A Quest for Desk Perfection

My desk is the first space I’ve been able to exert full control over in my adulthood. Each object I've surrounded myself with was chosen with extreme care, nothing left up to chance. Following my recent acquisition of a particularly special drawer unit, I feel the setup is complete. As such, I am launching this blog with an exhaustive explanation of every part and its rationale.

The main principle I go by for designing personal spaces is the utter avoidance of anything that slights me, either physically or visually. The smallest hint of discomfort will throw me into obsessive research for resolution. This will become clear as the post continues.

Up first are the primary landmarks, with minutiae explored later.

Computer: 2019 MacBook Pro 16"

My creative workflows center around a computer. I'm listing it before the desk itself as it's just that crucial. It's a tool, first and foremost, or a bicycle for the mind. I find Macs to be more effective than Windows machines in this sense, with an OS focused on efficiency and subtlety.

In the early months of 2020, I dreamed of any upgrade from my 2014 Dell Inspiron. Its dual core processor and spinning hard drive couldn't hold up to what I threw at it, which at the time was mostly gaming and learning Blender. I held interest in MacBooks for years already, but holding me back was the knowledge that modern models had unreliable butterfly keyboard mechanisms. I waited impatiently for a 13" keyboard refresh until I tested a demo 16" at Costco. The 16" already had a keyboard refresh, and I found the size and GPU essential.

I ordered my Space Gray 16" MacBook Pro not long after. It was pricy, admittedly inaccessible to most budgets, but I found it easier to stomach an Apple Certified Refurbished model with a hefty discount. It's the base model, but I've never seen a base model of any MacBook pack more punch than this.

My setup was quaint back then.

The timing of this purchase could not have been better— it arrived days before the great COVID lockdown began, its usefulness tripling in the age of everything-from-home.

As far as I'm aware, there exists no better set of speakers in a laptop. The sound is perplexingly clear, and wide enough that I don't need dedicated speakers for my setup, though more sound goes to my left ear than my right. The display is color-accurate, bright, and massive for a portable. The microphone's damn good too. In contrast, the webcam is abysmal, but I still prefer using it for the convenience over wiring up an external model.

I use this thing so often as more of a desktop that I forget how remarkable it feels as a laptop. In the hand, only its relative lightness and gently tapered edges distinguish it from the solid aluminum it was milled out of.

Notably, this Mac was released prior to Apple's use of their own processors in Macs, but I'm not losing sleep over having an Intel chip. I appreciate this machine's ability to natively boot into Windows, it'll perform well for years to come, and Apple has yet to actually announce a 16" laptop with an Apple-made processor.

In 5 or more years, I hope to upgrade to a smaller and lighter laptop. Apple Silicon will be more mature by that point, so I'll likely get tripled performance at half the price.

Monitor: Philips 328E1CA

A monitor is what pushed my setup's utility from awkward to ideal. Though limiting as a standalone screen, my MacBook's display spoiled me in a few ways that made monitor shopping much more difficult. Any semblance of color accuracy pushes most plus-sized monitors far out of my price range, and bright displays aren't easy to come by either.

To capture this morning light meant being late to work. Sorry boss.

After ruling out luxuries like Thunderbolt connectivity and HDR, my needs were met by the Philips 328E1CA. It features a 32" curved 4K display with a tested brightness of 382 nits, wide color gamut, and factory color calibration, results included. The overall build is visually inoffensive, though the inconsistency of front labels and brushed aluminum effect on the back plastic strike me as odd. Curved displays offer a better field of view at this size, even so, I wouldn't mind a flat panel either. The included stand is simple and sturdy, but it lacks height adjustment. Behind the monitor are standard VESA mounting holes so I could replace that stand in the future.

Desk: Ikea GERTON tabletop & OLOV legs

My time in a tiny shared dorm room gave me a greater appreciation for personal space, so I knew my next desk needed to be substantial. I also appreciate two other things: natural materials, and not reaching my debit card spending limit. With that in mind, the clear option for a desk surface was Ikea's GERTON tabletop.

Ikea has a reputation for questionable build quality at times, which holds true especially in its desk surfaces. Every single desk surface it offers at the moment is filled with either literal cardboard or slightly more respectable particleboard. (Most consumers are fine with this, though my stepmom was surprised to see her cardboard-filled desk bend under the weight of a triple-monitor setup.) The only exception is its GERTON tabletop, a solid beech wood offering for $100. Ikea appears to be discontinuing this model, so grab one while you can. The GERTON comes untreated. I chose to finish the surface with some hand sanding and Ikea’s own STOCKARYD wood treatment oil because I love a good vertical integration. (My two semesters of econ classes are slipping out of the deep hole I buried them in.) This enhanced the grain pattern while adding an earthy aroma still present months later.

Naturally, the desk needs structure to raise it off the ground. I considered many options, from motorized frames to trestles, but landed on Ikea's OLOV legs in black. I have no need for a standing desk at this point, and the leg height can be adjusted for my arm height, albeit only when the entire tabletop is flipped on its back. The legs have a bit more wiggle than I'd like, but their unobtrusive nature makes up for it. I still wish I could've tracked down the specular, chrome-plated GERTON legs before their US discontinuation. I adore how such materials blend with their surroundings.

Laptop & Monitor Stands: Twelve South Curve & Curve Riser

Twelve South is a North Carolina-based company with over a decade of experience making pricy accessories that Mac users seem to eat the hell up. I acquired these two Twelve South products a year apart. The first was the Curve, which I used all throughout last summer and Freshman year of college to convert my MacBook into a desktop. I enjoy the seemingly impossible shape it offers with one continuous piece of precision-bent metal.

Peeping through.

From the start of this project, I had my eyes on the Curve Riser as well. The design symmetry between these two products was tantalizing. I picked this one up for a fraction of the retail price due to the eBay seller misrepresenting its condition, knocking it down to $20 after I griped.

I found the Riser's build quality lacking. The secondary shelf is held up with tiny plastic pegs and literal strips of tape like a tacked-on afterthought (though I fixed this permanently with gorilla glue) and the metal itself is thinner than that of the Curve.

That said, I'm satisfied with the Riser overall. It holds my monitor up to a much more comfortable height, provides a place to set my iPad, and looks real slick on the desk.

Lamp: Artemide Tizio Micro

My heightening interest in product design earlier this year led me to the Tizio Micro as the first "designer" product in my carefully-expanding collection. Though later appearing in every design book I've read, I first heard of it in Arun Venkatesan's own desk setup post, which popped up right as I was planning out my own desk, and provided a lot of inspiration for my project and this very post. (Arun runs a magnificent blog, one I urge you to check out if you share my fascination with influential design or enjoy lifelike travel photos.) His post mentioned the Tizio as one of his two favorite lamps. He chose the simpler of the two for his desk as to not draw too much attention. The eye-catching piece of his setup is instead his Herman Miller Embody chair, with tomato-red textured mesh and pale skeletal frame. As the chair in my setup is visually simpler, I had room for a piece like the Tizio without polluting the visual space.

I'd never seen anything like this lamp. Its sharp construction clearly provided unparalleled utility. I had to have one. I tracked a Tizio Micro down on Facebook Marketplace for $100, still a hefty investment. I got my money's worth.

Wrap your fingers around the steel rod with red nub, and the light can be manipulated with ease. It's an engineering magic trick I find inspirational, with no wires or springs to be found.

The double-counterweighted head moves to any height and position within its turning diameter, and the two brightness settings allow bright illumination in the day and a softer glow for the night. It does show its age— the head gets a bit loose at times, the light can flicker in motion, and the halogen bulb burns hot.

I love my Tizio much in the same way one might love a retro Ferrari. Technological improvements don't obsolete pure design. It unquestionably one-upped the clearance Target lamp I had prior in both usability and visual appeal.

The sharp angles, black coating, and red accents evoke the visual style of Thinkpad's iconic laptops— both were designed by Richard Sapper.

Chair: Steelcase Leap V2

Around December of last year, my aching spine could not take another day sitting in a rock-bottom OfficeMax chair that was clearly ripping off a better model from Herman Miller with no regard for the ergonomics. Browsing Reddit threads and niche publications, I gathered a few recommendations from true chair geeks and looked for any of them in used condition locally. I'm sure these chairs are worth every penny even bought new, I prefer used nonetheless. A local office liquidation company offered used Steelcase Leap V2 chairs for $250 a pop. I jumped at this opportunity and haven't once felt regret.

Though I had to get the office chair equivalent of monster truck wheels just to accommodate my long legs, every other adjustment has been perfectly fitted to my body. I've got the seat depth all the way out, the lumbar support exactly where it needs to be at full firmness (though I had to glue down the lumbar height adjustment due to it commonly wearing down on used models), and the chair arms at an ideal height for my human arms. I also replaced the arm rests due to irritating layer separation. The black plastics, metals, and fabrics don't demand gaze, but the ribbed back structure and relative simplicity of the chair are unique details.

Mouse: Microsoft Surface Precision Mouse

Regardless of my feelings on Windows, Microsoft makes damn good hardware. Ever used the kickstand on a Surface tablet? That mechanism will hold up until the end of time, I swear to god. Nintendo could learn a thing or two on that regard.

Apple's Magic Mouse is smooth and utopian, but I prefer not to control my computer with a bar of soap. The Surface Precision Mouse convinced me easily: it has an ergonomic shape that isn't overdesigned. (I'm looking right at you, Logitech.) It uses Bluetooth instead of a chunky USB receiver. Sadly, this design doesn't include a user-serviceable battery. Charging with a cord instead of replacing AA batteries is nice in its own right.

The metal scroll wheel can switch between detent and smooth with the press of a button, and there are three customizable buttons on the left side. I rely heavily on these, and cannot fathom why most professional mice have only two. If the Mac is a bicycle for the mind, these buttons are my gear shifters. Using an app called SteerMouse, I have the forward and back buttons assigned to jumping between spaces, while the middle button is mission control, showing all the windows I have open. Slick! These common touchpad gestures are normally difficult to perform without a trackpad. I'm still considering picking up a Space Gray Magic Trackpad, but a mouse can do just as much and then some.

Microsoft still sells it, though as usual, I got one used on eBay for a lower price.

Keyboard: Keychron K2

My time in gaming circles introduced me to the surprisingly cultish world of mechanical keyboards. They require much more push distance to actuate, and give the fingers a supportive bounce. Curiosity with these cherished switches led me to discover Keychron, a company that entirely fills the niche of mechanical keyboards with Mac function keys. $80 later, I had a keyboard with a 75% layout (the ideal size), backlighting, Bluetooth, and Gateron Brown mechanical switches, which offer a tactile bump midway through the push while staying relatively quiet. This may be a polar opposite to Apple's compact Magic Keyboard, however my typing tends to flow better with the increased tactility, so I'm happy. I'd still jump ship to a tenkeyless Space Gray Magic Keyboard without second thought.

I deemed a desk pad unnecessary as I like my limited objects to speak for themselves.

My stepbrother insists that Brown switches are trash.

Storage: Ikea IDASEN Drawer Unit

My heart tolerates Ikea's poor tolerances.

We need to talk about the elephant in the room: Color. I understand that color gives fashion to objects, and in doing so arbitrarily reduces their life spans, but I still find touches of it irresistible. I've stuck to black for the utility objects on my desk, but they simmer in bounces of deep yellow from my wall. I chose my wall color, Behr's Midsummer Gold, to bring much-needed cheer around the gloomy days of early 2020, which paid dividends during the pandemic. (Fun fact; it's also the exact color of my blog's background!) When I found out this handsome Ikea drawer unit came in a matching color, I set my heart on it, which meant waiting ~2 months for a restock, but it's finally here. I hope the yellow will also serve as a reminder of home when this piece moves to my campus apartment.

Peep that Club Nintendo drip.

The rounded edges all over the drawer unit are as soft on the eyes as they are on the hands, even with some tolerance imperfections. It stands cleanly under my desk, staying out of the way while allowing access to items in the two drawers and top compartment. Ikea's assembly process was at points both ingenious and comically dumbfounding, but I made it through after 3 hours and numerous blisters. For an end product this supreme, I'd do it all over again.

Rapid Fire Details

Cable management and cable organization should be synonymous, but often aren't. I aimed to accomplish both. Visible wires are nothing to be afraid of. They represent a direct physical connection, and there's merit to that. The issue comes when they aren't tidy, which contributes to visual pollution and inconvenience when trying to grab a single cable from the setup.

The powered devices on my desk are plugged into a surge-protected power strip underneath, with cables neatly routed through two Fully Wiretamer shelves. Most of the cables also run through two Twelve South SurfaceSnaps, tying them to the edge of the desk while allowing removal in a snap. Yes, this means I was somehow swindled into spending $30 on 3 leather straps, and convinced that they're an amazing option for modular cable management. They help me achieve my goal of being able to remove any cable from the setup with ease in less than a minute.

I keep African violets in a teal pot on the sun-facing corner of my desk. I've somehow kept them alive for a year, although they haven't bloomed since last September, so I may set them on the windowsill instead. They make me happy.

Since it showed up in a couple pictures, I thought I'd mention the other plant near my desk, my Calathea. I picked it up when I noticed its alien pink-striped leaves, and planted it in an off-white pot.

Yes, that is an authentic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animation cel on my wall, glad you noticed! I've owned it since childhood. If I remember correctly, my California-dwelling grandfather won it in an auction, and though I've never been massively interested in the cartoon, he knew I'd appreciate it. And I do. It's a strangely elegant piece of art considering the source material, and it fits perfectly into my desk setup with pops of color and a polished frame.

Space Gray Apple Sticker in the corner!

I stay hydrated using an old Camelbak Chute which I stole from my sister. I'm grateful I've never had to think much about water bottles, because this one is perfect. The vacuum-insulated stainless steel vessel keeps water cool for days, and the lid has a simple screw-off cap.

Since I'm not much of a laptop sticker guy, I choose to instead apply all of my coolest stickers here. I do realize the irony in having an Apple sticker next to a Right to Repair sticker.

Auxiliary mode.

As recommended by DankPods, I use the Grado SR60e headphones to hear every detail in a new song, or when I need reference for editing audio. I picked them up from a local hifi store. They're lacking in bass, but the highs are crazy, and they make most music sound awesome. I'm still not claiming to be an audiophile. The build quality isn't there, but that means every drop of the $80 price tag was poured into sound quality, and the design doesn't distract.

Your reward for reading to the end is the chance to see my setup in dark mode.

Nowhere is my genuine self-confidence more evident than in this desk setup, at the risk of reading into it too much. I have no shame, no fear, only a true understanding of my needs and how to put them within reach. I could not have pulled this off at any other time in my life.

The story doesn't end here. A desk setup is ever-evolving, and that's without considering the inevitability of adapting this space to fit well into my campus apartment this fall. Even since taking all these photos, I already moved the keyboard and mouse further back, swapped out the plant to give the African violets more light, not to mention taking the entire desk apart to slightly modify the height. I'll let you all know the most important changes as they come.

Thank you for your time.

-Nate <3

(I have two upcoming posts you may be interested in. The first, which I just published, is my impressions of the new iMac and other products from my recent visit to the Apple Store. The second, which should come later this week, explains a prototype of the first product I designed myself. To stay updated, you can join my mailing list at the bottom of the page, or subscribe to my RSS feed!)