How do you bring power to your sit-stand desktop?

Homescreens & Office Setups
1

I am wondering what ideas people have for bringing power to all of the things on top of a sit-stand desktop.

I am re-doing my home office. My main desk is now a sit-stand desk (FlexiSpot frame and I went with the butcher block top, cut to the size I wanted (72" x 30"). I am very happy with functionality (since I have not put the office back together yet, I don’t even have a chair, so I’ve been using is only standing up so far).

I would like to avoid having cables hanging off the back and making a messy appearance. Obviously there have to be some cables - at least one power cord and an ethernet cable, but I was hoping to figure out a good cable management system overall.

I do have a cable tray attached, so it will be “easy” to place the excess cables (eg Studio Display to Mac Studio) into that tray.

I’m wondering about brining in power, however. I can certainly place a power strip or surge protector into the cable tray, with one cable from that to the wall outlet. However, previously my Mac Studio and monitors were plugged into a UPS. I would not expect the cable tray to be sturdy enough to support a UPS safety. I could screw UPS itself directly into the underside of the desk, but I am trying to avoid putting more holes than necessary into the wood.

It seems pretty clean that plugging a surge protector into a UPS is a bad idea, so I would not want to place the UPS on the floor and run one cable up to a surge protector in the cable tray.

Most of what I have read about plugging a regular power strip (no surge protection) into a UPS suggests that that is not a great idea either, although the reasons given tend to vary - you are putting all of the load into one output of the UPS if everything else plugs into the power strip; there is the danger that the power strip will be unexpectedly powered even if the UPS is unplugged or there is power outage, increasing the shock/injry risk, for example).

I do prefer the idea of having the Mac Studio connected to a UPS to ensure an orderly shutdown in the event of a power outage…and I’m not yet at the point of getting a whole house generator (or a Tesla PowerWall!) for this purpose…

Thoughts and suggestions much appreciated.

2

I have surge protectors that attach to the underside of my UpLift desks, but I still run cables to UPS sitting under/next to the desks. It doesn’t look great, but I don’t think there is a way around it. I know with UpLift they have a ton of addons like shelves that you could put the UPS on that would take care of it, but I don’t bother.

3

Everything under my desk (hard drives, powered USB hub, network switch) is attached with heavy duty velcro, except for the surge protector zip tied in between the cross beams of the desk (it fit perfectly). I have a cable tray that I keep empty, mostly used for routing cables through the wire grid or for holding new/temporary additions. When I redid my cabling, I flipped my desk over and arranged/velcro’d everything before I got started on the top.

I don’t use a UPS, but it sounds like you might be conflating a couple of issues. Which devices actually need to have uninterruptible power? I would assume just the computer and any powered drives (or powered hubs that power drives). I guess one of the monitors as well? But you could always move that plug manually in the event of an outage, as long as there’s a free outlet on the UPS, if that might buy you more time to do the shutdown.

I would plug mission critical stuff into the UPS and run everything else through a surge protector. Use some heavy duty velcro to attach both the surge protector to the underside of the butcher block. Get some wraparound cable sleeving and to keep both cables together and it’ll look just like a single cable until you get to the outlet.

Alternatively, depending on what you mean by “re-doing” your home office, you could always install a floor outlet.

EDIT: Jeez these UPS things are huge. Mount it under the desk with an under-desk computer case mount and then do the cable wrap. You might also consider a cable management spine if you don’t have one already.