Allan Hagen is a New York-based professional magician and amateur photographer with a serious setup. His favorite part of the setup is the big, stunning Antoccino Desk by RH Modern, which helps him concentrate.
“A big desk with a fairly minimalist setup really lends itself to focusing on the tasks at hand,” he said.
Andreas Larsson is a Sweden-based security technician who converted a tiny corner of his office into a bonafide workspace. He had limited space to work with so he tried to squeeze every inch out of it. His friend, who works at an office furnishing company, custom-built a desk to span 46 inches — the entire length of his office.
When we published a Setups post with the headline “This desk has a minimalism level of over 9,000,” consultant Mike Leardo felt compelled to send in his own rig to show what peak minimalism really looks like.
You can’t get more minimalist than this — mouse, keyboard and screen.
Anthony Ivanovsky is a Toronto-based marketing expert and IT manager who has a knack for gadgets, both big and small. In his setup, an MSI Optix MAG341CQ 34-inch UltraWide Curved Gaming Monitor immediately draws the eye. And at $500, it costs considerably less than other ultrawides on the market.
On the left-hand side of his desk, standing like a monument, is the commanding Mac Pro. He uses this beast of a machine for video editing, photo editing and for his day job working for a tech startup. Aside from the base Radeon 580X, he also has two additional Radeon VII graphic cards, which may seem like overkill until you learn that he also runs three different YouTube channels.
The heart of Merényi Márk’s setup is a 2018 Mac mini. Even though it’s a base-line model, this little Mac that could executes every task he throws at it.
Márk recently ditched his LG UlraWide Monitor and replaced it with an LG 32UK550-B 32-inch 4K VA Monitor, which is made for gaming. He prefers the standard 16:9 aspect ratio of his new monitor when playing on his Xbox. In terms of fewer viewing angles that come with a VA (Vertical Alignment) panel, he sits right in front of it, so it’s not an issue. And he “expected far worse viewing angles and colors from [a VA panel],” so it came as a “pleasant surprise” to him that it’s so good.
Tyler Marsh has a setup that would make even Marie Kondo proud. He has nothing on his desk besides a couple of family photos and a scented candle, which both spark joy.
The linchpin of Marsh’s rig is an LG 34-inch UltraWide Curved Monitor. It’s the only thing in the setup that isn’t minimalist. He uses the massive screen to run a 2017 MacBook Pro for personal use. He also has a Lenovo ThinkPad T480 14-inch Business Laptop as his work machine.
COVID-19 forced Jeff Houle to work remotely, which was not a problem since he prefers his personalized WFH desk rather than his drab office desk. Houle is an avid collector, whether it is Disney pins (see the cork board) or old Apple products.
But when it comes to Macs, he does not just collect them. He finds unique ways to reuse them. He held on to his iBook G4 and iMac G4 (which he got at a swap meet for $10) to play old games like the original Sim and Oregon Trail — where he probably found the iBook.
Alex Knoll is a professional photographer with some serious carpentry skills. When he couldn’t find a desk he liked that matched his budget, he decided to just build one himself. He sketched a plan on his iPad with the Procreate app and bought himself a few long slabs of pine and got to work. With a set of $100 table legs he bought from TableLegs.com, the total cost of the materials came out to roughly $300.
Brandon Fayette is VFX supervisor for The Orville, Hulu’s hilarious Star Trek-esque sci-fi comedy show from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. Since screen space is vital to Fayette, he runs a triple-monitor rig.
The headliner is a Dell 49-inch UltraSharp Monitor. Its 32:9 aspect ratio means that he needs to find a wide panoramic pic for his screen saver. Next to the UltraSharp, Fayette uses a Wacom Cintiq 27QHD 27-inch monitor. This uber-precise monitor boasts a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution, which is four times the pixel density of a standard HDTV.
Fayette’s third monitor is an Eizo CG277-BK 27-inch ColorEdge Professional Monitor. With its amazing image quality, it was specifically designed for professional colorists.
When the new Mac Pro was released, Jonathan Morrison knew that meant one thing, it was time to change his setup. So he abandoned his MacBook Pro and started from scratch. He now runs a scintillating Mac Pro through a scintillating 32-inch Pro XDR Display. And because he is a Tech Youtuber, he also has the Pro Stand. He says that the Mac Pro is overkill for the stuff that he is doing but he loves how quiet it is.
Reddit user @u/ilovenyc’s plant-themed setup is warm and inviting. The favorite part of @u/ilovenyc’s setup is a jaw-dropping, 49-inch Samsung CRG9 Curved Gaming Monitor, which is hooked up to a Mac mini. @u/ilovenyc (who prefers to remain autonomous) says it “never fails to put a smile on my face every time I sit down, whether to work or game.”
Next to the Mac mini, the cybersecurity expert has a PC rig for gaming. It has a AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-Core Desktop Processor with a NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 graphic card. They are encased in a ZXT H210 Mini-ITX PC Gaming Case.
Los Angeles-based designer Johan Loekito has three MacBooks on his desk. Yes, three!
It may sound bonkers to have three MacBooks on one desk but his hardware collection is more modest that it first appears. His main machine is a 2018 MacBook Pro and it’s a company laptop. He has a 2015 MacBook Pro for personal stuff, and a 2014 MacBook Air that is his partner’s.
Duncan Schultz, a government official from the land down under, started working from his home in Brisbane earlier this year. It turned out to be a great opportunity to upgrade his setup. He got rid of his 2015 iMac and instead bought himself a 2020 Mac mini and decided to experiment. He specced out his Mac mini with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. He wanted plenty of screen real estate without having two screens. So he connected it to a Samsung 43-inch 4K Smart TV and is not looking back.
Justin Tse is a video editor and popular tech YouTuber. As a video editor having plenty of screen space is paramount. That is why he uses a LG 5K2K 34-inch UltraWide Monitor. Since switching to the UltraWide he says he can’t go back.
Running the UltraWide is a 15-inch 2019 MacBook Pro. His MacBook is specced with maxed-out graphics and 32GB of RAM. Since he has a lot on his plate, the MacBook is great for mobility so he can work on the go.
Mark Spurrell is a Canadian tech YouTuber who knows a thing or two about building productive setups. His rig is geared toward getting things done. The mainstay is a 2020 27-inch iMac, a total workhorse of a machine.
He uses a sit-stand SmartDesk 2 by Autonomous. This desk is awesome for long grinds, because when he is bored of sitting, he can get new scenery with the click of a button. When he does sit down, he sits in a Kinn Chair, also made by Autonomous. This chair is basically an adapted Herman Miller Embody, the gold-standard of ergonomic office chairs. But at $419, it costs less than a third of the price.
When tech YouTuber Dan Barbera built his desk, he wanted something that gave him a lot of space and flexibility. He runs his rig off a 2019 MacBook Pro, so his computer is not chained to his desk. The Autonomous SmartDesk 2 is roomy and gives him the option to sit or stand.
The most accommodating thing on the desk, though, is a 32-inch Samsung Space 4K Monitor. Designed to save space, the hyper-adjustable Samsung Space allows him to push the monitor against the wall, or tilt it all the way down onto the desk, freeing up valuable desk real estate underneath it.
Landon Bytheway is a Salt Lake City-based content creator for Full Time Filmmaker, a crash course on everything film. And his setup is geared for creating top-quality videos.
The linchpin is a 27-inch iMac that rests on top of a Walnut Monitor Desk Stand by Grovemade. Mounted over it is a 34-inch LG Curved UlraWide that takes this rig to the next level. In fact, Bytheway’s only complaint about the setup is the kink he gets in his neck from staring upward so long.
Twelve South’s HiRise Duet iPhone and Apple Watch Stand is one of the best high-end charging stands on the market.
It charges fast, keeps my Apple Watch in nightstand mode, and takes up minimal room on my bedside table. Constructed from premium materials, the HiRise Duet makes decluttering sleek and stylish.
Mark Davis is somewhat of a Renaissance man. He is an author of four novels, an entrepreneur, an engineer and a scientist. He is between startups right now but recently sold a data analytics platform to Dell. In order to perform all of his duties, he needs a setup that can match his tempo. Naturally, he has a dual-monitor setup.
His main monitor is a Samsung U28E590D 28-inch 4k UHD which has a one-millisecond response time that obliterates latency. He pairs it up with a LG 27-inch IPS Monitor which he mainly runs off of his 2018 iPad Pro. A 13-inch MacBook Pro is the backbone of the setup. It is covertly hidden on a Twelve South BookArc behind the monitors. His MacBook is specced out with 16GB of RAM storage, which is important to him “so I can run multiple virtual machines in parallel when needed,” he said.
Ryan Sebastyan is a video editor who until recently was on tour shooting Def Leppard gigs, back when we still had concerts. The tour seems to be on hold now, but he has a nice selection of shots on his Instagram page.
Back at home, he built himself a killer setup. The headliner of this tech festival is the impeccable 27-inch iMac Pro, a beast of a machine. The Grovemade Walnut Monitor Stand makes the iMac its own computer upon a hill. Naturally, he pairs the iMac with the Apple Magic Mouse and Keyboard (with Numeric Trackpad!). The matte black color stands out nicely against the walnut desk and stand.
Jessie Ruane is a New York-based professional actor and interior home decorator so when it came to her home office setup she came to play. Since she last redid her setup, Ruane wanted to go with something cleaner and more minimalist. She said the favorite part of her setup is that it “is super functional to record great audio, hook up hard drives and accessories efficiently, and just perform everything speedy.”
The mainstay of the dual-monitor, MacBook Pro-run rig is an outstanding 27-inch LG UltraFine monitor. The LG UltraFine has a whopping 8 million pixels, more than four times as many as most conventional 1080p HD monitors and works seamlessly with her MacBook.
Connell McCarthy is a senior designer for Shopify by day and moonlights as a musician. His setup was built to handle both of these activities.
He works at a Strucktube table, by Tokyo Desk, which gives him a ton of space to work with. His monitor is the LG 32-inch FreeStyle IPS Monitor which gives him good screen quality without breaking the bank. The nerve center of his rig is a MacBook Pro.
Wissam Abirached is a senior engineering manager at Github, so he needs a desk to match his position. His MacBook Pro-powered rig orbits around an LG 34-inch UltraWide monitor. Aside from Apple’s Pro Display XDR, the LG’s UltraWide is the monitor to use when working with Apple products.
He uses an Apple Magic Keyboard and Mouse — can’t go wrong there. His MacBook sits on top of a Griffin GC16034 Elevated Laptop Stand. This puts his laptop at a comfortable height and gives him a place to store his Xbox controller.
Garvin Ling is a Seattle-based coder whose setup was designed to handle some pretty heavy-duty stuff. The Samsung CJ89 43-inch UltraWide is an absolute mammoth of a monitor. It gives him a ton of screen real estate without sacrificing quality. He runs his setup off a MacBook Pro.
He has an Apple Magic Keyboard with the Numeric Keypad, which accompanies both a Logitech MX Master 2s and an Apple Magic Trackpad. This mouse-trackpad two-punch combination makes for easier and quicker coding and editing.
Mifa’s Hybrid Sports Leather band for Apple Watch is a steal at $25. Not only is it made from genuine vintage suede, it has a sweatproof silicone backing that makes it as comfortable to wear as the softest sports band.
The layering of materials makes Mifa’s band one of my favorite Apple Watch straps. It’s lightweight, soft and comfortable — and it looks dressy but is designed for action.