I have been on a years-long effort to make my home workspace as comfortable and clean as possible. Just so we are all on the same page, here’s the view I have when working out of my home office:
Does it always look this neat and perfect? of course not. I shoved some of my clutter off to the side. I’m a pretty fidgety guy so I have a number of fidget toys. I also have a USB-C charging cable I use to charge various devices, so often my USB-C headphones, my Switch, or other random devices will sit on my desk when I’m working charging.
The Setup
The left computer is a personal Mac mini, the right computer is a MacBook Pro that belongs to my employer. I use Universal Control so I only need one set of keyboard and trackpad to use between machines. If I had to describe Universal Control in one word … flakey. Even writing the previous paragraph it disconnected randomly right in the middle of typing. I like Apple’s products generally — but I am finding as time goes on that it is very hard to rely on consistently. Moving the pictured MacBook closer to the Mac mini has certainly helped, the Mac mini is mounted behind the left display. But it still disconnects several times a day.
I try to keep work and personal activities separate. Hence why I have two computers at my desk.
Ergonomically it’s okay, I definitely don’t want to spend extended time on the personal display because I have to turn my head. But that’s okay because my work computer is my focus when I’m sitting in my office, my personal computer is just there for personal mail, photos, and an occasional text. When I’m here I’m working and I focus on my work computer.
Cleaning up cables
A couple months ago I got these Thin Client mounts. I’ve had my monitors on a monitor arm for a while which is great because it frees up so much desk space. But I still had so many cables so I was looking for a good way to consolidate.
Here’s the Mac mini in the thin client mount behind the left display:
I’ve tried to make it a bit neater with cable management, but it is still an eyesore for my wife. (my wife gets the space across from my desk) It’d be a bit better if my desk was up against a wall, but we just don’t have that kind of space in this house.
I have an old 2018 Mac mini with two USB hard drives that I use as backup space for my complete photo library, documents, mail, etc. We’ve got gigabit fiber internet, so everything gets a hardwired ethernet connection.
Then there’s my work computer. I have a little dock for the MacBook Pro, but I have quite a few peripherals I attach to it which I do through a Cal-digit dock. The dock has been great, super reliable, and it is one of the few out there with multiple USB-C ports and USB-A ports. I really underestimated how, even today, it’s hard to find hubs and docks with sufficient USB-C ports.
What I like about this dock is that I have one cable that goes from it to my laptop and that cable does everything, external display, ethernet connection, connection to my USB-C camera for video conferences, power, etc. What I don’t like about it is that it has ports all over, so it was like having a big spider on my desk and cables were everywhere. So I got another of those thin client holders and moved the dock behind my monitor:
I like that this dock has a bunch of USB-A and USB-C ports, but it lacks a network connection or HDMI connection, so I have another dock connected that has those ports that I’ve put right next to it. It feels kind of Frankenstein-y, but it works better than I expected.
And there you have it. No one was asking but it feels good to have a space that makes me happy and helps me do my best work.
What’s Next
I’d really like Apple to improve universal control, that’s the one thing that frustrates me multiple times a day. It’s downright unusable for anything except the most basic use. (my use is just basic enough I can sort of tolerate it but it is so frustrating)
I’d also like to see more inexpensive monitors with more downstream USB-C ports. The dock for my right monitor is inaccessible enough — what I really want is one or two USB-C ports that I can plug my temporary devices into. (think USB-C Yubikeys, and USB-C headphones, and cables to charge my AirPods, trackpad, etc) The Dell Ultrasharps come close, but they’re either way too expensive, or like the one I have, has only one USB-C downstream port.