This is my current desk setup. If you browse various websites or social media platforms, you will come across numerous beautiful desk setups. Many software developers or technology enthusiasts share their impressive desk arrangements.
However, have you ever thought if everyone’s setup has always been like that?
Definitely not. The style of each individual’s setup develops over the years. Most people, including myself, did not purchase everything at once. Instead, over time, they afford new items for their desk setup every now and then, which leads to the creation of something amazing in the end.
Do you prefer having more or fewer technological devices? How many devices do you really need? Should your setup be minimalistic? How many screens do you require, and how should they be arranged? Do you need fancy lighting? Which wallpaper looks the best? Which keyboard and mouse do you find most comfortable? How do you deal with cables?
Wow, I have asked myself so many questions over the years. Sometimes, I wonder if I don’t have any other problems. And yes, I need to keep in mind how privileged I am to think about such minor things related to a desk setup.
So, I have spent quite some time digging through my old photos and found some images of my desk setup.
The following pictures show the evolution of my desk setup over a period of just over ten years. And since I am in my twenties, it means that the first photos were practically taken in my childhood bedroom.
Are you as excited as I was when I rewatched the entire series?
So, let’s get started!
In my opinion, the initial photograph that I came across can be deemed a true treasure.
What a mess on this amazing corner desk! A tablet, a computer, a laptop, and all the cables on the floor! I have a feeling that you can look at the photo repeatedly and still discover something new. One of my favorites: the small flashlight clipped to the tablet.
I honestly can’t write as much about this image as I would like to. Looking back at it from today’s perspective, it’s a completely awful setup for me. Every time I look at the picture again, I find some detail that makes me laugh all over again. Take a few seconds and look at it once more. You’ll always discover something new and fascinating. Those giant boxes, the alarm clock! The flashlight on the tablet, the huge keyboard! All the cables. Cable channels, the mousepad…
Then my first own assembled PC was put together.
Wow, this tower computer is huge! I had some spare money and decided to invest in a massive tower computer. I planned and built it myself and was incredibly proud when it started up for the first time.
The best thing about it? The LED lighted fans, the touch panel for fan control, and the glass display on the side. Unfortunately, the photos don’t show the RAM, which had red LED lights built in and dragons sketched on it. Pretty cool, huh?
I originally built this computer as a high-end gaming PC. Although it’s been a long time since I built it, I haven’t made any changes to it. I still use it for gaming.
Amazingly, it still works after all these years. Although I may not be able to play on the highest graphics settings, and only in Full HD instead of 4K, it’s fascinating to see how long high-end technology can last.
The only thing that has bothered me for ages? Why did my past self choose such a huge case? Half the size would have been sufficient! There’s a lot of free space inside the tower, and I never used all the four or five slots for hard drives and other components.
Some time had passed, and I had grown older. The furniture from my early childhood room was long gone, and I had replaced it with new pieces, including a new desk. As a result, my desk setup underwent significant changes.
I couldn’t help but notice the absence of cables. Had I finally realized that it’s cooler to have a setup where cables are not visible?
But don’t be mistaken that this marks a step towards minimalism. No, that would be completely off the mark. As you can see, this lovely new desk can be filled with a variety of amazing technology.
My personal favorite piece in this setup is undoubtedly the TV, which found its home in the vacant corner of my L-shaped desk. Apparently, a laptop and an external monitor weren’t enough screens. I recall that this screen had a maximum resolution of HD and everything appeared worse on it than on any of my other screens. Nevertheless, it was crucial to have the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard in front of it so that I could work on the large TV like a true hero
Alright, maybe I did notice it after all. This picture was taken just a few weeks later, and it already looked a lot more minimalistic. And what came with it, of course? That’s right, the purchase of my first MacBook. I spent a lot of money on it and was really excited at the time. Maybe it was just the Apple philosophy that caught up with me and whispered in my ear to make everything a bit more minimalist.
I think I remember that the keyboard at the edge and the elevated second monitor were still connected to my gaming PC and were pulled down whenever I wanted to play games.
After buying my Macbook, the next thing I got a while later was a new monitor. The old one was way too small and didn’t match the Macbook’s style anymore. I didn’t enjoy using the old external monitor because the quality was really poor compared to the Macbook’s Retina display right next to it. As you can see, the overall setup also became cleaner.
However, you can also tell that even though I had a new, clean Macbook setup, I still used my trusty gaming keyboard and mouse that have been with me for a while.
The next thing I changed was precisely this aspect. Instead of the large black gaming keyboard, I switched to an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard. In my opinion, this already made a significant difference in the appearance of my workspace. Additionally, during the first few weeks of using my Macbook, I became hooked on its well-functioning trackpad. That’s why I also got an external trackpad from Apple for working with the external monitor.
Both of these changes combined made my workspace look quite different from when I was using the old input devices.
And now we come to the point where I moved out. I relocated to a shared flat in another city to study computer science, initially subleasing a room. However, on the desk that was already in the room, my overall setup looked exactly the same as it did at home before the move.
Throughout my entire time in university, I lived in the same apartment, although I changed rooms several times. In the following picture, you can see my own desk for the first time, featuring the same desk plate that I still use to this day. When I moved out of the other room and into my own room, it was the first time I purchased furniture, and this desk was one of the items I acquired.
To this day, I remain extremely satisfied with the desk plate I bought from IKEA at that time. I only replaced the legs of the desk since then, but I will tell you more about that in a subsequent photo.
What you can also see here is the Microsoft Surface, which I used a lot at the beginning of my studies to be able to take notes in lectures. The device didn’t turn out to be that practical for me in the end, though, because it was somehow neither a very good tablet nor a very good laptop. I was able to sell it with minimal loss.
Oh a package, what do you think is in it? Correct it says a curved monitor! Let’s see how the piece integrates into my setup.
Before we take a look at the setup, here’s a funny story about it. I was really excited about this curved monitor, so I ordered it online and had it delivered. While sitting in a lecture with a friend, I received a notification that my monitor had been delivered, but unfortunately not to my apartment. I had forgotten to update the delivery address and it was sent to my parents’ house. After a quick joke, my friend and I left the lecture, got in the car, and went to pick up the monitor from my parents’ house.
And so this is what the setup looked like. I didn’t replace the old screen but now worked with two external screens.
Most of the time I had my big tower PC connected to it. The Macbook or Surface were always my mobile devices. You can also see that I tried another Bluetooth keyboard at this point. I honestly have no idea why I wanted to use this one. But to work on a Windows computer with the Apple keyboard was just not really practical because the keyboard layout did not fit together. I found a solution for the Windows & MacOS parallelism problem much later.
At this point, there are two things I would like to highlight. First, this reveals that I’ve always tried to personalize my setup on the software side, too. As you can see from the picture with the Windows homescreen, I had a large clock and an equalizer with a music display on the desktop. Naturally, there was also a lot of experimenting going on there.
Secondly, I attached an LED bar to the back of my desk for the first time, which, in my opinion, looks pretty cool in these pictures.
Not much has changed here since the last picture, except for the fact that I realized that the height of the screens was not ergonomically optimal due to the fixed screen stands and my height. That’s why I purchased these two stands to elevate the screens. Looking back, I have to admit that this modification made the setup look less cool. However, at least I could slide things under the stands and make them disappear, as seen in this photo with my keyboard and Macbook.
There are two noticeable changes in this setup. Let’s start with the positive one. A new keyboard! I lost count of how many times I changed my keyboard, but definitely more than I should have. Once again, I chose a gaming-style keyboard, but this time, a mechanical one that produces a satisfying click and a delightful sound that my roommates surely appreciate. They must have been thrilled every time I used the computer late at night.
Now, let’s move on to the second innovation. Notice the fancy mousepad wrapped in paper? Isn’t it awesome?
Remember the raised stands for my screens? They have now been kicked out again because I quickly noticed how unprofessional that looks. Instead, this beautiful monitor mount was acquired on Amazon.
By the way, this was the first time I had a mount that allowed my screens to no longer sit directly on the desk!
In my opinion, it makes a huge difference, as you can see in the following photo. I had moved again to another room in my apartment and the desk was of course the first thing to be reassembled. Such a clean and uncluttered desk looks damn good and I would never think of putting my monitor directly on the desk again.
By the way, it’s worth noting that IKEA furniture is always a great option to expaned your setup. I have a nightstand and a 1x1 Kallax cube positioned to the left of my desk. At the time, it was an ideal solution for me since I could store everything I needed within arm’s reach in the nightstand drawers, while the 1x1 cube served as storage space for all the other tech that would have otherwise been scattered around.
Looking still on the same transformation step:
In this setup, you’ll notice that I added a gaming mouse from the same company as my mechanical keyboard. Both are from Razer. Additionally, I moved the LED strip that was previously attached to the back of the desk to the back of the monitors, which gave a significantly different effect as the wall behind was properly illuminated. As before, I continued to make software modifications on the Windows desktop.
I’m curious to know who recognizes the computer game shown in the next picture:
The Settlers 4. Great game. But let’s rather focus on the setup. Once again, my input devices have undergone some changes. For one thing, the mechanical keyboard was much too loud. On the other hand, I really wanted to have Bluetooth devices on my desk that I can also quickly push aside when needed. At that time, I was doing a lot of university homework and had to spread out numerous notes on my desk, so it was convenient to be able to move the keyboard and mouse out of the way quickly.
At this point, I purchased the Microsoft Surface Keyboard and Mouse. During that period, I extensively worked with my large tower PC, so I was working a lot on Windows at home. Therefore, the Apple keyboard was rather impractical due to its key mapping. However, I do like the very simple and minimalist design, which I found again in the Surface input devices for Windows.
Don’t be alarmed! My screen wasn’t stolen during a break-in. No, I simply took it down and stored it somewhere else. Why? Well, that’s a good question. At the time, I was constantly switching back and forth between my Tower PC setup and my MacBook. I was also having trouble concentrating on university work at my desk, and the screens on their mount were driving me crazy because they were too heavy for it. As a result, the screens were never in the optimal position, and I couldn’t adjust their height in that setup. I wanted a main and a secondary screen again to be able to focus on tasks properly. Since the stand only allowed me to have both screens side by side, I decided to take a radical approach and remove one screen and the stand altogether.
I really liked this minimalist approach, and it was the first time I realized that having fewer screens could also be a good thing. It didn’t stick immediately, but you’ll see it creeping in again at a later time.
One of the best investments I made during my studies can be seen in the following picture:
Yes, it’s a height-adjustable desk. My thought process was that I probably would never spend as much time sitting at my own desk again as I did during my years at university. Therefore, it was important for me to equip my setup for a full day of “homeoffice” work and study. So, I spent some euros and bought height-adjustable table legs. The tabletop itself is exactly the same as before. Only the cheap IKEA legs that I initially attached were removed and replaced with the new frame. It was definitely worth it, especially during the Corona period when I was more than happy to be able to stand up once in a while after spending the whole day at my computer on just a few square meters in my student apartment.
By the way, it was an absolute pleasure to be able to raise the desk for any work I needed to do. No more crawling on the floor, as I could simply roll my chair under the desk to take care of cable management, for example.
So, what has actually changed here? Well, first off, we see two monitors again: one directly in front of me and another to the left as a secondary display. Additionally, we see new stands for the monitors. As I mentioned before, the previous mount was driving me crazy since it couldn’t hold the screens properly and wasn’t adjustable. These new monitor arms can do both, as they are equipped with gas springs for easy adjustments. Moreover, the weight of the monitors was no longer an issue.
However, there was still one problem visible in this picture, at least if you know about it. My monitors were not VESA compatible. This annoyed me quite a bit since I had to buy VESA adapters for both monitors just to attach them to the mounts. Consequently, the screens were even further away from the mount than necessary, and as a result, as we can see here, also quite far away from the wall.
I was using this setup for quite some time. Of course, a desk like this is used differently in everyday life. The next two pictures show that sometimes there’s more chaos and sometimes the desk is completely tidy and clean, just the way I like it.
Did anyone notice something in these two pictures? Yes, there’s a new MacBook! After more than five years with the previous one, I decided to buy a new one in 2019 - the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar - which I still use for my personal work and even for writing this article. I now have an M1 MacBook Pro for work, and I sometimes get annoyed with my personal MacBook at home because I know how much better the M1 is. However, I must say that I am still very satisfied with my purchase. I spent a lot of money on it, amounts that you would never usually spend as student, but I believe that for a work tool that I use for more than 8 hours a day, it was definitely worth it.
I’ll summarize the next pictures as “experiments”. I spent some time browsing YouTube and Instagram and came across many desk setups featuring a vertically mounted screen. I thought it was cool and wanted to try it out myself. Even though it was a stupid idea with a curved monitor, I went ahead with it anyway. It looked great and it was interesting to use in that way. I can definitely understand why people set up a vertical monitor as a second screen, but in my case, I quickly reverted back to my original setup because it didn’t quite work out as expected.
Possibly, this experiment also drove me insane during the Corona phase, causing me to tear everything down again and throw away a monitor.
Yes, I know, my desk looks sad and empty again. But I have to admit that the idea of having only one big main screen somehow kept triggering me.
At this point, I was almost exclusively working with my new Macbook, and the Windows computer had really become just a gaming PC. I had removed all productive applications from it.
So, at this point, there’s a lot to talk about again. But it’s also the last time I’ll have big news to share, as not much will change until my final setup.
Let me try to summarize the changes in bullet points:
- A new big screen: From LG, a 4K monitor, 32 inches, USB-C with power supply. I only need one cable to connect my MacBook, get power, and have music and other accessories connected. With this, I finally have the setup with the one big main screen that I’ve mentioned a few times before.
- New keyboard: With the Logitech MX Keys, my life has become much more comfortable. At the time I bought it, I had two jobs,and I had been provided with a laptop from each company. Together with my personal MacBook, I had three devices that I was constantly switching between. My new screen allowed me to quickly connect the devices, and with the MX Keys, I could quickly switch the keyboard as well. It allows up to three Bluetooth devices to be connected, which can be quickly switched with three buttons on the keyboard.
- Additionally, a new mouse: The Logitech MX Master fits perfectly with the Logitech MX Keys. Both are from the same Logitech series and work well together. The mouse also has the functionality to store up to three Bluetooth devices. With that, I could use both the keyboard and mouse with all laptops equally. I also really like the horizontal scroll wheel and additional buttons on the mouse, as well as the overall form factor.
- Laptop stand (added a few weeks later): As I use my laptop as a small secondary screen with just one big screen permanently now, I wanted to make sure that I had it at a comfortable height. For that, I got a simple laptop stand. It’s not only more comfortable, but in my opinion, it also looks better.
In addition to all the new changes to my setup, I also rearranged my room a bit (second picture) and sat with my back against the wall and looked into the room. I actually enjoyed having my desk in this position. The only issue was that it was difficult to conceal the cables and the general backside of the setup.
Wow, and we’ve come full circle back to the picture that I presented at the very beginning of my desk setup story. This is the first picture I took after setting up my desk in my new apartment, following my move to a new city. As you can see, everything has remained unchanged. The plant beside the desk even moved with me. I particularly enjoy having a touch of greenery around my workspace. Additionally, a clock and two stylish wooden shelves have been added to the wall since then. However, the fundamental setup has remained the same. I can confidently say that it has now been in this exact state for approximately 1.5 years. Although this may not seem like a considerable amount of time, given the frequency at which I made minor adjustments in the time leading up to this, it is actually quite significant. I have a strong sense that I will keep up with this current setup for the long term. But we will see…
I would like to share a few more thoughts on this entire story: First and foremost, thank you for taking the time to read this far. Even if you have only looked at the pictures, I hope to have provide an interesting story about the evolution of my desk setup. I would be extremely interested to know if you have any photos of your old desk setup from years ago. If so, feel free to send me a picture at contact@ricoklimpel.de or message me on Instagram (@rico.code) or Twitter (@rico_klimpel). I suspect that many people have similarly significant developments to share.
For those who are passionate about technology and work with it every day, the desk is a massive playground, and a desk setup is never truly complete. This was evident in the pictures I have found in my archives and published here. You always notice small things that you want to change. In my case, there is a distinct trend towards a minimalist setup, but many other things have changed independently of that trend.
It is worth noting that most of the setups you see online were not purchased in a single day. I have added individual pieces over the years, and I could not afford to purchase this entire setup at once, especially as a student. Many of the items on and under my desk were obtained through birthdays or christmas. I have never been dissatisfied with my technical equipment. I have always aimed for change and to be able to improve something. I am delighted to see where this has led my setup now.
So, feel free to be inspired, not only by my setup but also by all the other people who share their desk setups online. Remember, you do not have to change everything at once. Change comes one step at a time.