Brian Hendrix’s Mac setup

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Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Brian Hendrix, and I’m a U.S. Air Force veteran having served for eight years in the medical field in Radiology and Nuclear Medicine. My father also served for 20 years. I also met my wife while serving — she was in the U.S. Army in military intelligence.

Being raised in the military and serving has definitely defined a lot of how I work and think. I am now a Senior Technical Engineer for Ascension Health (largest not-for-profit healthcare system in the U.S.). I work on a national team so I’m 100% “work-from-home” and coffee house!

What is your current setup?

My day starts Windows 7 in Parallels on my left 27-inch screen, and I will work 10-12 hours taking care of emails, tickets, and servers for my out-of-state sites. The Windows 7 VM is a very basic setup using Office.

However, being a Mac fan, the right screen is reserved for everything non-work related. I’ll watch documentaries, movies, and videos during the day while I work and check personal email.

Some new applications I’m trying are Airmail 3 — I’m looking for something that is an improvement over Apple Mail. Another new app I’m really loving (and I’m part of beta team) is Atlas Recall. It essentially remembers everything I do and lets me search my past activities. Some new things coming with this app can literally let me get rid of Evernote and other similar apps.

As for “security”, I always have 3 backups: local, on-line, and offsite. For backups, I use:

• Local: Time Machine with Netgear NAS102 (RAID).
• Offsite: Hard drive attached via USB Hub with back ups performed via Carbon Copy.
• Online: Tresorit (zero knowledge) with synced “Hive” folder for all devices.

For Virus/Malware, I use Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac. All disks and attached disks are encrypted.

For music, I use real vinyl played on a real record player that is cabled via USB and direct line to a Bose SoundLink III Bluetooth speaker.

For lack of a better word, I like to be semi-cluttered — I like everything to be within reach without being messy. I don’t like pristine, completely clear desktops!

Because my wife and I do a lot of auctions, I also like “smalls,” and if you saw the other 4 sides of the man cave, you’d see them!

Detailed list of gear in my office:

• Mac Mini (Late 2014) 2.8 GHz Intel Core i5, 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3, 1T Fusion Drive, macOS Sierra 10.12.5.
• 2 ASUS VS247 23.6-inch HD monitors
• Belkin Thunderbolt 2 Express Dock HD
• AmazonBasics 10 Port USB 3.0 Hub
• Harman Kardon Soundsticks III 2.1 Channel Multimedia Speakers
• Nobsound NS-08E Vacuum Tube Integrated Amplifier Mini Audio HiFi Stereo Headphone Amp
• Morecoo Multiple USB Charger with 60W 12A 6 port USB Charging Station
• Sabrent USB 3.0 to SATA Dual Bay External Hard Drive Docking Station HDD/SSD with Cloner/Duplicator
• NETGEAR ReadyNAS 102 2-Bay Network Attached Storage
• NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Dual Band WiFi Gigabit Router
• Bitdefender BOX
• Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 Starter Kit (lighting behind monitors and overhead)
• Plantronics Savi 740 Wireless Headset
• Ion Audio Max LP 3-Speed Belt Drive Wooden DJ Turntable USB (connected to Mac Mini)
• LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt Pro All-Terrain Storage 500GB SSD (portable for Mac Mini and MacBook Pro – Parallels VMs)
• New MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016)
• iPhone 7 Plus

Where can we find your macOS wallpaper?

My wallpaper is always personal photos I take myself. I’m an amateur photographer and take lots of photos.

What software do you use and for what do you use it?

• I “converted” to macOS and iOS about 2 years ago and will never go back to Windows. However, my work is Windows-based so I cheat by running a Windows 7 workspace in Parallels Desktop. It works so much better than Windows on a PC. I spend about 9-10 hours a day in Parallels.
• Airmail 3
• Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac (with Bitdefender BOX attached to router)
• Boom 3 for audio adjustments and control
• MacUpdate Desktop
• Carbon Copy Cloner (disk mirror/copy)
• LookUp (eye relief / stand / exercise reminder)
  Editor’s note: It looks like LookUp is no longer available, so we recommend reading our review of the best pomodoro app for Mac and iOS for a similar solution.
• Tresorit (“zero knowledge” backups because privacy is important)
• LastPass password manager
• Private Internet Access VPN for secure connections

How would your ideal setup look and function?

The biggest issues I have is power and cable management. I’ve been lazy in cable management and just try to hide them well.

My man-cave (spare room) only has 4 power sockets on the 4 walls, so I have to use safe, high-end power strips.

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