A Geek Goes Flying

Not sure why it took me this long to learn how to do this (it took like 3 clicks). The Displays control panel in system settings Update: And then, inevitably, I started accessorizing. To put it at eye level when used with the arm-mounted monitor on my sit-stand workstation, or with a laptop elevated on a Moallia laptop stand / riser , I found this AiFeelife Height Adjustable Portable Monitor Stand to be the best compromise of quality, available height, reported durability, flexibility, and sturdiness ($38; make sure you get the one with the wingnut-looking “adjustment knobs,” the reviews of the ones that are Allen key adjusted are fairly negative). It should also fit my 16" portable 2K monitor, though I haven’t tried that yet. Dining Table Workspace: Portable monitor stand holding 10th gen iPad

My “mid-2010” iMac is getting flaky, and with its HD 4760 GPU, wasn’t a great contender for a Big Sur update, even with OpenCore Patcher. The 2012 Mac Mini occupies a sweet spot on eBay, selling for around $100-150 (depending on configuration), and can run Big Sur quite well, patched. The GPU in the iMac can be upgraded, but it’s still an old, underpowered machine witth splotches on the screen, etc. Newer iMacs aren’t that expensive by themselves, but once you factor in shipping, they’re spendy. Still, for dragging out onto the balcony to enjoy our reliably nice SoCal weather, you can’t beat the form factor. I decided to hack together a machine that met my specifications (including relatively low cost). I started with the highest spec inexpensive Mac Mini I could find, a late-2012 Core i7 2.3 GHz with 16GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive ($150). I swapped the hard drive for a Crucial MX500 1TB SSD ($90). I got a VESA mount ($15) so I could bolt it to the back of a monitor; for that I we...