Who here uses their MBP at home as is, no external monitors?

A single 15" display is perfectly sufficient for my needs. I also have an external display in the office, but I barely use it - there is just no reason. Sometimes, it can be useful for LaTeX compilation preview or a database window, but that's it. I also don't have an external drive I would use on continuous basis - 256GB SSD is more than I realistically need.

 

I use Time Machine. You can call me lazy
As I like to work on my lap, not on a desk, external display is not an option for me.
I've tried the AirPlay monitor of Mavericks, but the 1920x1080 screen, 3 meters away, is only good for watching movies or photos, not for reading or writing anything. Yeah, the Retina display spoiled me.

 

Time Machine with regular backups of the TM drive + online backups of most important stuff + external HDD when traveling. I do not reformat my drive. Why would I?

 

Uhm, that might have been the case with Windows XP, but it was never an issue with OS X as far as I know. Actually, 18 month is more or less how often I shut down my computer

 

I have a 13 not a 15, but I can barely stand to use the laptop display because of the lack of real estate compared to an external monitor. I have six workspaces and use lots of windows -- all of the Office suite, plus Adobe CS (PS, Illustrator, InDesign), FCPX, coding, etc etc. So I feel claustrophobic without a larger desktop to work on… But to each their own...

 

maybe I'm just a casual user as a uni student... but i use my 13" mbp as it is, with just the additional TB ext. storage, magic mouse and apple wireless keyboard haha. the screen estate doesn't bother me at all.....

 

Nope. Not online. You either use a USB external drive or AirPort TimeCapsule or OS X Server for that. It all happens on your local network.
As of latest AirPort routers, you can also use USB drive connected to it. But the router + drive = TimeCapsule price-wise. Performance-wise the TimeCapsule has a slight advantage thanks to internal SATA connection vs external USB 2.0 connection.

 

I like all the options my gear gives me ... Dual screen at desk, iMac and Dell u24", and MBPr and ipad4 everywhere else and sometimes at desk.

 

I probably won't use my MBP connect to a monitor very often. Of course, I have a mini and a Wintel box I built for gaming hooked up to my 10" monitor.

 

I have a multiple setup for my desktop but not my laptop.

 

My 13" MBP has no external monitor; I mostly use it in my lap in the living room.

I backup using SuperDuper to round robin clone drives. The clone is great for recovering from an accidental delete or a software update that screws things up. It's also a great way to check for failing internal disk VS failing logic board.
I prefer physical drives - I keep one in a fireproof box in the basement. I use dropbox for files to share on multiple Macs.

Only had to re-install once since I switched to Macs, and that was for an iBook G4 in 2005 where the software update was bad.

 

I tend to at home. But that's easy with a 17"

At work I have a 27" external, I use the 17" + 27"

 

I've been using one or another of either a 12-inch (iBook), or a 13-inch MacBook for at least 10 years now, with no other need for additional screen space, and never have used an external display on my portable Macs.
It's all in what you get used to, and how you work.
You discover tricks to use the small screen space (or you would quickly get frustrated)

I still have a 2004 iBook, that is used most days, and has never needed a reformat. It's on a third battery, but that's pretty much it.

 

13-inch rMBP here, no external monitor or any external hard drive or anything like that.

 

The other thing is I really prefer and am much more effective with a full size keyboard (mechanical, natch) so that also plays into my docked setup. Anyone who deals with Excel and numbers will certainly appreciate this...

 

13" MBP. No external monitor. I use Time Capsule for back up. I'm running Mavericks and I have only done upgrades, never a clean install.

 

I used to always have an external monitor for years until the first rMBP in 2012. Before that every laptop I had (many Dells, Sonys, every windows brand you could think of, and many Apple MacBooks) had disgusting TN panels with horrid viewing angles. Tilt your head slightly or move the display half an inch and the colours would shift, etc.

That all changed with Apple's push towards iPS screens. Now my iPhone, my iPad, and my rMBP all have iPS screens. Even my TV (LG brand) has an iPS panel. So being surrounded by iPS quality displays everywhere finally got me to get rid of my external monitor.

I never would have gotten rid of an external monitor if the world was still using TN panels or Apple hadn't introduced retina resolutions.

 

No external monitors, and I don't use my external drives regularly. I have a 1TB desktop model for backups and a 500GB portable for movies. I haven't found screen real estate to be an issue, but I'm used to switching between apps and occasionally finagling windows.

 

I just use two 15"s (one early 2011 15" antiglare MBP and one 2013 Haswell 15" rMBP). For a big display, I have two iMacs, Haswell 21.5 and 27 inch models.

 

My setup went from minimalist to very complicated to almost minimalist again - I previously had a 12" iBook and was limited to only mirroring on the display, so I never added an external display. I did add a keyboard, mouse, stand, and external drives. Later on, I got a Mac mini, so naturally took all of those components over to it and added a display. Once I replaced the Mac mini with a MacBook Pro (15" non-unibody), I used the display and peripherals with that (made the mini a server), but it basically meant that my MacBook Pro was more often a glorified desktop. I downsized to a 13" MacBook Pro (unibody) and really enjoy using it by itself with maybe just an external hard drive. It just feels like a good, sturdy, durable machine, which wasn't necessarily the case with my prior Mac portables (they were good, just not as solid as Apple's current options).

My setup at work involves and iMac with an external display and lots of peripherals, but I find myself easily adapting to the smaller screen on the MacBook Pro when I'm at home.