MODERN and MOODY Desk Setup - Small Office + Desk Tour

foreign [Music] hey guys my name is Thomas welcome to my YouTube channel and welcome to my very first YouTube video I'm a software engineer I've been working in the field now for just north of a decade just after the start of the pandemic I had the privilege of working from home full-time which kind of got me thinking more about my workspace I started off working at the kitchen table with my laptop and an old 1080p monitor over the past two and a half years or so I've started to make some slow but steady updates to my workspace I finally moved out of the kitchen I bought a cheap Ikea desk I got a couple of shoe boxes and prop my monitors up on those for some better ergonomics and just went from there I guess you could say that things have definitely come a long way since then this video is divided into five main sections starting with the plan which is how I wanted the setup to look and feel second is the foundation of the setup which includes the desks and the chair third is the Tech which includes the desk peripheral Tech accessories and of course what powers the setup fourth is the lighting which includes all the lighting I'm using in this space and lastly the finishing touches which includes the little things that make the space mine now shout out to Edward Lee for using a similar format in one of his desk setup videos I saw that really liked it and I'm going to do the same thing here [Music] the plan was to create a more Moody and cozy feel in this space and design it not only as an office but as a studio where I could shoot YouTube videos after a lot of research on the internets I started to like the wooden desks paired with dark accent wall setups so after a lot of paint research I finally decided on jet black by Benjamin Moore to paint as the main X and wall color which I think goes really well with the wooden desk finishes in here as well as the existing paint color which is Coventry gray by Benjamin Moore [Music] my primary work desk is the ergon office sway desk in the Walnut finish it measures 60 inches wide by 30 inches deep and the Walnut color is beautiful and adds an undeniable warmth to the room I opted for the extra cable management Solution by ergon office which makes hiding cables a breeze especially for my setup since it has two computers additionally I opted for the casters which makes moving around the desk really easy whenever I need to do that I've been using this desk for a year now and it's definitely helped with my productivity the secondary desk is also the ergon office sway desk and walnut this one is a little smaller it measures 48 inches wide and 24 inches deep and acts as my main studio desk for doing well these sorts of videos as well as just being a great secondary work desk this particular desk comes with the new swipe technology from ergon office which allows you to Simply Glide your finger over the interface to move your desk up and down it allows you to configure two pre-saved heights for four different users so you can easily share this desk with other people if you want to it came packaged well was really easy to assemble and put together and looks absolutely beautiful the other foundational piece to the setup is the chair now apart from the desks themselves in my opinion the chair is the most important part of any desk setup this particular one is the Herman Miller Logitech G the Herm The Herman Miller the Logitech Herman Miller embody gaming chair whatever the actual name of it is it's insanely expensive and retails for around twenty two hundred dollars up here in Canada now having said that this is the most comfortable chair I have ever used Hermann Miller chairs are expensive but that is in part to a few things the first being is that they're entirely manufactured in the US the second is that they're backed by a lot of ergonomic research and third is that they all come with a 12 year warranty on all parts so the Logitech Herman Miller embody chair is is the regular embody chair with some noted improvements the first is that it's built with a new copper infused foam which is intended to keep you cool while you sit now personally I don't really know if this works or not I don't notice it at all but I don't really get hot while I sit so maybe it works although I'm not really a I guess you could call a hot sitter so I'll leave that up to you the purchaser if you're considering this chair the chair is made out of 100 polyester that has been rigorously tested for durability UV light resistance and yes even flame resistance the bottom of the chair features two spring layers one matte layer and one foam layer which gives you a really cool floating feeling when you sit on it I intend to make a video dedicated to reviewing this chair in the future so please stay tuned for that there are a lot of things that I like about it but there are some things that I don't like about it foreign for my desk setup the first being productivity which includes my day job and general side projects and the second of course being gaming which is also arguably productive this is my custom PC that I built around August of 2021. the outer shell is a lien Li 011 Dynamic it's built with a ryzen 9 5950x 64 gigs of trident Z Neo ddr4 Ram at 3600 megahertz an Asus tough GeForce RTX 3090 the CPU is cooled by the NZXT Kraken z73 liquid AIO all of which are sitting on or powered by the Asus Rogue Crosshair 8 dark hero motherboard it has a 9 Corsair LL 120 millimeter fans six of which are powered by the Corsair Commander Pro and the other three powered by the z73s fan splitter for internal storage it's using two one terabyte m.2 drives one Samsung 980 Pro and one Samsung 970 Pro lastly everything is being powered by the Corsair HX 1200 power supply which is rated at 80 plus Platinum efficiency and as the name suggests is a 1200 watt power supply now as an interesting note and I wanted to point this out the NZXT Kraken x73 doesn't come with a three-way fan splitter so if you need the extra fan outlets and you are considering that or the z73 that is something I want to point out you should go with the z73 if you need those extra fan Outlets the PC itself is sitting on top of the ergon office neat filing cabinet which is also finished in the Walnut and looks absolutely beautiful it provides a lot of nice extra storage as well as features really smooth closing drawers my work laptop is the 2019 MacBook Pro which nothing really special there to note but it is plugged into the ugreen USB switch along with my PC so that I can easily switch between content texts the switch itself is hidden behind the desk shelf so it stays hidden but is still easily accessible because I use my setup for both work and gaming I wanted a monitor that could do good at both enter the LG Ultra gear 38 GN 950b this is a 38 inch Ultra wide monitor with a nano IPS display and a max resolution of 3840 by 1600 so versus the traditional 1440p monitor it provides extra vertical space which I really appreciate though it's still not quite 4K through DisplayPort it has a max refresh rate of 144 Hertz so it's great for gaming and it also boasts a one millisecond response time though between you and me it's more like a four millisecond response time if you don't want any color off shoot lastly and I want to point this out specifically the RGB lighting at the back is not just some gimmick it actually works well and provides some decent ambient light for a long time I was actually using the RGB lighting at the back to provide all of the ambient light behind the monitor before I ever picked up any of the extra lights that I'll go over later in the video so it does work really well and if ambient light behind your monitor is something you're looking for this monitor will provide that to you sitting on top of the monitor is the Logitech Brio which is a 4K webcam that I've been using for daily work calls for quite a long time now it features built-in HDR technology that helps me look a bit better in meetings and it's also really really good in low light it is a bit overkill for General work meetings but since I do use it every day I do find the value in it the monitor is mounted to the Hermann Miller Allen which is made out of powder coated aluminum it has a wide range of motion and is really good at holding up the weight of the monitor the arm tension can be adjusted visually which makes configuring it easy now personally I would now recommend going with something like the Amazon Basics monitor arm which which can still hold up the weight of this monitor really well and is I think less than half the price the Amazon Basics arm is essentially a rebranded ergotron arm so the quality is good so if you're not really gonna use every single inch of the range of motion that the all-in provides I would honestly just skip this one sitting beside the monitor are a pair of Kanto U2 speakers in the Walnut finish because of the three-quarter inch silt tweeters the mids and Highs are warm and clear and though it does lack a bit on the low end Kanto does sell its sub 6 and sub 8 subwoofer should you need that extra punch the speakers are elevated on top of the Kanto S2s which provides a nice 16 degree vertical tilt so that all of the sound frequencies are inserted directly into your eardrums for the price of these speakers they definitely over perform and I couldn't be happier with my purchase for external storage I just started using the 16 terabyte Seagate expansion desktop hard drive which is USB 3.0 so the transfer speeds are quite decent this is sufficient for storing a lot of my external media files especially since I just started on YouTube I may look into a different solution later on like a raid but I'm happy to use this in the meantime the speakers are both sitting on the desk shelf by grovemade which is finished in a beautiful Walnut laminate it provides extra storage with a desk drawer and open shelf areas and provide space below it for other items below the desk shelf is the focusrite Scarlet solo which serves a few purposes for me the first being is that it serves as the audio interface for my current mic of choice the Shure sm7b the mic is connected to the Scarlet via a cloud lifter and is mounted to the rode psa1 which is a great mic arm that's capable of keeping the heavy sm7b in the air the second purpose of the Scarlet is to act as a DAC for my daily headphones the Hi-Fi Min Edition XS these are my first pair of planar magnetic headphones and I have to say that they are awesome The Sound Stage is open the separation between instruments and vocals are clear and I occasionally hear new things in old songs if you ever want to test these headphones out before you buy them I'd recommend listening to mountains by Hans Zimmer trust me as a software engineer the keyboard is obviously really important to me and my current keyboard of choice is the Logitech g915tkl with the brown tactile switches it has low profile keys with a small actuation distance of 1.5 millimeters making the typing experience on it exceptional the wireless on this keyboard is fantastic and if there is any input lag I don't really notice it battery life is hilariously good and at a fixed color can last for weeks if not months at a time it works well for both work and gaming and I just couldn't be happier with this keyboard for better ergonomics I am using the wrist rest by grovemade now I use two mice one for work and one for gaming for work it's the MX Master 3s both the vertical and horizontal scroll buttons are really nice it's compatible with Windows and Mac OS and it's silent which is really cool for gaming it's the Razer basilisk ultimate I've been using this mouse for a few years and I still will love it it's lightweight at 107 grams has 11 programmable buttons and allows you to customize the resistance level on the scroll wheel it also has its own charging dock so it's always ready to go when I need it since I don't use it all the time I have it sitting on a small table away from my desk and when I want to start a gaming session I just pick it up and go protecting the desk is the wool felt desk mat by growth mate it's made out of Merino wool and cozy to the touch though it's soft it's quite dense and strong and is water resistant if you're wondering about Mouse use the material provides a little bit of resistance when you move the mouse over it but nothing that should feel unpleasant rounding off the rest of the desk setup are the desk accessories starting with the Grove made magsafe stand in Walnut this thing is a beast it's made with machined three-quarter inch solid steel and hand sanded hardwood it's as sturdy as a rock and the incline on it makes viewing your phone at a distance easy next next is the Grove made pen which is made with an all metal body the pen feels balanced having an analog option close by when I need to quickly write down some notes or cross out some tasks on my to-do list is convenient both the notepad and the notebook are also made by grovemade they're both Hefty they're great quality and make as a really great space to write down your thoughts I have a couple of coasters from grovemade which are made from the same material as the desk mat and are handy for my morning coffee lastly protecting the secondary desk is the leather desk mat by Grove made it's made out of vegetable tanned leather and is really soft to the touch foreign [Music] lighting can make or break the look and feel of your setup the right lights in the right places can significantly alter the way your space looks and feels in the corner of the room is the hectar lamp from Ikea I replaced the stock E12 bulbs with the E12 bulbs from Philips Hue it was a bit pricey to do so but I don't regret the decision behind the desk are two Philips Hue play bars to provide some ambient light behind the monitor to reduce eye strain as well as a Philips Hue go on the very left hand corner to provide some extra light to the corner of the room wrapping around the edges of the desk is the Philips hue light strip which adds a warm overall Ambience to the setup on top of the monitor is the BenQ screen bar which honestly is one of the best purchases I've ever made for this setup it reduces eye strain by providing balanced light in the front of the screen and lights the desk in front of you even with all the other lights off I can still use it on its own and it works well I have the studio light set up on the other wall this is the godox ul60 which is completely silent due to the fact that it doesn't rely on internal fans to cool itself now being in a small space this really helps to reduce Ambient sound it also comes with a control box that allows you to turn up and down the brightness as well as turn on and off the light diffusing the light is the Apple aperture light Dome Mini 2 which has three layers of diffusion and a small footprint this is mainly for shooting videos but it also helps at providing just extra light when I need it to tie everything together I've added a few small things here and there to make this space Feel Complete on the side wall are a few pegboards from Ikea it makes for both a small storage base and an aesthetic display of things that make me happy on the main wall I have some metal posters from display representing some of the things that I like now though the displayed posters were easy to mount I will warn that the sticky leaf that is part of their mounting system doesn't adhere well to textured walls or even slightly textured walls I found this out the hard way after a few days when my poster fell and was damaged as a result I ended up having to nail the magnets into the wall which kind of defeats the purpose of the leaf however displayed customer service was excellent as after I notified them about what happened they quickly mailed me out a replacement and even took care of the Customs fee for me so I didn't even have to worry about that on the sidewall are a couple more metal posters from displate these two being maps of Greece and the Philippines and having significance to me as I'm Greek and Filipino so they mean a lot to me on the opposite wall are three artwork pieces from a company called wolf and Rocket whom I discovered on Etsy they have some really great prints and I'll provide a link to their store below should you be interested in these items want to end this video with a few closing thoughts there are a ton of desk setup videos on YouTube many of them featuring fancy desk accessories and desk gear including this one I obviously enjoy ergon office and grovemade as I think that makes some of the highest quality gear on the planet they do make things nicer and they do make things easier however having said that they're both also very expensive I think it's really important to take your time with everything that you add to your workspace I've had my fair share of old and or slow equipment so I've been there and I know how it feels it's only within the last two and a half years or so that I started making some serious upgrades to my workspace and that's mainly because I use this space to work for a living every single day remember being productive is not about what you own it's about having the right mindset I'm very fortunate to have what I have now but I've worked very hard over the years to be able to do so I would recommend looking at the items that you really want saving up for them and then buying them when you're ready and when it's reasonable and that's it if you're still here thank you very much for sticking around until the end I really appreciate it please drop me a fire Emoji in the comments below just so I know that you stuck around until the end and if you like this video please hit the like button and please consider subscribing I'm new to YouTube and I would just like to know if others are enjoying the content that I'm creating I plan on doing more Tech related videos in the future including desk setup so please stick around and please subscribe to me if you are interested in watching those types of videos if you have any other comments or questions about this video please drop them in the comments below that's it guys thank you very much for watching and I'll catch you in the next one see ya [Music] [Music]

Channel: TwoByteThomas

Views: 330,956

Keywords: desk setup, ergonofis, grovemade, gaming pc, herman miller

Id: gu5uld-qXWQ

Length: 20min 28sec (1228 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 13 2023