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Desi
Desi

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What's your desk setup?

I'm always really interested in the setup of other people's desks/offices - I don't know if it's nosy, or that I don't feel 100% settled with my own situation. I'd love to see yours too! Here's a peek at where I work:

Image of desk in home office

I work remotely, so this is my home office. Requisite coffee mug and water bottle, two notebooks for work ideas and personal project ideas, and my planner. A candle, a wall mounted monitor, and a balance disk on my chair are some of my favorite touches. (Plus my Funko friends - Bob Ross, Mister Rogers, Groot and Grunt.)

Behind me is a treadmill/standing desk that I rotate off and on of, but it's not nearly as pretty as this yet ;)

(Selfishly, I'd love any tips on ergonomics you have since I'm always trying to combat TOS pain!)

Top comments (88)

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tvanantwerp profile image
Tom VanAntwerp

Here is my desk! I've got a 27" iMac with two extra 27" monitors on either side, all on a 48" wide Varidesk. Not as tidy as it could be, but I'm in heaven with all the screen real estate.

Tom VanAntwerp's desk.

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Sarthak Sharma

Make the light setup dark and This can look like a holy BatCave. Well done batman. 😁

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gregorgonzalez profile image
Gregor Gonzalez

I need this in my life

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nikhilagrwl07 profile image
Nikhil Agrawal

This is my dream desk. Saw in real life.

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rhymes profile image
rhymes

That's some serious setup!

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ruffle1986 profile image
Tamas Fodor

You must be a hacker.

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dalevy profile image
D'Mita Levy

I love this!

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ba7er profile image
Abdelellah

Wow!!
may i know what keyboard you are using please ?

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tvanantwerp profile image
Tom VanAntwerp

I've upgraded to a Keychron K1 since this photo was taken. Here was just a cheap Ajazz AK33 I got on Aliexpress for maybe $30. I found it a good entry level mechanical keyboard, though it was laid out for Windows rather than MacOS.

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desi profile image
Desi

Oh I am jealous of all those screens!!!

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jess profile image
Jess Lee • Edited

Here's mine :)

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darksmile92 profile image
Robin Kretzschmar

I saw your setup also in another post of you @jess but at this look the bottom of your desk catched my eye.
Is it the bottom of an old sewing machine? Because we had such a thing standing around when I was younger and it looks alot like it :)

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jess profile image
Jess Lee

It sure is!! I built the desk with my partner. The tabletop is an old butcher block!

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darksmile92 profile image
Robin Kretzschmar

Awesome idea! 👍

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dalevy profile image
D'Mita Levy

What kind of keyboard is that?

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jess profile image
Jess Lee

It's an ErgoDox!

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Mihail Malo

What year? I got mine in Oct 2017 and the "home row" keys are gray, thumb keys are white.
Also hilarious use of the wrist support.

Have you considered a vertical mouse?

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jess profile image
Jess Lee • Edited

Hahaha I KNOW. I really regret not getting the black one. I got mine a month ago and I can all the home row keys are going to get so stained. I need to stop eating food on my desk!

I have considered a vertical mouse, but....one step at a time! The wrist support don't fit on my tiny keyboard stand and I discovered my chair arms rests actually do a pretty good job so I moved them around 😊

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qm3ster profile image
Mihail Malo

Oooh, I zoomed in and I see these are labeled keycaps. Mine are profiled instead. Hence the color difference.

Since it's so new, does this mean you have hot-swappable switches?
What switches did you go with?

Shine/Glow?

RE: mouse, I got an Anker AK-98ANWVM-UBA, and was pleasantly surprised.
The only thing I'd prefer is if it had wrist support, but for standing/low table that's not an issue. Also wouldn't be an issue for smaller hands, it's nice and large (but light).
Obviously not a "gamer performance" product, but on the other hand disposably-priced.

Have you tried putting the mouse between the keyboards instead of the right side?

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desi profile image
Desi

So much natural light!

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ianknighton profile image
Ian Knighton

I have a similar sewing machine, except mine is complete.

That is a cool idea if I find another broken one.

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Ian Knighton

Here's mine. I'm new to this office so I haven't added a lot of "personal touches".

desk

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ctrlshifti profile image
Kat Maddox

Minimalist - I like it!

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Petar G. Petrov

Cool! What desk is this?

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ianknighton profile image
Ian Knighton
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gregorgonzalez profile image
Gregor Gonzalez

Really clean and with space. This is what I want in home

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k1pash profile image
Christopher Toman

Lil' duck-y! Love it ...

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peter profile image
Peter Kim Frank

Here's mine

peter's desk pic

Why yes, that is a Brooklyn's Co-Ed 7v7 soccer trophy visible at the top right. :)

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tiff

That is 🔥

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Peter Kim Frank

:)

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Utkarsh Talwar

That is soooo aesthetically pleasing to my eyes. Damn. 😍

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Albrecht Scheidig

Ehm, just my laptop on the couch... Not very ergonomic...
home office

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Juanjo Salvador

I like that cowsays :D

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Albrecht Scheidig

Haha, yes. 13'' screen, but a cowsay is mandatory :-)

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desi profile image
Desi

But very functional and enjoyable! I spent my first ~3ish remote years on my couch and loved it. So comfy and convenient.

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Albrecht Scheidig

Yeah, but when I was in the zone my back hurts for two days :-D
Regarding ergonomics, don't do it like me, instead:

  • Use a good keyboard and mouse (I chose Ducky One with MX Blue and a Roccat Optical Pure mouse)
  • Use a dark theme, your eyes will say "thank you" after twenty years
  • Ideally, change your seat every two hours. In my office I have a regular seat, a gym ball, and a stool to switch. Even better is a height-adjustable desk.
  • Also, take breaks. Stand up, stretch or walk around.
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Matthew Francis • Edited

15" 2017 MacBook Pro with Magic Keyboard and TrackPad all in Space Grey. 24" 1440p Samsung USB-C Monitor. Logitech speakers and an Anker wireless charger. Also my planner and water bottle which are both essentials, and my Fidget Cube and a little bear paperweight. The desk is one of the Kallax storage units from Ikea with the desk attachment and various inserts for the shelves. Also some random USB fairy lights.

Desk

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Aamir Madari • Edited

Here's my desk at work.

A 21" iMac which I primarily use for the web, a vertical 21" monitor that i use for my IDE, another 21" monitor which I use for for various different things such as tool windows/ iOS/Android emulators / Datagrip. My new Keychron K1 (an amazing low profile mechanical keyboard I backed on Kickstarter), a notebook to jot down ideas/project notes and a whiteboard to draw diagrams.

My favourite thing on my desk has to be the Sansevieria. A low maintenance plant that adds some colour to the desk, besides the orange plastered all over the office, and supposedly improves the air quality with the negative ions it gives off.

Quite a busy desk but like Tom mentioned it's heaven with the extra screen real estate. The additional productivity gained from the extra screens is incredible. I couldn't imagine going back to a single screen.

Edit: Forgot to mention my blue light blocking glasses. It's like turning on the night mode on your phone. The verdict isn't out yet on how much they prevent eye strain but a nice preventive measure since as developers we spend the entire day staring at screens. A plus point is I look quite good in them 😅.

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Giovanni Cortés

I have bought a new mac, so I used the old one to test Windows environment. I need to buy a couple of adapters because I only have C ports :S

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Trevor Nemanic

Here's my home setup. 15" MBP, LG 29" Ultrawide, Logitech MX Master2S Mouse, Filco Majestouch MINILA Air, Sony XM2 Headphones. It's definitely not as intense or tidy as others, but it's mine :)

Trevor's desktop

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desi profile image
Desi

I love your background!

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Trevor Nemanic • Edited

It's Udemy's standard company background! I like it too.

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Ellie Grace

This is my current set up, working remotely from home.

image of my desk set up

No tips on ergonomics, but my Fitbit has been an awesome tool, because it tells me to get up and move around if I have been stationary for too long. Movement solves a host of problems.

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desi profile image
Desi

I need to listen to my fitbit more, I have one but always ignore its reminders to get up. it looks like you have a nice view!

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Ellie Grace

I am definitely guilty of ignoring it as well, but baby steps in the right direction.. And I do, really lucky with where I live!

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bendem • Edited

My current desk at work. Nothing much apart from the dock which is pretty awesome. I plug one cable, it charges, has a network connection and two monitors.

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CJ Lambert

been thinking of doing a 3 screen setup like this at work. I am curious what purposes you use for each screen. Obvious that you use the vertical for code. But what do you tend to keep on the laptop screen and the other horizontal monitor?

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bendem

I work centered on the two external monitors. I keep chat applications and calendar on the laptop, I generally have code or long pdfs on the vertical monitor and and the rest (browsing and editing applications) on the horizontal monitor. It's not really enforced, sometimes I move applications around, it all depends on which format fits best for the task.

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k1pash profile image
Christopher Toman • Edited


Bit asymmetrical and I'm planning a 3 monitor setup, but i have to get a different desk with a proper chair first.

Honestly, can't understand the vertical monitor which i see in the other posts. Seems unpractical, but hey... two monitors in middle doesn't sound much of a win either.

Wallpaper engine and dark dev.to :3 (Dark reader)

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Dave Cridland

Portrait screens FTW. I use one for web browsing, lots of folks use them for IDEs. You need a screen that's better than 1080p though - I've used a pair of 1600x1200 4:3 screens, but replaced them with a single 2K screen. It's really well worth experimenting with.

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Christopher Toman

I see, many people say, that the portrait monitors are just to show off :D that it's not even better, usually these people have a widescreen monitor. When I'll be redoing my so-ho setup, I'll think about a portrait one.

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Brian Lampe • Edited

I work from home, but I also have a desk at the office. This is my home office. It's a little messy. I need a new chair. I made the desk.

My desk

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Bhaskar Gupta

Which keyboard?

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Brian Lampe

vortexgear race3 with cherry mx browns

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Ben Dowen

Thanks for sharing - My desk / home office is not tidy enough for me to feel comfortable sharing an image :) That should tell you all you need to know.

I do have a laptop on a stand and a separate KB and mouse - that part is a win. My screen is a 28" 4K Samsung beast - very productive.

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desi profile image
Desi

here's my treadmill desk setup, if anyone was interested

image of treadmill desk