooking up work (ThinkPad P53) when I get back into Revit/etc… Plus, you know the whole size thing dominating a space…

There are 2 likely options (allegedly designed/aimed at MacBook users?) the PD27225U (@£699) or the (new) MA270U (@£450). They seem to have a minihub capability (and charging via monitor?) which would be useful. Not fussed about multiple screens (I use my laptop screen as 2nd monitor at work for outlook, etc.). Looks like they might allow hook up of my ipad (for Netflix perhaps?).

That they have windows compatibility, adjustability (and a non-fixed cable) as well as significantly cheaper it would make better sense than the Apple Display monitor….

Anyone experience of the BenQ’s? I’m only really planning to do this once so rather get it right than buyers regret 🙂

Any thoughts?

Go for it @metalheart. My Dell screen and Logitech MX mouse and keyboard arrive Monday, so I am hopefully sorted 🙂

fingers crossed for you ahsat 🙂

I have a BenQ monitor in my setup, its a pain in the arse. There is some quirk surrounding Apple silicone and BenQ monitors although it might have been fixed with the newer chips. Mine has a problem with flickering when the dekstop is run in “dark mode” and on some websites with dark backgrounds and video overlays. It’s taken a lot of messing around with settings to get the flickering to a minimum but it does still appear from time to time.

The other Mac Mini in the house has a Philips 32″ 4K monitor attached to it, no problems at all.

@metalheart I recently bought myself a new Dell screen that would probably fit your requirements. 27”/ 4k (the sweet spot I think). Has 90W power delivery over usb-c (enough to actually charge the MacBook Pro up rather than just keep it charged). Various usb (a and c) ports so peripherals can be attached to the screen. Plus an Ethernet port (though I don’t think you’ll get gigabit Ethernet if using the usb c link for video).

https://amzn.eu/d/56YLb4U

@metalheart The Dell U2723QE that I link to at the top of this page, and @bassmandan recommends above would be my pick over anything from BenQ. Very much recommended.

I really would like a bigger keyboard than the iMac one, but I use the touch key all the time for passwords, etc. I don’t think any of the non apple ones support that? Happy to be told differently!

M2 Macbook Pro + 2 x 27″ Monitors (1 into HDMI, one through a USB c to HDMI adapter)
Logitech Wireless Keyboard & Mouse.

I’d love a single 49″ wide screen USB C monitor though – I think that would be the optimum.

I really would like a bigger keyboard than the iMac one, but I use the touch key all the time for passwords, etc. I don’t think any of the non apple ones support that? Happy to be told differently!

there’s always the Magic Keyboard with TouchID – I have it & really like it, it is £££ tho!

@metalheart – and to confirm, as it somewhat surprised me when I first used the USB-C to charge my iPad, the Dell U2723QE will mirror the iPad display.

Twin Studio Displays which work with Dell work laptop and my own MBP.

Home Office by Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr

I use this 32″ Lenovo IPS USB-C 4k monitor. £400 atm but it comes down to £299 occasionally so would keep an eye out around black Friday. It’s not as good a spec as the Dell (lower contrast, fewer ports and no USB-C ones), but it is bigger and cheaper, and for office use, for the money, it’s great.

M2 Mac mini with a huge ultra wide monitor in my home office and a MacBook Air for the actual office. Corporate laptop gets booted up every few months to get its updates and that’s about it.
hoping I don’t end up working for anyone who insists I use a corporate device again anytime soon

Thanks for all your responses.

I have a bit of negativity re. Dell (I bought a laptop that had a great spec but a shit screen… that i ended up getting a MacBook to replace it…) but it does feature in most the monitor for macs reviews I’ve been reading. The reviews do flag brighter around screen edge issues, is that just reviewers being ultra fussy or an actual ‘thing’? Not overly keen on the silver finish but not a dealbreaker.

I was looking at inbuilt speakers (as per the Studio Display) as not sure how MacBook would sound in clamshell mode…

I was going to wait to see if any Black Friday deals show up anything…

God, this is annoying!

The reviews do flag brighter around screen edge issues, is that just reviewers being ultra fussy or an actual ‘thing’?

I’ve not noticed any issues, and think the Dell looks pretty good, but I take the view that all sub £1000 displays are going to be poor compared to Apple built-in displays so don’t expect the earth.

I was looking at inbuilt speakers (as per the Studio Display) as not sure how MacBook would sound in clamshell mode…

I solve that with a pair of HomePods on the desk 🙂

I was looking at inbuilt speakers (as per the Studio Display) as not sure how MacBook would sound in clamshell mode…

Studio Display speakers are very impressive, as you’d expect from Apple.

Yeah, I get that any (cheaper!) non apple display is going to be ‘inferior’ sound wise but in truth it just needs to be as good as (but preferably better than) an iPad/MacBook Pro but that’s the ‘cost’ of not Paying the Apple tax 🙂

But the adding the likes of the Studio all in one job is what took my fancy. The cost, lack of adjustability (and would it work with my work laptop) is what has stopped me… this is what drew me to the BenQ… (but the reviews say the speakers are a bit shit…). I don’t want more shit taking up space so don’t want to also add speakers to the mix (Plus aren’t they bluetooth, my existing (Anker) bluetooths have horrendous drag if watching Netflix or YT).

Footflaps, does the Studios work with your windows work machine easy enough?

Just to cause your skin to crawl, here’s the space display likely its to be Put… the box reps the space And as you can see, there’s shit aplenty here already 🙂

I feel very stressed at that. Haha

The studio screen looks great but I could buy about 4 Bose speakers with the difference! (And was one of the reasons I did originally order a iMac compared to the cost of a studio screen).

My Samsung ultra wide has decent built in speakers. Until you play the Radio 3 through the Rogers hifi monitors. Perfectly acceptable for teams/zoom, and background music, but a nice hifi is a class above, and no it’s not played loud. That’s not the point of infidelity. One day I’ll go full LA3/5a but not just yet.

Do Samsung still make the Apple screens? I would not go back to a docking station and power pack again. That one USB-C cable to charge and take video and sound has been a revelation. My old MBP still has three cables (MagSafe, hdmi and optical 3.5 jack), but I don’t carry it anywhere.

So, the quest for a Studio Display alternative has come up short as there doesn’t seem to be a realistic direct ‘one to rule the all’ option. The Apple Studio Display I’d actually want to go for is £2,149, so, err, nope!

The BenQ stuff gets a bit if a slating for sound quality so decided not to Pursue that option… which kind puts the Dell into the running but requires some form of speaker Provision.

I’ve found bluetooth too laggy so what is the recommendations for a wired solution (as Previous, just has to be ‘as good as’ the MacBook) for sensible money?

And is it connected vis the 3.5mm jack?

As I mentioned previously – I use a pair of OG Homepods for my audio, but given “as good as the Macbook” is your benchmark, then a single Homepod Mini should do the trick. Airplay not Bluetooth, and I have no lag issues.

Audio Interface and then active speakers of choice.

So having come to a similar decision (screen has arrived this morning!) and deciding I really didn’t want two bookshelf speakers cluttering up my relatively small desk, I have ordered a B&O Beosound A1, which gets great reviews on sound quality for a small speaker, and in the depth of the instructions says can be used as a conference call speaker (also has a mic) connected by USB-C. It should arrive later this week so I can let you know.

@timmys: couple of issues with HomePods; 1 arent they Siri voice activated? I’d rather not have that (can it be disabled?) 2. How would that work with my work (non apple) set up? Bluetooth (or would it even connect?). And when you say OG, are the latest ones any different? Are they ‘always on’? I would prefer a wired solution though…

@oldtennisshoes: that sounds complicated (and I know absolutely nothing about active speakers so have no ‘choice’). I’m after simple, decent enough quality and not very expensive. In my head that’s a set of ‘Plug-ins’ when needed probably used for occasional Netflix or watching films. Rest of the time I’m assuming onboard MacBook will suffice (i.e. no need to clamshell it).

@ahsat: let me know how it goes and if lag is an issue connected via bluetooth (and whether Alexa enabled is likely to be a pain 🙂 ).

As per the CD player thread I don’t want to get into voice activated as I don’t find these things Play nice with my (assumed) Nd wired brain and so liable to get hurled across the kitchen in a fit pique…

couple of issues with HomePods; 1 arent they Siri voice activated? I’d rather not have that (can it be disabled?) 2. How would that work with my work (non apple) set up? Bluetooth (or would it even connect?). And when you say OG, are the latest ones any different? Are they ‘always on’? I would prefer a wired solution though…

Sounds like a Homepod probably isn’t the best solution. Yes, you can set them to stop listening for “Siri…”, but no they are not going to work for anything non-Apple. Off topic, but it looks as though your computer is in your kitchen, the thing I Siri for most often is to add things to the shopping list while I’m cooking…”Siri add X to the shopping list” and X appears on everyone’s phones via the family sync’ed shopping list in Notes.

Wired will probably be best for you. The Dell monitor has an audio out jack so you can wire the speakers to the monitor and have the audio carried via the USB-C cable from whatever is connected. Even without speakers attached the monitor shows up as an audio-out device on my computers.

Thanks @timmys, I’ll keep it as a potential (back-up) option

I managed to wait till the end of the day, so haven’t used in significant anger yet, but that was super easy to set up! The Dell and Logitech units suggested above.  Much, much better screen quality than my 2020 purchased unit and the USB-C hub plays very nicely with the MacBook so I don’t have to faff with changing settings and is super sharp. Really like the MX keys – really nice feel and much smaller desk estate than our old keyboard. Mouse also seems very slick and quiet, but I haven’t tried to play with any of the settings yet – literally plug and play. MacBook has also picked up my existing Logitech webcam in Teams with no issues, again plugged into the screen hub.  I know I am saying a lot of things a lot of you know, and very kindly explained to me – just thought worth writing out my immediate experience for likes of MetalHeart or others in similar position who might find this down the line. Really liking the lack of cables for my slightly OCD/nerodiverse brain 🙂

Nice and clean! I like that…

Glad it all ‘just works’ gives me hope (but need a black bag to get that pristine 😀 )

@ahsat Glad you like it. Looks a lot like like my setup, even down to the AirPods case sitting on the monitor foot!

One tip of the keyboard/mouse. They both have buttons with 1/2/3 on them to allow store settings for different computers (easy-switch buttons). When switching between MacOS and Windows it’s worth using those so you can have different settings for both as otherwise the key mapping is slightly off. There is a key combo to tell it whether you are connecting to Mac/Windows;

fn+P: Mac layout

fn+U: Win layout.

Hold down 3sec until the led on easy-switch buttons light up.

Looks great. I added a wireless charging pad stuck on the monitor stand and powered by the monitor usb hub. It would be nice to have one built in. All our work desks now have built in wireless charging pads. They’re fabulous. Phone is always charged now! Still use wired for EarPods as I’ve found the AirPods lose battery and sometimes don’t play nice.

One tip of the keyboard/mouse.

My Logitech mouse came with a tiny USB wireless dongle. Plug that into the monitor USB slots and it’ll work with whatever laptop you connect, no need to flick the fiddly switch under the mouse.