Desk Setup Upgrades That ACTUALLY Matter

[Music] I'm going to tell you that I love how do you further improve your life actually let me scratch that how do you further improve your work life other than work life balance I think maybe having a workspace that's properly set up can help this one is mine right next to my girlfriend's of course who's an accountant I'm not an accountant per se but I'm a software developer or used to be anyways sort of um you know what let me tell you guys how my desk works for me starting with the lighting I apologize let

me just get rid of all this stuff if I me if there's one thing I can a th% recommend is to work on your lighting lighting within space is everything so much that it can drive your mood and you don't necessarily need to spend the craziest amount of money on it I think a corner light to add character to a room is great but beyond that a screen monitor lamp I think those are unbeatable mine is actually from quentis $80 I spent on it the day I had set this up I was already starting to

regret spending $250 on my BQ light bar at the office the connection in the back for this one is the same with USBC I like the glow disc can output overhead it was extremely easy to install and for a brand that's not as reputable as BenQ for the money it's great I mean look at it this is what what $80 can get you nowadays and the cable management is so neat to keep that neat I did connect that to the back of my monitor so as long as that's on I can control this with this

Wireless adjustable controller it came with the fusion test 45° I can change the brightness and it won't change a thing 45° stays and even the temperature absolutely lovely it's a great product honestly sometimes it's not worth overthinking things I've realized that the simplest of things sometimes tend to be the most effective this year my grof meate stand in White Oak so what's the story with this for the longest time I thought I was eventually going to get a custom PC for this space finally it's not what I want this past year this has seen more

laptops than anything else so I wanted a proper stand with proper wood something with felt and proper materials and you know something that would all also allow me to hide goodies so I decided to dock my MacBook within grof M's laptop Riser the Mac Mini complements that making this overall a desk I mainly use for admin work and programming I think the whole productivity aesthetic gives that away most of my group me pieces like my mouse mat my deskpads The Coasters the pen I used to write on their notebooks everything has been thought out as

a space to deliver functionality and that also includes my drawers proper drawers for me go a long way I've been finally able to organize them the way I've been wanting to these test trays from groov made actually come in all sizes small medium large I love it I think these light trays go very well with their new Oak collection and so that's how all of this comes together all of it sits on this custom Ikea White marble countertop I've basically attached it to a set of standing legs from ergon office um look I'm having a

standing desk is marvelous on the days I use it it comes in handy especially because I can stand up and within a small room like hours it makes space between each other it's not a must to have but it really helps getting your butt off a chair you can go as far as getting a walking PAAD for your desk if you want but the point I'm trying to make is that as a whole with the way of cable organized this desk my custom standing desk acts as a single unit it provides me with comfort ease

of use and proper functionality so if I want to use multiple laptops within I can if I want to go back to the Mac Mini I can if I want to install a gaming console I can one wire makes all of this work this one wire actually connects all of my peripherals believe it or not and this one wire connects my Xbox check this out with one single button I can change to the Xbox and then I click again and it'll go back to the MacBook I should probably rephrase how all of that works a

few days ago my genius self decided to rewire this whole desk all of it because I wanted a cleaner way to connect everything which is why I got this the BenQ DP 1310 hybrid dock replacing my SanDisk unit this came with all the necessary cables all the necessary ports driver installation instructions to make it all work so I connected my peripherals the HDMI cable that was going to connect to my console used this massive brick to power this Hub up and installed the drivers that's it this tiny little box Powers everything like it should I

think the only thing that I really hate is the fact it doesn't offer proper KVM I would have loved for those peripheral ports to be active as I cycle between the Green HDMI port and the USBC Port aside from all that I mean the front has got plenty of ports including a USBC at 36 w i often use to charge a phone I'm not a fan though of the fact that it doesn't have an SD card slot but I figured how to connect a module much later on with the help of an anchor Hub actually

listen if you ever are in a pinch like let's say your Hub is completely out of ports and you don't know what to do grab yourself some Gorilla Tape get yourself a USB hub and slap it under your desk this is exactly how you increase functionality get yourself something like a 4in one anchor Hub like that when you have that single USB port left within your dock you use that to extend your connections I did find it a bit tricky having all these cables in the back having to rot them all and making sure I

could properly Hye them but for a setup to be minimal Cable Management has to be treated like an art of itself I mean you could well not exactly but sort of you see cable management is all about being effective you want a clean way to route and hide cables and things don't have to necessarily look like a server rack the secret behind a good Cable Management solution is the relationship between a cable management organizer and the place you decide to connect those cables within that relationship you can cheat figuratively okay what I mean is that

you can get something like a cable management net Amazon would be the perfect place to find one but in short these allow you to minimize the amount of zip ties cable pring holders 3M tape and so on that you would need especially because these come in so handy when it comes to hiding massive power braks with time I've also learned to use the arm bracket mounts to Route cables through it quite a lot this tends to avoid them flopping down and it keeps them straight behind the table practically eliminates them from your eyesight and a

proper Cable Management solution always has sweet Pockets like Pockets to Route cables back and forth to really take advantage of that power bar I actually decided to extend the power bar with a proper outlet from anchor I actually bought this 12 outet power search protector strip from Anor but what is cool about it is what it has to offer just beyond that and I got fast charging charging the phone just that for me is awesome just having the cable away from my desk running underneath charging the phone it's great so this is a 12 AC

Outlets one USBC port and two usba a ports power outlet it does come with some mounting screws but I decided to use some Gorilla Tape to install it and call it a day the USBC Port is actually a 20 W Port so be mindful of that it's much better than both of the 12 w usba ports this offers I'll say the same thing about those on my on desk power outlet I have from urgan office after owning and building so many desks throughout the years there's no such thing as too many outlets I really like

having enough outlets in order to be able to plug anything whenever especially the on desk Outlet this one here always allows me to plug things that maybe have a shorter reach to them I've always told myself never will I ever take power outlets for granted the same thing goes with practical Al it practicality and usability listen I'm really trying to declutter my desks as much as I can sometimes it's hard because I use a lot of it but on my end I've always liked to dial my space with some wooden accessories especially White Oak it's

the latest grof M collection that goes so well with my tabletop and the overall theme of this room I remember last year when I decided to build this setup I was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of things I could get from grp made I wanted it all this year though I'm a bit more careful because I want proper usability out of everything like my desk at work it has the desk shelf system helps me store all kinds of things compartmentalize usability and hide wires it has my pen cup holder that allows me to have

pens at an Arms Reach and the same thing goes with my catchall shelf which um I use and abuse Janu I mean he's got all sorts of little accessories that Mak sense for his workflow things he actually uses and they aren't there for Pure decoration and so that's why I try to do as much as I can at home every single piece that sits here as of now has its purpose and I've just recently done the same thing with my girlfriend's setup I upgraded her note taking kit with a small double-sided notepad that gets used

along a display rail to hold some notes and a vertical organizer that stores and sorts your notes when you no longer need them in plain sight so yeah I mean minimalism is always the goal but practicality is essential I personally try to adopt this concept as much as I can I think my MacBook Air knows that I recently installed this slip drive on it which holds drives with ease think of it as a travel pocket pouch for your SSD it really is something I wish I had with me when uh I went to Manchester as

for the cleaning and occasional clean helps my best friend is the Swiffer this acts as a duster but sometimes it's not the most Ideal tool to use for tricky situations yeah I mean don't get me wrong I use the vacuum a lot as well but when it comes to cleaning things like keyboards or a mouse I mean uh good luck for $18 I was able to find this of Amazon a cleaning kit it doesn't only clean my keyboard but it's able to clean my screen my earbuds my camera lens my phone it did come with

some extra pads and a cleaning cloth on the side in case you may need it but it didn't come with some extra liquid which is a bummer because I'm already running out of it although filling it up with some whoosh liquid can do the trick I think when you take a look at the big picture these are the things that really tend to make an impact on a desk functionality goes hand in hand with looks and then after that well I mean after that you can do whatever you want I really just wanted to show

you and give you some ideas of how you can actually make an impact to your desk there's nothing like having a proper working space that makes life a lot easier and maybe a bit more enjoyable I'll see you guys next Sunday with a new day in the life take care [Music] cheers