Our MacStories Setups: Updates Covering Video Production, Gaming, and More

The second half of 2024 saw a lot of change to my setup and Federico’s. We launched the MacStories YouTube channel, expanded our family of podcasts, and spent time chasing the ultimate portable gaming setup for NPC: Next Portable Console. The result was that our setups have evolved rapidly. So, today, we thought we’d catch folks up on what’s changed.

Our Setups page has all the details, but you’ll notice a couple of trends from the changes we’ve made recently. As Federico recounted in iPad Pro for Everything: How I Rethought My Entire Workflow Around the New 11” iPad Pro, the linchpin to ditching his Mac altogether was recording audio and video to SD cards. He already had a solution for audio in place, but video required additional hardware, including the Sony ZV-E10 II camera.

Federico’s White OLED Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion y700 tablet.

Federico’s gaming setup has evolved, too. The Sony PS5 Pro replaced the original PS5, and he swapped the limited edition white Steam Deck in for the standard OLED version. He also revealed on NPC: Next Portable Console this week that he’s using a Lenovo y700 2024 gaming tablet imported from China to emulate Nintendo DS and 3DS games, which will be available worldwide later this year as the Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 3. Other upgrades to existing hardware Federico uses include a move from the iPhone 16 Plus to the iPhone 16 Pro Max and an upgrade of the XREAL Airs to the XREAL One glasses.

My portable video recording setup

As for myself, CES and its bag size limitations pushed me to rethink my portable video and audio recording setups. For recording when I’m away from home I added several items to my kit that I detailed in What’s in My CES Bag?, including:

a Tomtoc sling bag

the Insta360 Flow Pro gimbal

DJI’s Mic 2 wireless microphones and receiver

Lexar’s tiny 2TB SSD and hub accessory for the iPhone

On the gaming side of things I added a white TrimUI Brick and GameCube-inspired Retroid Pocket 5.

2024 was a big year for setup updates for both of us. We already have new hardware incoming for testing, so keep an eye on the Setups page. I expect we’ll update it several times in 2025 too.