Today’s featured M4 Pro Mac mini user drives a pair of 4K external displays with the tiny new powerhouse desktop. And they keep an array of budget peripherals, including data and power hubs and solid input devices. And in addition, for physical backup, they like portable storage solutions in addition to cloud backup — in this case, fairly affordable hard drives from Samsung and La Cie (and the Samsung is deeply discounted right now — see below).
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M4 Pro Mac mini user keeps handy backups with portable storage options in setup
Designed for content creators, this rugged and speedy portable SSD features 1050MB/s data transfer, plus drop protection and water and dust resistance.
- Fast data transfer
- Supports iPhone 15 Pro Res 4K/60fps video
- Drop protection
- Not cheap unless on sale
Redditor pseudosuto (“PS”) showcased the “budget” M4 Pro Mac mini setup in a post entitled, “New Mac mini, New Desk Setup.” Their new Mac mini is an M4 Pro model with a 12-core CPU, a 16-core GPU, a 16-core Neural Engine, 24GB of unified memory and a 1TB SSD for storage. The potent little desktop machine drives a pair of 4K displays through a CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub. An 11-inch iPad Pro also sits in the setup as a third display. And as we’ll see below, portable-yet-high-capacity SSD/HDDs from Samsung and LaCie help with data backups, or for when they need to be travel with big files to transfer to other machines.
“For 2+ years, I was saving up for my dream desk setup. I lost my job earlier this year and had to use the savings to cover all necessities these part many months,” PS said. “After selling my old M1 Mac mini and getting the new M4 Pro Mac mini, I was able to find cheaper items to complete my desk for graphic design+photography projects and hopefully a remote job. I’m really happy with how it turned out and won’t have to make any upgrades any time soon!”
Last week we covered PS’s Mac mini and 4K external displays. Today we’ll look at the portable storage solutions.
Portable storage options from Samsung and LaCie
Samsung T7 Shield 4TB Portable SSD
Photo: Samsung
The rugged, palm-sized T7 Shield solid state drive (SSD) is designed for fast performance and protection from the elements, with water, dust and drop resistance. And right now you can get it for a whopping 46% off at $499.99 $269.99 ($230 off!).
Features:
- Storage capacity options from 1TB to 4TB.
- Enjoy fast file transfer with USB 3.2 Gen 2 in this drive, compatible with Mac, PC, Android, gaming consoles and more.
- Embedded with PCIe NVME technology that brings fast read and write speeds up to 1,050/1,000 MB/s4, making it almost twice as fast as Samsung’s T5.
- Features an IP65 rating for water and dust resistance, this SSD is ready to rough it; So even when you’ve got a dreary-day deadline, you can keep your projects in perfect condition
- Rugged, drop-resistant design protects from falls up to 9.8 feet.
- Includes Samsung Magician software’s advanced yet intuitive optimization tools. They help you monitor drive health, protect valuable data, receive important updates and set up LED color combinations.
- Supports iPhone 15 Pro Res 4K at 60fps video and more.
- Includes SSD cable.
- Certification: CE, BSMI, KC, VCCI, C-tick, FCC, IC, UL, TUV, CB, EAC, UKCA, BIS
LaCie Rugged 5TB Portable External HDD
Photo: LaCie
- 5TB storage capacity comes in a Mac-compatible, compact portable hard drive.
- Easily connect to USB 3. 0 computers, transfer content fast with speeds of up to 130MB/s.
- Protects agains shock and drops up to 4 feet, with dust and water resistance for all-terrain use.
- Drive includes a free one-month membership to the Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps Plan for access to photo and video editing apps, plus 2-year year limited warranty.
- Password protection is built in.
- Includes USB-C cable and uses USB 3.0, which is up to 4 times faster than USB 2.0 (USB 2.0 compatible).
Shop these items now:
This rough little solid-state drive is USB 3.0/2.0 compatible, shock/dust/rain-resistant and designed for Macs and PCs. Comes in orange or gray colors.
- Affordable
- Huge capacity
- Comes with free Adobe software membership
- Not the fastest data transfer
- Adobe software membership is only 1 month
Storage:
Computers, hubs and stand:
- M4 Pro Mac mini (16GB/1TB)
- CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub
- Anker 525 Charging Station
- 11-inch iPad Pro
- TwelveSouth HoverBar Duo for iPad/iPad Pro
Displays and mounts:
- 32-inch Dell P3223QE 4K monitor
- 24-inch LG UltraFine 24MD4KL-B 4K monitor
- Fully Jax monitor arms (2)
- Ikea Vattenkar monitor stands (2)
Input devices:
Audio:
Other accessories:
If you would like to see your setup featured on Cult of Mac, send some high-res pictures to [email protected] (iPhone pics usually suffice). Please provide a detailed list of your equipment. Tell us what you like or dislike about your setup, and fill us in on any special touches, challenges and plans for new additions.
