A Simple and Minimal Laptop-Focused Desk Setup Tour

It’d be pretty nice if I had a workspace without the frills. You know a setup that was back to the basics, minimal and focused on productivity. And here’s what I came up with. This is the minimal productivity focused macbook setup. Let’s get started with a little desk tour.

Sponsor: BenQ Screenbar Halo - Check this monitor light bar down in the links below!

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:31 What I’m trying to accomplish
1:46 Desktop
2:51 Standing Desk Legs
3:23 Casters to mobilize the desk
4:06 Difficulties with Lighting
5:11 Sponsor: BenQ Screenbar Halo
6:27 Other Lighting: Nanoleaf Elements
7:22 Adding a Grovemade Monitor Stand for Storage
8:03 Orbitkey Deskmat
8:33 Macro-pad for Hotkeys: Loupedeck Live S
9:01 Monitor: Dell U2723QE
10:29 Desk Accessories for Visual Interest
11:41 What I think of the completed setup
12:44 Minor Issues
13:32 Conclusion

Affiliate links and standard links to product discussed:

So let’s start with the desktop, this is their Karlby countertop I got cut down to 50inches to better fit my space. From there, I bought this budget standing desk frame from Amazon. It’s not the nicest standing desk around, but this thing works so what more could you ask for in a standing desk. it has height adjustment buttons and memory buttons to save the height, so it more than enough serves its purpose. Standing desks are great because they provide height adjustment but they can get pretty heavy, since they have metal legs and motors built into them. And because of that, they can be pretty difficult to move if you want to adjust the desk or manage the cables in the back. That’s why I got these casters off Amazon and swapped out the desk’s leg pads and now the desk is mobile and I can sit anywhere in the room that I like.

I’ve always struggled with is lighting. And I don’t mean rainbow lights all over the room. That’s a cool aesthetic, but not what I’m going for. What I’ve noticed is If you use overhead lights, the usual lights you have mounted to the ceilings in rooms, at night they could look really harsh, you can fix this by adding light at different heights and different parts of the room to diversify the light sources and to make a more moody and a much more interestingly lit space. So I used 2 different items to add different types of lighting to this room. The first is an item the sponsor of this video BenQ sent. This is the Screenbar Halo, an LED light bar that sits on top of your monitor and is powered by USB. It has both an LED light in the adjustable bar up front and in the housing in the back. And to add in additional lighting, I’m using these Nanoleaf Elements wood hexagon panels. These panels mimic the look and feel of natural wood, they don’t get super bright, but during the daytime the wood look and texture fits in with the rest of the natural wood decor of the desk.

By default a plain standing desk does not have any way to organize your stuff. That’s where this grovemade monitor stand comes into play. It’s this monitor stand made of maple, and comes in various sizes and colors to best fit your desk environment. Now, I have a nice area to keep notebooks, pens, pencils, and whatever tangled mess of cables I want to make sure no one ever finds out about. Then on top of the surface of the desk, I’m using a water resistant orbitkey desk mat. I think looks really cool with this desk. I tend to drink coffee at my desk, and on this type of surface, accidental spills are easier to clean. Then I added a Loupedeck Live S. Each knob and button can be set to do different functions. Very similar to a stream deck. Except with knobs and a touch screen. Both the Loupedeck and ScreenBar Halo are connected to the Dell monitor's built-in usb hub in the back. I also like how color accurate, and bright this monitor gets, while also providing a very minimalistic appearance, with even borders on all 4 sides, and no logos, except this small dell one barely visible on the stand. The stand lets you swivel, rotate, adjust the height and also has a nice hole in the stand so you can guide all of your cables through the back of the monitor and keep it from uglifying the front. Okay, now that we have a complete desk setup, we have to add some interest. This is a fake plant that doesn’t require me to water.

[oliver.n]

Finally Somebody with reasonable lighting. All these "Gaming"-RGB-Setups are just impractical for serious work.

[abdallahshatnawi]

After trying many different setups, this is the one I landed on. It's clean, easy, and let's me take advantage of my macbook's screen and touchpad

[jackedkerouac]

Really appreciate the 'buyer beware' preface to every item you mentioned. Your setup doesn't work for my home office needs but at work this is gold

[sohamprajapati]

Hey man this was an amazing one of a kind video on the whole YouTube platform.

I will love to see more of these videos with such simple setups or say exactly same setup with different them.
Because I want to see in what different ways this setup can be customized, being it so simple and lovely.

again a great video, keep it up.

[techmentormaria]

When I got my standing desk at home (I have one at my office), my life changed. I missed it so much and feel way more active during the day.

[sunayama]

Just a week or two ago, I took a look at your previous desk setups to inspire my own while keeping it simple. Made my list.

Then this video comes, thankfully before I made any purchases. 😅

[cornelius.anatole]

You made a couple really good points. I liked my set up but after watching yours, I did feel the need to de-clutter my desk. I am actually doing it as I write this right now. And even as I go through setting it up and make these modifications, I feel like my workspace is becoming more productive. Thank you for sharing.

[lacuswongq]

Thank you for your dear setup tutorial ❤ I’m moving house on coming month, still considering how to make my new desk setup ❤ you video is fire 🔥 that looks great and it’s what I want 🔥🔥🔥

[atyt]

I really like this setup, this is exactly something I was thinking of for a secondary setup, and even some things I want to implement in my main setup. It has everything you need!

[xA]

Last autumn I switched to a minimalist desk setup which has as its centrepiece a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone accessorised with a Samsung M7 monitor, a Microsoft Portable mouse (Bluetooth), Samsung Airbuds (Bluetooth), and a Royal Kludge K68 keyboard (Bluetooth or USB-C cable). This setup was powered by Samsung DeX. The smartphone sends video wirelessly to the monitor. Only 1 cable for monitor power is required. Network connectivity is via WiFi, 4G, or optionally wired Ethernet.

[GuilhermeTeixeira]

I have a similar desk setup layout. I fixed the neck problem by using a bluetooth keyboard.

[lilshaff]

Great video and appreciate the recs (and elaborating the not always necessary splurging). Subbed!

[laurie]

I really like this setup, and I aporeciate all the back story you provide from when you made some of your choices. I plan to emulate a lot of what you did for my new wfh setup.

[kevinplatt]

Really like the look and function - something I was going for myself.

[jimadams]

Very clean and user friendly set up. Really enjoyed this video.

[suitcafe]

Using the same set up with a 34 inch LG ultrawide for the last 3 years. Thinking of using the new Mac Mini M2 or Mac Studio and adding a second LG 34 inch ultrawide side by side.

[rbae]

I actually think the dark wood of the old set up looked more modern and minimalistic, as well as more expensive - but I love the new one as well, so I'd probably keep the other one for my partner, just a desk in another room for a different set up, or give it to younger relatives for their studies

[Bivs_setup]

Ikea in each and every desk set-up 😅😅.
Appreciate the minimalist set-up.
Happy New Year 🎉 🎉🎉

[zaidkidwai]

Looks super clean. Would love to make something like this.

[tonidagher]

Great setup and lovely video 👍🏻 thanks a lot!
Quick question: how did you connect all peripherals to have them only on a single USB C out?