I spend a lot of time moving back and forth between Austin, Texas and Tamarindo, Costa Rica. I make the trip at least 4 times and year and spend half the year in each city. As a full time web designer I need more than just a laptop to work on. I need a full 27″ monitor, separate keyboard and mouse, and external hard drives.
I’ve been fine tuning my mobile workstation over the years to become easier to carry with me as I travel. The point was to have as few pieces as possible, as light as possible and still be a full studio desktop workstation. I think I’ve got the perfect combination now, so here’s my current rig.
Keep in mind these components are several years old now. The workstation performance is still very fast and these pieces of gear are about half of the cost of the latest models.
What’s In My Mobile Workstation Rig
- MacBook Pro – 15-in MacBook Pro (2015) with all legacy ports
- Monitor – Dell UltraSharp monitor with a built-in USB hub
- Wireless Keyboard – Apple Wireless Keyboard with Bluetooth
- Wireless Mouse – Logitech M585 Bluetooth dongle-less mouse
- 2 Portable Hard Drives – 1 for storage, 1 for Time Machine, Toshiba Canvio Connect II 3TB
- Speaker – SoundLink Micro Bluetooth® speaker
- Laptop Stand – Griffin GC16034 Elevator Stand for Laptops
- Surge Protector – Accell 3-Outlet Travel Surge Protector (not in photo)
- Wire Bag –
tomtoc - Mouse Pad – SteelSeries QcK gaming mouse pad 9.84 in x 8.27 in
- Wires
- Extension Cord – 12 foot, 3 prong, 3 outlet, double-sided extension cord
- Multi Charge Cable – Poweradd 3 in 1 Multi Charging Cable MFi Certified
- Display Cable – Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort Cable, 3 Feet
- Mac to USB Hub Cable – USB Type-B connecting the MacBook to the USB hub on the monitor
- 2 Short USB 3 Cables – USB 3 cable from USB hub to external hard drives