Ideal WFH Mac setup

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LizEng

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I want to turn to you guys (the real experts) before asking the iStore 'techs'.

Please excuse the very novice terminology for the 'thingies' and the very long-winded post.

I am a digital marketer, used to do a lot of design work on Adobe Creative Suite (including video) on a 2019 16" MBP i9. I don't design as much as before, but still have the programs INSTALLED. I am now mostly working on Facebook Business Manager campaigns (massive campaigns with loads of content and creative, nothing killed my CPU/GPU(?) like this before. I have to restart my MBP at least twice a week, which is torture. I do work extensively on different Google accounts which, I think, is the reason the Google Helper(s) use so many resources. I also use GTM, Data Studio and other analytics programs.

I use an external 24" Asus monitor (without vesa mounting possibility) set up horizontally, and I have just had shoulder surgery (14 hours a day doing this).

If you're still reading, thank you - I will get to the point shortly:

I need to change my complete setup. The standard 16GB Ram MBP is not working, so what would you recommend:
1) MBP 14" (M1 or M2) with an external monitor, set up vertically (to reduce side-way motions).
2) Mac Mini (?) with 32" (at least) 4K curved monitor so that I can still open 200 tabs and Google accounts in one view. (I have a magic keyboard and trackpad already).
3) Or what do you recommend?
I should be able to trade in my current MBP for discount on a new machine, and although budget is not strictly a problem, I would rather keep it lower and spend extra on a proper ergonomic chair; monitor arm(s), etc.

Thank you so much in advance.
 
Have you tried optimizing your current setup or at least identified what is taking using its resources?
 
I would say go for the 14" M1 Pro with your existing external monitor.

Reasons:
1. The M2 is not a significant difference over the M2 to justify the price
2. The i9 gets crushed by the new M architecture. Which a clean install won't be able to help with
3. The battery life compared to Intel gen MacBooks.
4. You are not tied to your desk with a laptop.

1675941032786.png
 
chuckles_the_cnt said:
Have you tried optimizing your current setup or at least identified what is taking using its resources?
Click to expand...
I've tried optimizing (with my limited technical knowledge) using CleanmyMac every so often, I don't think it does anything apart from deleting old design cache files. My activity monitor looks like this, most of the time (after restarting on Tuesday, have not done much work since)
 

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LizEng said:
I've tried optimizing (with my limited technical knowledge) using CleanmyMac every so often, I don't think it does anything apart from deleting old design cache files. My activity monitor looks like this, most of the time (after restarting on Tuesday, have not done much work since)
Click to expand...
Based off of that I can see you have a lot of Chrome tabs open. But you're not running out of memory. What seems to feel slow when using your machine?
 
$m@Rt@$$ said:
Based off of that I can see you have a lot of Chrome tabs open. But you're not running out of memory. What seems to feel slow when using your machine?
Click to expand...
Yes, I work on many different Chrome tabs (different clients, monitoring campaigns, etc), so when I try to work on something else, or haven't restarted for a while, my machine runs noisy and gets hot.

When I Zoom my teammates in the UK and need to screen share, it becomes unusable - I have a 500MB up and down fibre line, so I don't think it's that.

Also, they have a billing program on the server that I cannot use - we're not sure if it's the internet, API, and I've tried NordVPN which also makes my machine unusable (most of the sites I need to access are blocked).
 
I’d actually recommend a M1/M2 Mac Mini and a 32” 4k Display.

While I’m a sucker for the M1 Pro 14”, I don’t think you need to spend that much if you’re sitting all day.


Sell the i9 which should offset the cost of the new setup.
 
LizEng said:
I think I will - it's scary though (and probably the reason) as I've just restored from old backups/machines for about 6 years)
Click to expand...
you've nothing to lose as you can still restore from backup if the reinstall doesn't work, also chrome is known to be memory hungry - have you tried another browser or do you have to use it? memory is cheap to upgrade if that's what you're running out of
in short, clean install - test, if no noticeable difference then upgrade. record some timestamps before and after to compare with.

if the above sounds like too much of an effort, throw some money at the problem to make it go away / upgrade and save yourself some drama
 
Pho3nix said:
I’d actually recommend a M1/M2 Mac Mini and a 32” 4k Display.

While I’m a sucker for the M1 Pro 14”, I don’t think you need to spend that much if you’re sitting all day.


Sell the i9 which should offset the cost of the new setup.
Click to expand...
I'm leaning towards this as well as I don't travel much if at all.
 
dj_jyno said:
Have you considered giving a trackball a try? That might ease the impact on your mouse arm and shoulder.
Click to expand...
I haven't, no. Do you think it's more strenuous than a trackpad? It's been years since I tried a mouse of any kind, so I don't have a clue.
 
Facebook Marketplace kills my 13" M1 when I have a few tabs/listings open. Wonder why and if it's related?
 
SauRoNZA said:
What do you mean setup vertically?

To reduce sideways motions? Huh?
Click to expand...
Horizontal setup - monitor and laptop side by side and a vertical setup (very little movement of the head between the monitors) - does that make sense?
 

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LizEng said:
I want to turn to you guys (the real experts) before asking the iStore 'techs'.

Please excuse the very novice terminology for the 'thingies' and the very long-winded post.

I am a digital marketer, used to do a lot of design work on Adobe Creative Suite (including video) on a 2019 16" MBP i9. I don't design as much as before, but still have the programs INSTALLED. I am now mostly working on Facebook Business Manager campaigns (massive campaigns with loads of content and creative, nothing killed my CPU/GPU(?) like this before. I have to restart my MBP at least twice a week, which is torture. I do work extensively on different Google accounts which, I think, is the reason the Google Helper(s) use so many resources. I also use GTM, Data Studio and other analytics programs.

I use an external 24" Asus monitor (without vesa mounting possibility) set up horizontally, and I have just had shoulder surgery (14 hours a day doing this).

If you're still reading, thank you - I will get to the point shortly:

I need to change my complete setup. The standard 16GB Ram MBP is not working, so what would you recommend:
1) MBP 14" (M1 or M2) with an external monitor, set up vertically (to reduce side-way motions).
2) Mac Mini (?) with 32" (at least) 4K curved monitor so that I can still open 200 tabs and Google accounts in one view. (I have a magic keyboard and trackpad already).
3) Or what do you recommend?
I should be able to trade in my current MBP for discount on a new machine, and although budget is not strictly a problem, I would rather keep it lower and spend extra on a proper ergonomic chair; monitor arm(s), etc.

Thank you so much in advance.
Click to expand...

Same industry as you, but with focus on SA360, so not as intensive as your needs. However, running the same Google suite as you, I don’t have any issues with my set up.

WFH: 2018 iMac 27”, Core i5, 64GB Ram, 580 Radeon Pro and the thing chugs along nicely, running with 2x Dell 27” 1080p monitors.

Office: Ancient Mac Mini, core i5, 64GB Ram and two 1080p 27” Dell Monitors. Feel it’s age but does the job well.

When I need to be mobile, I use my 2018 MacBook Pro Core i7, 16GB Ram. Does equally well. Recently had the CPU repasted and the dust cleaned out of it.

I so find that Teams is an absolute hog though… but apart from that no issue.

In your case, I’d get the M1/M2 Mac Mini with the most RAM your budget allows.
 
Nicholas Lisse said:
Same industry as you, but with focus on SA360, so not as intensive as your needs. However, running the same Google suite as you, I don’t have any issues with my set up.

WFH: 2018 iMac 27”, Core i5, 64GB Ram, 580 Radeon Pro and the thing chugs along nicely, running with 2x Dell 27” 1080p monitors.

Office: Ancient Mac Mini, core i5, 64GB Ram and two 1080p 27” Dell Monitors. Feel it’s age but does the job well.

When I need to be mobile, I use my 2018 MacBook Pro Core i7, 16GB Ram. Does equally well. Recently had the CPU repasted and the dust cleaned out of it.

I so find that Teams is an absolute hog though… but apart from that no issue.

In your case, I’d get the M1/M2 Mac Mini with the most RAM your budget allows.
Click to expand...
I feel that's the way to go? I do use a lot of different resources, which is not gonna change so I need something that can handle that
 
LizEng said:
I feel that's the way to go? I do use a lot of different resources, which is not gonna change so I need something that can handle that
Click to expand...
No problem with a single mac mini running 2 or 3 monitors?
 
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