I’m excited to share the labor of love that’s been my desk setup over the last three years. It’s been a journey of tweaks, additions, and many cable management battles since COVID began. I’ve poured a lot of thought into creating a space that’s not only functional but looks tidy and clean, although as you can tell far from simple .
Here’s a list of everything seen in the pictures above:
Desk: 160 X 80 cm standing desk from a local shop
Cable management: white cable raceway comes with the desk itself, while some other cable management trays behind it, are the usual ones from Amazon.
Mac mini M2 Pro 10 CPU/16 GPU 32GB/1TB
14" MBP M1 Pro 32GB/1TB
Apple Studio Display Height-Adjustable stand
CalDigit TS3 Plus connected to the MBP
CalDigit TS4 connected to the Mac mini
JDS Labs Atom AMP+Dac to pair with my Beyer DT 1990 Pro (next to the Mac mini; behind the cable box)
AirPods Max + AirPods Pro 2
Magic Keyboard Numeric with Touch ID, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, MX Master 3, Magic Keyboard with Touch ID (below desk in a small tray)
PC Tower average specs (Intel 12th Gen i5/32GB RAM/ 1TB SSD/NVIDIA 3060); this is running headless, I just remote from my Macs into it via RDP
iPad Pro 11" M1 on a magnetic VESA mount
Belkin 3 in 1 charging station
HomePod 2
Stream deck mini for some productivity shortcuts like 1Password, Things, Fantastical, CleanShot X etc.
Cable box with multi port charger inside for easy cable pulling when I need to charge devices.
Logitech 4K webcam on top of Studio Display
Razer Seiren mini microphone on an arm
I don’t think I’ve missed anything but if you find anything I didn’t mention let me know in the comments. I was debating for a 2nd Studio Display (on VESA mount) to replace the iPad in portrait mode, but I’m not sure if I am going to get enough value out of it.
PS. I’ve got two sets of peripherals cause I travel a lot and stay away from home for extended periods so the smaller Magic Keyboard + Magic Mouse are better for traveling with the MBP.
PS2. Planning to get a second HomePod at some point as the right side of the desk looks a bit empty
What exactly do you use the iPad for? I’ve got a spare laptop in a similar position as you but it’s basically always turned off as I can’t think of a use for it.l (note I have a windows setup for work so can’t use it as an extended display).
Well I do use both the iPad and the MacBook with Universal control which make things easier. I’ve also got a magic button below my desk (just a smart button) that will wake up the iPad and the MacBook via shortcuts that uses Home Assistant to send a push notification to both devices.
I will mostly use either when on calls and want to look up things or when doing presentations for notes etc. Another use case for me is when I’m debugging stuff so I might have the browser dev tools in a detached window on either the MacBook or the iPad.
However, I do casually use both just a standalone devices, i.e. without using extended display mode, for browsing, watching videos, listening to podcasts, but yeah nothing I couldn’t live without.
Thanks! Both are personal, I am lucky to be able to use personal Macs for work, I just travel a lot and need to work away from home a lot so it made more sense to get a MacBook for that.
Yeah my bad it’s not on the list, so it’s the Amazon basics monitor arm along with a laptop tray like this one. I’ve removed the side brackets as it’s sturdy enough without them and looks cleaner too
I agree with @geoffaire about the deep desk too. So many desks are too shallow for us modern techy people and it’s such a nuisance. I don’t have the space, but if I did I’ve often thought it would be better to buy a dining table and use that as a desk, then you get all the depth you could possibly need
With the RDP into the PC, do you game on it that way? I need to replace my gaming Laptop, and I’d love to build a gaming rig but the compatibility with the Studio display isn’t easy with PC graphics cards
Hey thanks! I don’t think RDP would perform very well for gaming, however I believe that both steam and/or the Geforce app offer some capabilities of network streaming.
I don’t game much these days and when I do it’s usually on my PS5 in the living room. On the Mac, I will usually play the odd Football manager game.
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