Personal Computing Update 19Sep23

My MacBook Pro is seven years old and bulging from its swollen battery; I am a bit worried it might ignite. I built a Linux laptop but couldn't get it onto my Apple Thunderbolt display (also pretty old) and I am familiar with macOS and apps there at this point anyway. I assessed my computer use model and noted that 99% of the time I use an external keyboard and display in El Paso or Summit ~ the other 1% is while traveling. So, why invest in a battery and mobile display I won't use much? I chose instead to invest in performance and bought a Mac Studio along with a carry case for it to get it back and forth between houses.

It is a 7# 8"x8"x4" brick of power ~ fast as heck on M2 silicon and capable of supporting five displays. I included a couple of storage and memory upgrades to hit the sweet spots. This is my first Apple silicon box and even the "intel apps support slick" called Rosetta seems to work very well for legacy stuff. Since it can drive 4K & HDR at high refresh rates on displays, I did an experiment with my 42" LG OLED and got 4K/HDR/120Hz right away... smooth as silk (please ignore the glare in that particular location during daytime).

While a 42" desktop monitor is too big ~ I might've misspoken in believing I would not invest in display tech this round. Even YouTube/Vimeo videos are coming to me in 4K now. I can do so much better than my old existing 27" Dell 60Hz LCD panel... and so I did. I wanted larger, so went 32". A dive on the tech at my modest price point suggested the right OLEDs won't ship till mid-2024. Even LCDs now range in tech: TN, IPS, VA, etc. and range in UHD or not, HDR support or not, great contrast or not, high refresh rates or not ~ it's pretty dizzying. I might've waited for the OLED for their brightness and infinite contrast, but I didn't for the first panel (yeah - I'm, thinking two 32"ers will be right). I narrowed it down and ultimately got a highly rated Asus ROG Strix 32" IPS panel with ~140ppi, 160Hz refresh, HDR600, ultra-wide color gamut (30bit), and 4K (3840x2160p)... and it was priced well below the starting point for next years' OLEDs. Its color is spot on and even came with a factory calibration sheet. The only thing I gave up in want of lower pricing is direct USB-C support. I also got two Ergotron LX Premium monitor arms to carry the panel(s). Just wow. I'll get the dual monitors setup once I receive the arms tomorrow, and a USB-C to HDMI 2.1 cable.

For "storage" we have Hecate, an ArchLinux server which is accessible from anywhere with WireGuard VPN so even if I don't tote the files I need on the Mac Studio, I will be able to access them remotely. That machine is also a blazer. I don't know why I have a keyboard and monitor on it as I always just secure shell into it for admin. Our images, music, backups, and really most documents are on there.

Everything with the Mac Studio and monitor seem great right now. I will take it to Summit this week and see how support on the Apple Thunderbird monitor goes. I guess my only observed downside is that hooking up the Studio takes seven discrete cables... power, USB (to panel which is a hub), HDMI to 1st monitor, USB-C to camera, USB-C>HDMI to 2nd monitor, Ethernet, and USB to Schiit DAC/AMP stack. I might look for a dock which could get that down to one bi-directional USB-C & power, if they exist. My suspicion is that I won't find 4K/160Hz/HDR capable HDMI 2.1 or USB-C docks ~ in which case I'll have to struggle through connecting 7 cables when I move the Studio. Yeah, high performance (for display) docks do not exist.

A deeper dive on the Asus Strix panel capabilities indicate that only two "native" resolutions (3840x2160 and 1920x1080) support HDR. Even though HDR is not nearly as useful on LCD panels as it is on OLEDs, I still like to use it. Refresh rates didn't effect the HDR. The highest rez does make text pretty small for my elder eyes (though it is crisp as heck), but the 1/2 native rez yields stuff that is too large. We'll see if the monitor arms allow me to place the panel closer so that I can go full UHD 4K.

I received the cable and monitor arms. The install is complete until I can swap the legacy 27" screen for an OLED. But yeah - so much better. My eyes are level with the middle of the panel and ~3ft away, so full rez is a go.

Update 23Sep23... I brought the Mac Studio to Summit and was able to integrate it into the workstation there without much trouble. There's headphone and room audio, podcasting, backup, keyboard and USB stuff, and most importantly display on the 2016 Apple Thunderbolt monitor. Driving the display's unique Thunderbolt 2 interface cable did require a $50 Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 dongle from Apple. No $13 dongle would do. Sheesh.