Remote work: my desk setup for 2019

You'll find here a list of all the stuff I use in my daily desk setup. People have been asking me for month to share it, so I hope you'll find this post useful !

All the products listed here can be found on my Amazon US storefront directly. Maybe you're trying to understand why I repeat myself in this post. The answer is I try to translate each french post in MindsersIT Blog and also, into this post you'll have more context about each product than on Amazon. I try to explain why I use the product.

The list below is kind of sorted from the most important thing to the lesser ones. Obviously, it's completly subjective. To better the list, I tried to add some explanations on how I use each product.

Macbook Pro 15"

It's the master piece of my setup, as you may have guessed. I don't want to debate about which is better between Mac and Windows or even any other custom computer. It's not interesting at all. However I've been working with a Mac for 10 years, Apple is the ecosystem I like and the one I'm the most productive with. To be honest, I already refused job offers just because the company didn't want me to work on a Mac computer (which is dumb, as I am an iOS developer).

The Mac I use is a Macbook Pro 15" Space Gray with a 512 Go SDD.

2 Dell Ultrasharp 27"

When I work from home, I want to be as comfortable as possible to be productive. I choosed to invest in two big monitors that I plug directly on my MacBook Pro.

The monitors I chose and have been using for a little more than a year now are very good quality (resolution, colors, time response, etc) for the work I need to be doing. I use it mainly for programming (iOS and JS), photo editing (social media, blog's illustrations, printable photo) and book edition for printables book.

Because it is so big, I don't use it while working outside of my house. This is also why I chose a 15" screen for my Mac and not a 13". I work outside of my house twice a week.

The exact reference is Dell UltraSharp U2715H.

Headphone with active noise cancelation

Very useful when working from home, you are in a bubble and are not disturbed by ambiant noise if you need to be more focused.

With the Bose QC35, the Beats Studio 3 is the circum-aural headphone I love the most. It is purely subjective but it has very good assets for remote working :

• active noise-cancelling
• hurts my ears less than a intra or supra-aural
• has a nice finish and very comfortable to wear <!--kg-card-begin: image-->

The one I use is Beats by Dre Studio 3, Collection Skyline, en Midnight Black.

Webcam Logitech

When I close my laptop to put it in its dock (see below), I can't use my webcam anymore. It's the first time I had the need to buy a webcam for years!

I looked at reviews online and one of the most praised was the Logitech BRIO. This is what I got.

The one I use is this one: Logitech BRIO 4k Streaming Edition. Very good webcam that works when you plug it with no configuration.

An independant microphone

Well, I technically already have a microphone on my headphone and it has worked well until now. The problem is that I use zoom.us for my meetings and the mic gestion is quite bad.

Because of the noise cancelling of my Beats Studio and the fact that I used a beta macOS (bluetooth malfunction, etc), my coworkers were having a hard tome understanding what I was saying. The mic was basically turning on too late in my sentence and the sound wasn't stable. I don't have this problem when I'm on the phone with another device with my Beats...

So I bought a USB microphone to be able to keep having the sound in my headphone and have my voice in the microphone : way more efficient.

Of course, this is not the only purpose of this microphone... I have several secret projects right now. The quality is really good on that mic so I also use it to record my accoustic guitars.

The mic I use is the Røde NT-USB. It is very easy to use and powerful, I really recommend it!

Double arms monitor mount

I like how my Dell monitors are designed. At first, I chose those monitors for its heavy-duty stand, it was stable and aesthetic. You can also put it vertically or horizontally.

But it took so much place on my desk, it was a real problem. So I decided to buy a VESA support for 2 27" monitors. The place I got back is incredible and it is still really steady and confortable to work.

I chose this one sold by 1home and made for 2 27" monitors. Don't forget to adapt the support to fit your monitors' size.

Vetical laptop stand

For space saving purpose, just like with the monitors support, I was looking for a way to stack my laptops vertically on my desk.

I am not going to lie, at first I wanted to buy the Vertical Dock de HengeDocks and write a complete review but it is out of budget right now. Maybe one day I'll upgrade.

Meanwhile, I got myself a basic manual double support. Why double? Because I use two Macbook Pro daily.

The double vertical stand for notebook OMOTON is really well made, sturdy and adjustable for different laptops.

Magic Keyboard 2 + Magic Mouse 2

Vertical support for laptops also means external keyboard and mouse. Obviously, you have no other choice.

I already had the Apple mouse and keyboard I really love so it wasn't that hard to choose.

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Keyboard and mouse choices are often hard to explain (especially in the dev community) because it is subjective and we each have our own preferences.

Black Laptop Desk Mat

My desk is shiny white and I had trouble in the past with optical mice because the light refraction isn't regular. The solution is to get a mouse mat but I don't think it is very aesthetic.

So I decided to get a giant mouse mat. A desk mat actually. It goes on top of the desk, under your keyboard, mouse, mic, monitors...Etc.

I like that product because it really does protect the desk, makes cleaning up easier and it shapes the work space neatly.

I have this one Laptop Desk Mat from PEGGYBUY in black and grey. You can switch it up to change the color.

Wireless phone charger

Now this is a very useful gadget. I bought it because I like all things geeky but it turned out to be really useful on a daily basis.

I chose this Universal Wireless chargerXLTOK.

Chemex Coffemaker

What would a developer's desk be without a coffee machine? Well, it wouldn't be a dev desk. So I bought some sort of coffee machine.

The Chemex is very aesthetically pleasing and I really wanted to try gentle extraction.

I bought a classic Chemex that serves 6. I don't only use it for work. It is the only coffee machine we own so when we have guests over, I needed to be able to serve them all at once.

A glass water bottle

The last choice I had to make for my office was a water bottle. Why is it important?

Because if I don't have a water bottle right next to me throughout the day, I don't drink enough liquid. I try to stay healthy so I figured I could use some water in between coffee cups.

I bought the borosilicate bottle fromFCSDETAIL (I have no idea why every brand on Amazon are in CAPSLOCK). A glass water bottle is so pretty and sturdy.

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The last update on this post is dated Septembre 2nd 2019. I'll update it to add new products if needed. If I publish a new post, I'll link it there too.

I hope this post was helpful for you. Ask away your questions in the comment section below and I'll try to answer as best as I can.