My Blogging Station Setup
written by John Chow
Here’s a look at my current blogging station. Ever since I posted about my new Dell 30″ LCD, I’ve been receiving emails asking to see the rest of the setup.
My current system is a lot different than my old system. Because I travel so much, I wanted a solution that would simplify my work flow. The problem with maintaining both a desktop and laptop is one is always out of date from a data standpoint. And if you forget to sync them before you head out on your trip, you may find some important files were left on the home comp. The video below shows how I got around that problem.
If you wish to create the same setup I use for blogging, expect to spend about $4,000 for it.
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(11 votes, average: 3.18 out of 5)
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shizza! that is a looooot of screen real-estate!
hmm. i see you use FF. think you can convince me to make the switch from Safari??? I dare you.
ps. where are all your flips? don’t they get a spot on your blogging station?
How about, switch to Firefox because it’s better? OK, how about switch to Firefox and I’m sponsor you to Blog World?
Flips are accessories and not part of the blogging station. I may do a post on all the accessories I run.
JC - I use a 42inch LCD TV as my monitor, plug my Mac in there, and use wireless keyboard and mouse from my desk.
When i travel, just disconnect the laptop and im off.
I need to get those things too!
Firefox most of the time works better than the other ones. however when you have FF opened for a long time the memory used for it increase drastically at the point where you are forced to close it and re-open again.
They should have a process to release memory usage all the time you close the tabs.
I didn’t try FF 3 yet, maybe they have this feature.
As I keep making changes to my theme once in a while, I test my blog on IE, Firefox and Opera to make sure that the look and feel is consistent. I guess that would cover 90-95% of the audience?
One immediately visible problem that I had with FF3 was about the peal-away ad. It stopped working the way it should be on an FF3 beta, hope they have fixed the div/span issues there in.
Cheers,
)
Ajith
PS:- Good to see your blogging station (a new concept? like the rigs
Well FF is way better than others…it has a lot of plugins make us easy to use…
(even sponsor to Blog World 
)
Nice setup. I myself have a 2 monitor setup. I’d like to have a triple monitor setup but sadly my crappy dell doesn’t support it. I like what I’m seeing with your mac, especially what it can do with just one monitor… hmmmm, maybe its time to cross over to the other side
.
Buy another video card?
I have a 2 monitor setup on my mac too. Moving windows from one screen to the other is a two step process so getting that much real estate would be awesome. I don’t need a laptop but when I do then that system would be the way to go. Nice to see you haven’t abandoned the Mac, John.
I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 250gb My Book. I would love to have the multiple monitor set up. I was thinking it would be nice to have extra monitors that are the same size as the laptop and would fit in my computer bag. Any body have any suggestions?
Good post John.
Dual monitors or a big monitor most definitely increases productivity. I’m using dual 22″ LCDs right now. I’ve got more graphics outputs available though, and more 22″ monitors, so I might add a third..
You can see a picture of my setup (and enter my 22″ monitor giveaway) at this entry on my website.
The monitors also both have dual inputs so I often have more than one machine connected. I also use the left display for full screen virtualization.
Oh, and I run Ubuntu on my main machine.
My friend Alex Halsey has this monitor and a 24″ Dell monitor in portrait mode. Also powered by a MacBook Pro.
Oh and the “spaces” thing or whatever it’s called… kind of lame. How many years did it take Apple to get that into OSX?
Linux and Unix have had virtual desktops for years and years. And for Windows, there is VirtuaWin, a very useful tool that adds virtual desktops to Windows operating systems.
I thought about using this sort of setup with my MBP, but have decided to trade in for an iMac. From there I am thinking about getting an Macbook Air or if they FINALLY redesign the Macbooks with aluminum I’ll get one of those.
Still this is a nice setup, I love my Macbook Pro. It’ll be hard to part ways with it
Data sync? uhh that’s why they invented dropbox. http://dropbox.com
Quite inpresive blogging station
Nice setup you have there. So you have completed switched from Windows to Mac.
I am trying to do the same, but it’s not that easy since a lot of things I do on PC, I can’t do it on the Mac. For example, RMVB video converting. PC just does that better.
A very big monitor
A very big blogging station that you have
How much of that stuff have you gotten for free?!
John,
I want that workstation. But wait… perhaps I need to have $30,000 per month first?
I’m similar, a MacBookPro 17, but my monitor is only a 22. Love the 30! I also travel with a 250Gb Passport drive - it comes in very handy as an interim backup before I get home. At home I have a BuffaloTech drive off of my network router.
Too cool, John! Thanks for sharing.
Doug thanks for all the stuff I learn from YOU
hello ¡¡ you are very good equiped , i hope one day , have such a good equipe , and spend more time blogging . i’m a brand new site , here i am : http://thefunnypage.blogspot.com , i have just started one mounth ago , and like you see , i don’t have too much success , my blog is a spansih one , i live and work there . I am a financial consultant , and my idea to have a funny page for joking and laughing , born as a joke . I spent too much time en internet , and that seemed to me a good idea, I like joking , and I have such a kind of work that there is nothing to laugh there … I ‘d would like to have more readers , because laughing ,, i think is a good think and we all need that … I also read your free e-book . impresive ¡¡¡ so , congratulations for your blog , that encourage me in some way to keep blogging .. thank you for that ¡¡
I going to switch to Mac this summer,it is easier to work with especially if you are are manipulating photos with photo softwares.
btw all the pros use it.
I thought that years ago and I went out and bought a top of the line Aluminum Powerbook. Then I went out to Silicon Valley to do some contracting work (around 2005) and realized that the graphic designers were the only one using mac books. There are a few good developers that stick to the mac , but I prefer the T series thinkpads. They are build w/ data integrity, security and portability in mind. Plus, I got sick of waiting for all the cool things to hit the mac platform.
Well, it’s 2008 and there’s nothing a Macbook Pro can’t do that a T series can. And that includes running Windows.
I wont start that debate… I was speaking more to the hardware: The Shock Mounted Hard Drive, Magnesium Alloy Frame, metal hinges, the security chip, finger print reader, thinkvantage recovery etc. Besides, why buy a mac book to run windows? Parallels sucks and dual booting is a pain in the ass to manage when it comes to file sharing and what you should install where.
Not to be overly picky, but you are probably talking about a MacBook Pro (MBP), right? I agree with you though about using a Mac in 2008. A MBP does have a drive that stops spinning when it senses it is falling. I’m not sure about the frame, but I’m not taking mine into combat
I also had some experience with a stand-alone fingerprint reader - I will just use a strong password.
Guess my only point is that all of the “professionals” aren’t using macs. Or MBP’s for that matter.
I agree 100%. I still use a dual-monitor PC as well as a MBP and iMac. I honestly think both systems have their strong points.
Depends on the profession. When I’m at the media room at Ad Tech, 50% of the notebooks were Mac. When I’m at a blogging conference, that number goes to 80%.
A Macbook Pro is made for creative professionals. It has things that cater to that. Like a dual link DVI and Firewire 800.
Fingerprint readers are pretty easy bypass.
I think a lot of people are enamored by their idols and they think that by purchasing the equipment that they have, they will magically attain the same level of professionalism. I was just trying to dispel that myth.
I agree with Tom Sawyer… both have their ups and downs. Yes, dual DVI and Firewire 800 are nice. They aren’t going to make you a super affiliate, a pro blogger, a developer or a designer though. Switching to a mac will not raise your level of professionalism instantly. In fact, you will be set back while you adapt to the learning curve.
Love the setup, John. Im running a 19 inch monitor, and dont think I could handle something that big! But obviously it works well for you. Thanks for the inside look.
John, I love the mac - I have a 15″ MBP and a 20″ iMac. Two questions:
1. Does FF have something that allows you to group a set of web pages together like Safari does on the toolbar?
2. Do you plan on getting MobilMe with the ability to change things on an iPhone, Mac or PC and have the change be reflected across all devices?
1 - I’m sure there is a plugin for that
2 - No, I don’t plan to get MobileMe.
Firefox has a toolbar folder under bookmarks. You can create a subfolder and throw your websites into that. That would allow you to have a dropdown of several sites under one category.
John, what version of FF are you using? I downloaded version 3 the other day, but I’m still not totally in love with it.
I’ve been using FF3 for quite a while. I was using the RC before the final came out. I love the gesture feature that allows me to use my Macbook Pro trackpad to move forward and back on pages.
I am using 22″ LCD and I thought it is big enough, well seems that you have a bigger than mine. I thought of getting Macbook but the specs are not sufficient for my needs.
When you say the specs are not sufficient what do you mean? What are you doing on your computer that you think you can’t accomplish with a mac? What specs does your PC have?
That was is really great… but i can’t afford that much for the time being. Maybe someday (that’s the day i beat you in the competition! lol!) i will do greater than that…
FireFox is the only one to use, IE, well don’t get me started on that piece of **** but no matter how hard I try and can’t get my GL to make the switch.
Wow, got to get myself one of those monitors. I use a laptop all the time and plug in a tiny (in comparison) 19″ LCD with wireless keyboard.
I didn’t know Mac’s have virtual desktops. I use Ubuntu and have five desktops which I switch between all the time just to free up real estate. Couldn’t live without them. Single desktops are just sooo unproductive.
That’s nice station John!
Your system looks great. Dell is the best
Holy!
I want to be just like you when I grow up lmao.
No links to buy via the TTZ Network?
John. I’m disappointed!
Sweet setup! Definitely gives me some ideas, when I get my new system.
I only have a 20 inch” monitor for now. But I will think about getting a bigger one , working on 20 different firefox windows is definitely a challenge for all webmasters or bloggers. And I would prefer a macbook air , is way more light than the macbook pro. (I don`t travel as much as John Does). The question is how is that 30 inch monitor , isn`t it a bit too big? I bet it`s great !
John, what a cool nice workstation you have! It is definitely more productive to have more screen real estate.
wow…you have a great Blogging Station
Very nice, I have a very similar keyboard/mouse…
Vary nice thanks for sharing!