Desk

In a different, more stagnant yet stable life long before this one, I used to put a lot of effort and money into creating the perfect desk for work and leisure. For me that included the Herman Miller Airia Desk, an ultra-wide monitor, attached to an eGPU that was powered by a beefy Radeon graphics card, and a yellow Eames Aluminum Group Chair for, frankly, not a whole lot of sitting comfort unfortunately. With my life becoming less stationary nearly a decade ago, however, these little luxuries had to make space for more portable and significantly less comfortable setups.

At some point throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, however, it became clear that having a base to retreat to made sense even if it’s nothing long-term and instead something that might be left behind from one day to the other. Not only realizing but rather embracing this impermanence helped me set up a workspace that is comfortable enough to enjoy, yet nothing that would weigh me down and tie me up. Using what the Western world calls minimalism, or what Japanese philosophy refers to as wabi-sabi, I set up an environment in which I could enjoy the comfort of a stationary life without overdoing it with things that might one day become a burden.

Hence, most of my choices in terms of hardware and other items were made with portability being the most important aspect.

Table

In a table, portability and comfort are in direct opposition to each other. Hence, the table that I got had to be affordable enough for me to not care if I would need to leave it behind, yet ergonomic enough for working long hours. I also decided that it had to be a standing desk and not just a simple IKEA LINNMON / ADILS table.

I ended up with a dark gray 160x80cm tabletop, and black, motorized, height-adjustable FlexiSpot EC1 feet that would allow me to raise the table high enough for me to be able to comfortably stand at it.

Chair

While I’m sure that an Embody, Cosm, or Aeron chair from Herman Miller is an enjoyable experience, I settled for a $100 SMUG desk chair that I found online and haven’t regretted it yet. While the chair doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles of a Herman Miller chair, it’s nevertheless comfortable and stable enough, and its cushioning hasn’t worn out so far.

From an ergonomics point of view it’s clearly not ideal, but to be frank I sat on worse things. Also, because the desk is a standing desk, it allows me to change positions at the press of a button – even though it turns out standing isn’t the best thing to do, either, and we should all be looking at portable treadmills, I guess.

Monitor

Initially, I went with an overly expensive LG 32UN500-W 32" IPS UHD HDR10 monitor, as I had a relatively powerful setup with the workstation that I built when I moved back to Linux on the desktop. However, when I moved to the Star Labs 14" StarBook Mk VI, I downgraded to the 27" ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQ monitor. With the integrated laptop display next to the monitor I figured that I had more than enough screen estate to not necessarily need the 32" monitor anymore. Also, I didn’t want to have the APU continuously run hot trying to power two displays, with one of them being a 4K monitor. Instead, I’d much rather invest those GPU cycles into having a 140Hz refresh rate that makes scrolling and moving stuff around look buttery smooth.

Monitor Stand

I use a no-name brand monitor arm and the Anker A8376 – not depicted on any of the photos above, as they are from slightly older setups in previous locations – which is a monitor stand with an integrated USB-C hub. It allows me to power my laptop and connect all my peripherals without having dozens of cables visible on my desk. Additionally, it allows me to hide the EVGA and the MOTU underneath, which then allows me to connect my microphones using 1ft XLR cables and place them right in front of my keyboard, using a tiny tripod. That way I don’t have to have a bulky microphone beam attached to my desk and I can simply remove the mics whenever I don’t need them. The position is ideal for voice calls, as well as for recording videos.

I don’t recommend the Anker A8376, as its integrated USB-C cable appears to break relatively easily, rendering the whole device unusable. While Anker does have good support within the first year of purchase, having a nonreplaceable USB-C cable makes this USB hub a potential (overly expensive) paperweight further down the road.

Laptop Stand

My laptop stand(s) is basically just two 3D printed triangles that make my laptop’s display bottom border line up with my external display’s bottom border. The stands are lightweight and compact enough for me to take them on travels, or even to coffee shops.

Keyboard

Refer to the keyboard page.

Mouse

Like many of us, I got tricked into buying a MX Master by YouTubers and recommendations from people who for example also consider Apple’s MacBooks and iPhones to be great products. Long story short, not only did I despise having what felt like a silicone-laced brick in my hand, but its Unifying Receiver also suffered from connectivity issues that made working with the mouse a PITA. From moments of connection stuttering, to lags and complete loss of connectivity, the MX Master 3 had it all. But I’m sure a paid Logitech subscription would have fixed that.

At some point, I didn’t feel like putting up with it any longer and replaced it with the Razer Basilisk. So far, the Basilisk has been working the way you’d expect a mouse to work. No connectivity issues, wireless charging via its dock, okay-ish battery life when using the 2.4GHz connection, and most importantly, the same free-spinning scroll wheel that the MX Master 3 has.

Not only does the Basilisk look and feel better than the disgusting rubberized exterior of the MX Master: But with 117g – or 119g with the wireless dongle inside the mouse – the Razer is also 27g/25g lighter than the Logitech.

While the Basilisk V3 Pro is supported by OpenRazer, the Mouse Dock Pro isn’t yet. However, it’s possible to configure the mouse and the dock through a Windows VM, using Razer’s official malware software, and then use that configuration on Linux – with a few exceptions in regard to e.g. the RGB lighting configuration that appears to only be partially stored on-device.

Speakers

Decent sound is important to me. While I’m no audiophile, integrated speakers of laptops and displays nevertheless make my toes curl. Therefore I invested in a pair of affordable yet okay-ish-sounding speakers. As with other big items that aren’t easy to lug around in case of a spontaneous move, I would surely enjoy having higher fidelity speakers, but I’m mindful of the fact that I wouldn’t want to have to deal with them in case I would need to pack up and leave. It wouldn’t hurt as much to just give away a set of desktop speakers that cost around $120, as it would hurt to have to quickly get rid of a set costing $1200.

More information on my audio setup can be found on the audio page.

Microphones & Audio Interface

Check the recording section of the audio page for more info on my audio recording setup.

Bonus: The Travel Version

When travelling I’m trying to pack as lightly as possible. Depending on the length of my trips, I either only take a carry-on, a backpack or both. I barely ever travel with a suitcase, unless I’m planning to buy loads of coffee beans.

The travel version of my desk usually consists of my laptop, my primary keyboard and mouse, and my tablet for photo editing and media consumption. In addition, I bring a handful of accessories that make it easier to connect all these things. Hotels and Airbnbs usually don’t provide proper working desks, so I have to make do with what’s available.

Whenever I don’t have any space to set up my computer on a table I go Sonshi-style. usbec takes care of turning off my integrated keyboard whenever I connect the external one, so that I can place it on top of the integrated one without continuously pressing random keys. In addition, I have a lightweight and thin polycarbonate plate that I sometimes bring, that makes it easier to position the external keyboard and prevents it from moving around.

Because I have no use for the integrated keyboard, I experimented with more minimal travel setups a few years ago. Unfortunately, at that time, the approach didn’t work out for me. The Raspberry Pi 4 was too weak for most tasks and running a decent Linux distribution (read: Gentoo) on that hardware was nonsense. Alternatives like the RockPi 4A were slightly more powerful and offered a way to attach an actual PCIe NVMe drive to use for the base system, but they fell short in terms of community support.

I didn’t give this approach another try in a long time – mainly because I’m fairly happy with my laptop, even though I have no need for its keyboard – but from what I can see in today’s hardware market, the minimalist approach might be more feasible due to the vast amount of NUC-style hardware and options like the Framework 13" mainboard and its Cooler Master case (or one of the DIY alternatives).

At some point, I might go back to exploring that route, though.