Already own a Mac?
Check it against the table. If it matches, use it.
It needs an Apple chip (M1 or newer), at least as much RAM as your line says, and it has to stay on all day. If it has all three, don't buy another Mac until that one is full.
Hardware
Buy one Mac. Leave it on.
Your people work in Bench from the browser and their phones. The agents run on one office Mac that never sleeps. This page tells you which Mac that is, by the size of your business.
01 Which Mac to buy
Find the size of your business. Buy the Mac on that line.
The bigger the business, the more agents will be working at the same time, and each one needs memory (RAM) to work in. Find your size in the table and buy the Mac on that line. RAM is soldered in and cannot be added later, so buy it the first time.
Up to 5 people. One office.
Mac mini, M6 — or iMac, M4
32GB RAM · 1TB SSD
The Mini has the newest chip. The iMac has the screen built in and an older chip, which is fine for this work. 32GB is the most either one holds, and the most this size needs.
6 to 15 people. One office. Most contractors land here.
Mac mini, M5 Pro, 18-core
48GB RAM · 1TB SSD
The one most contractors buy. Get 48GB first. The 18-core chip is about two hundred dollars more than the 15-core.
16 to 30 people, or two or more offices.
Mac Studio, M5 Max
64GB RAM · 2TB SSD
Six or more agents at once, with the job photos stored on the same Mac.
31 or more people on one central Mac. Several offices. Every job photo you've ever taken.
Mac Studio, M5 Max
128GB RAM · 4TB SSD
The biggest Mac we set up. An Ultra is more than this job needs.
Start on a smaller desktop and keep it when the larger Mac arrives.
You don't have to buy the Mac for your full business size on day one.
Buy a smaller desktop now and order that larger Mac. When that larger Mac arrives, it becomes the main Mac. The first Mac stays with someone else. That Mac runs agents for them, the AI employees that do their office work.
The Mac you start on has to stay on. A laptop sleeps when the lid closes, so it can't run the business while you wait.
Offices we set up have started on the smaller Mac, then kept it for a second person once the larger Mac arrived.
About the M6 Mini.
The M6 has 12 cores. Six of them are the fast ones. The other six keep an always-on Mac quiet. It holds 32GB at most. Buy it at 32GB and 1TB, the right amount for up to five people. An M6 at 16GB or 24GB will not hold up. An M5 Pro at 24GB has more fast cores and still will not hold up. Past five people, buy the M5 Pro Mini at 48GB. Not because the M6 is slow. Because you can't add RAM later.
02 The main Mac
One Mac runs the whole business. Five rules for it.
You buy one Mac, and it is the main machine for your entire business. Everything Bench does for you runs on it. The agents live there, your files and job photos are stored there, and every other computer, phone, and tablet in the company connects to it. Because everything depends on this one machine, it has to be a desktop that is always on and always reachable. These are the rules for it, and they don't bend.
- A desktop
- It has to be a desktop: a Mac mini, a Mac Studio, or an iMac. It cannot be a laptop. A laptop goes to sleep when you close the lid or carry it out the door, and when the main Mac sleeps, every agent in the business stops until it wakes back up.
- Wired in
- Plug it into your router with an ethernet cable instead of using Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi drops for a few seconds all day long and you never notice it on a laptop. The main Mac notices, because the agents are talking to Bench around the clock.
- Never sleeps
- Set the Mac so it never goes to sleep and never shuts itself down. We do this during setup. If someone in the office turns it off at night, the agents are off at night too.
- On a battery backup
- Put it on a small battery backup, called a UPS, so a power blink doesn't restart it in the middle of a job. A basic UPS from any office-supply store is enough to carry it through a short outage.
- RAM first
- RAM is the memory the agents work inside of, and on a Mac it is soldered to the board. You cannot add it later. 32GB is the least the main Mac can have. A 16GB or 24GB machine looks cheaper on the shelf and will not hold up. That is an M6 at 16GB or 24GB, and an M5 Pro at 24GB. Storage is different: if you run out of SSD space you can plug in an external drive.
Not for this job. Windows PCs and older Intel Macs cannot run the harness. An Ultra chip is more than this work needs, so don't pay for one.
03 Your network of harnesses
A laptop can join your network. It can't be the main harness.
Bench starts on one main Mac. As the business grows you can add more Macs, and together they make up your network of harnesses. A laptop can be one of those extra Macs. It just can't be the main harness, because that job needs a Mac that stays on 24/7, and a laptop sleeps every time the lid closes. Every Mac in the network has one of three jobs.
Main harness
The always-on Mac
The always-on Mac from the table above. It runs the agents and holds the record for the whole business, and every other machine connects to it. This one is included in your plan.
Gateway
A second Mac that runs its own agents
You add a gateway when a person, a team, or a second office needs agents of their own. A gateway can be a laptop. When a MacBook's lid closes, only that laptop's work pauses; the main Mac and everyone else keep going. A gateway is a monthly add-on. Three that work well:
- MacBook Air
- M5 chip and 32GB of RAM when you are buying new. 24GB only if you already own the laptop. Right for an owner or estimator who travels.
- MacBook Pro
- M5 Pro chip, 48GB of RAM. For someone doing heavy work on the road.
- Mac mini
- M6 chip, 32GB of RAM. A second desk that stays put.
Node
Storage, or reach into another building
A node is a Mac that adds storage or network reach but does not run agents of its own. The usual case is a Mac mini with 16GB of RAM and a big external drive that holds the whole photo archive, so the main Mac isn't carrying it. A node has no setup fee and is a smaller monthly add-on.
Phones and iPads are how your people use Bench in the browser. They don't add computing power to the network. Add-on prices are on the pricing page.
04 Where to buy
Walk into a store if you can.
Each box opens that store. The eBay box for up to 5 people opens a Mac mini M6 search. The eBay box for 6 to 15 people opens a Mac mini M5 Pro search. Both have United States, new, and Buy It Now already on. For a Studio, search Mac Studio M5 Max. You still read the RAM yourself. Up to 5 people need 32GB and 1TB. Six to 15 need 48GB and 1TB.
If Apple needs several weeks, buy an M4 with the same memory.
The Mac your business size calls for is still the one to own. Apple can take several weeks to build it with the memory you need.
You can start this week instead.
Micro Center and B&H Photo Video often have an M4 Pro or an M4 Max on the shelf. Buy the one with the same memory your business size calls for. For most offices, an M4 and an M5 are close enough to get started.
Match the memory and the drive shown for your business size in the table above. A cheaper Mac with less memory will not hold up.
Buy the refurbished Mac directly from Apple.
A refurbished Mac is a Mac Apple has tested and is selling again. Buy that Mac from Apple.
Apple tests each one, replaces parts when they need it, and packs it in a new box with the cables. It comes with Apple's one-year warranty, the same warranty as a new Mac. You can add AppleCare, Apple's paid plan for a longer warranty.
An iMac is the desktop with the screen built in. For an office of up to five people, a refurbished iMac with 32GB and a 1TB drive matches that office. A refurbished iMac with 16GB or 24GB will not hold up.
An office of 6 to 15 people needs a refurbished Mac mini with 48GB, when Apple has one. An office of 16 to 30 people needs a Mac Studio with 64GB, when Apple has a refurbished one. An office of 31 or more people needs a Mac Studio with 128GB.
A MacBook on that page can be a second computer for one person. It cannot be the Mac the whole business runs on, because a laptop sleeps when the lid closes.
- Every refurbished Mac Apple is selling. This is the full list.
- Refurbished iMacs. An iMac is the desktop with the screen built in.
- What Apple includes with a refurbished Mac. Apple's own page on the testing and the one-year warranty.
If you buy on eBay.
- United States, new, Buy It Now. Already set in both eBay boxes. Never a classified ad.
- Seller feedback at 100 percent, or very close.
- Sealed box only. Open-box "tested" is not the same thing. Sealed refurbished is fine.
- Read the RAM and SSD in the listing. They have to match your line in the table above. If it doesn't say it, it isn't the box.
05 Who needs a harness
Most of your people just log in. A few heavy users may need a harness.
When people try to map out hardware costs for Bench, the worry is usually that every person will need a new computer. They won't. There are two different networks to think about, and only one of them costs hardware.
Your network of computers is every device your people already use: office PCs, laptops, iPhones, iPads. All of them log into Bench in the browser or the app and use the agents that run on the main Mac. Nothing changes for those people, and none of them need a Mac. That covers a sales rep looking up a customer, a bookkeeper pulling a report, and the install crew on their phones.
Your network of harnesses is the Macs that actually run agents. It starts as one machine, the main Mac from the table above, and for most businesses it stays that way for a long time. You add a second harness, a gateway, for a heavy user: someone who works directly with Aurelius for hours a day and would otherwise be waiting behind everyone else's work. In the businesses we set up, the heavy users are usually the owner and the office. The office works with Aurelius to rebuild processes and run the day, and the owner wants to talk to the agent directly. The person who uses the agent most should be the one sitting at the main Mac, because that machine is already a harness. Anyone else who works that hard gets a gateway. Someone who checks in a few times a day does not need one.
| Who | What they use | Needs a harness? |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Owners usually want to work directly with the agent. If the owner sits at the main Mac, that is their harness. If they want their own, a MacBook gateway. | Sometimes |
| Office | The office spends the most time with Aurelius, rebuilding processes and running the day. Somebody has to work at the main Mac, and it should be the person who uses the agent most. A second heavy office user gets a gateway. | Usually |
| A second office | Its own gateway, so its work does not queue behind the first office. | Usually |
| Estimators | They hand the agent a measurement and get the estimate back in the browser. The main Mac does the work. | No |
| Sales reps | The iPhone they carry, in the app. | No |
| Install crew | Their phones. | No |
What the hardware list looks like
A ten-person contractor with one office buys one Mac mini M5 Pro, 18-core, at 48GB, and puts it on the desk of the office person who works with Aurelius most. If the owner wants their own agent time, they add a MacBook as a gateway. Everyone else keeps the computer and phone they already have. That is one or two Macs for ten people.
A thirty-person contractor with two offices buys one Mac Studio as the main Mac, adds a gateway at the second office and one for the owner, and may add a node with a big drive to hold the photo archive. That is three or four Macs for thirty people, and only the first one is required on day one.
You buy the Mac. There is no hardware to order from us. Your selected Implementation option includes the agent harness setup. The software that runs on the box is covered on the harness page.
How the harness worksNext step
Configure Harness
Pick your first agent, then we stand the harness up on the Mac you own.