Clean & Minimal Setup - My Ultimate DREAM Desk Setup 2021 Tour

What’s up my friends Mike again, glad to have you guys back. I’m going to go over my ultimate dream setup version two. So it’s been awhile since I shared my desk setup here on YouTube, but after nine months of testing which products and configurations work best, I’m super excited to share with you guys, the key changes that I made to this space that works for my needs as a full-time content creator on YouTube and Instagram. 

So hopefully this video will give you guys some good ideas and inspiration to improve your setup as well.  So in my last setup, I had all the essentials I wanted but it was a bit cluttered because I had all the computer hardware on my desk. So the first major change I had to make was to upgrade my desk with accessories from Grove made.

I’m still using the same electric standing desk by Autonomous. I’ve been using it for almost a year now. The motor and the electric components has been great. As you might know, I use this table for all my product shots on YouTube. So having it move up and down quickly it helps a lot to speed up my filming process. 

To make the desk even better I added a large desk mat to cover up the desk because the desktop underneath had a lot of scratches on it. This has a really nice matte texture finish to it. So it was really good at hiding all my fingerprints, smudges and dust. So I’m really happy with how this worked out cause I rarely have to clean it now and it gives my desk a very new and modern look as well.

And the next item on your list is this wool desk mat that I’m using for my mouse and keyboard. As you see, it’s quite long. So it’s useful to place additional stuff on it, my headphones, phone, iPad or my notepad. It’s really convenient because when I’m sitting in a slight different position I can just shift the entire mat and everything moves together keeping my items still organized. and in the same angle that I wanted. The wool material also has a lot of texture to it.

So it works great as a mouse pad as well because it feels good on my hands. Moving along, the next thing that I added was this desk shelf. This is one of the most important additions to my desk. The Walnut top gives it a very natural and warm look to the desk and really elevates my entire setup.

As for a function, the shelf can act as a speaker stand keeping my speakers at a higher level, close to my ears. I can lean my iPad on it. So it’s like an iPad stand as well. And it also has a lot of compartments for storage. On the right-hand side, there’s a sliding tray that houses all my essentials. I can also hide the keyboard underneath the shelf so that I can free up more space for other uses. 

So using this shelf is great because I can access a lot of things at arm’s reach. And on the other side, my Mac mini is also hidden well underneath the shelf. So it hides all the cables and wired mess behind it. And moving along, let’s talk about the new tech that’s on the desk. For the monitor, I’ve been using a 34 inch ultra wide monitor by BenQ. This is specifically designed for digital content creators.

It has a lot of useful color profiles and it comes with a super adjustable stand and a built-in KVM switch. This allows me to switch between different computers without needing to unplug my mouse, keyboard and speakers which is super useful. Anyways, I love the ultra-wide screen. It’s like having two screens in one, is also super useful using three windows as well, when I’m researching, scripting or editing videos. 

And to achieve a cleaner floating screen, kind of look I’ve mounted the monitor on a monitor arm by Autonomous. It works great because it can hold the weight of this ultra wide screen and I can easily adjust the screen to move farther back or closer to my face. And as you can see on the monitor arm this is where I mount multiple lights and my cables as well which I’ll be showing you guys how I do my cable management in just a bit.

And by the way, I am using the Ban Screen bar Plus on my monitor. When I turn it on, it highlights the wood on the desk shelf and it provides a lot of light for me to read. So I love how this light doesn’t take up any space at all and it just makes my entire setup glow. As for speakers, I’m using the iLoud Micro. I use this for video editing a lot and the sound is super accurate for me to monitor my audio levels. 

It’s also got a lot of settings on the back to fine tune the sound and they even have a built-in kickstand to get it to the perfect angle. And since getting these speakers I don’t really use headphones for editing videos but when I don’t want to disturb my wife sleeping in the other room, I’ve been using the Drop Pandas and they’re definitely the best sounding wireless headphones that I’ve tested so far.

So the headphones are placed on this beautiful headphones stand that’s made of solid Walnut and steel to match my desk shelf. Again, it’s made by Grove made, it’s a super-premium looking stand. So it’s really nice to have eye candy close by to keep me motivated. And moving on to peripherals, I’m still using the same Logitech Q502 for gaming and the Ergo MX for video editing. 

The new upgrade here will be the keyboard. I’m using the Logitech wireless mechanical keyboard or the blue clicky switches. And man typing on this is so satisfying because its more clicking than clacking sounds. The keyboards wireless connection has been great with my Mac mini and since my iPad is usually right in front of me as well, I love how I can easily switch to typing on my iPad just by connecting it through the Bluetooth mode on the keyboard.

Also, I’m still using the same wrist rest that I got on Amazon by Sanwa. I still think its super comfortable because the material is super soft and flexible and it’s very easy to wipe off the sweat and keep it clean from my sweaty hands. For charging and organization, I have shelves on both sides and this is done so that I can kind of expand the length of my desk. 

So on the left on top of my file cabinet, I have my wireless charger and its placed so that it’s an arm’s reach and it’s very easy to just place my phone there and have it off the desk. I really liked this charger because it can charge up to three devices and it actually uses an algorithm to find your devices charging coil so that you can place it anywhere

and it will just simply work.

And as for wired charging, I actually drill the hole into the back of the Ikea Alex Drawer and put into this Sate chi desktop charger so that when I pull the drawer out everything is neatly gathered in one place. And this is really nice because it hides all the wires and cables and devices. And I don’t need extra desk space to wait for things to charge. On top of the drawer, I have this little accessory box where I keep my frequently used things on top so I can grab it very quickly. 

It also has a little drawer for my everyday carry stuff as well. And moving onto ergonomics, as a content creator, I work a lot at the desk sitting like eight to 10 a day. So ergonomics is really important to me to keep me healthy. And there are two major additions in this area. Right now I’m using the Herman Miller Embody chair.

It’s really good for your back if you like sitting in a more reclined position in how you sit, you can move around in it, you can stretch and you can sit cross legged in it because of its flexible back rest and soft foam seat. Besides the ergonomics, I just love how incredible this chair looks. The fancy design with the black and blue color schemes really matches my setup. It also makes the entire space look more like a battle station. 

So sometimes when I’m sitting in it I feel like I’m in the pilot seat of a Gun dam. And next I get a ton of questions about this product. It’s a foot rest from Human scale. It’s the best one that I’ve ever used because I can actually move it around, rock my foot forwards and back

to find the best position every time I use it. And to make this even better, I put the foot rest on top of a mat, which I put little felts underneath.

So when I got to move my foot rest I can just quickly slide it with my foot. So that’s a little neat trick right there for you. Remember to like and subscribe. and onto the cable management. So this is something I get asked a lot as well. So the trick to all of this is to just not be able to see any cables when you’re looking at your setup in the front. The most important thing to note is that with a standing desk, you only want one cable coming out to the power socket.

So that’s why using a long extension power cable is really important. So to do this I, to work with the monitor first. I had most of the cables along the back of the monitor arm and under the desk, I’m using a long metal cable tray from Autonomous that’s made specifically for this desk. After I plugged everything in I just stuffed all the extra cables inside that tray.

And as were finishing touches, I’ve used extra cable ties to bunch up the loose wires that I see here and there to get a cleaner look. So just keep in mind that it doesn’t have to look perfect from the back but just to make sure that they’re hidden well and nice that you can’t see it from the front. I also stuffed the extra length of the extension power cable in the tray and left just enough for the desks to move freely up and down. So most of the cable length is hidden by that cabinet anyways. So I think this is the simplest way to get the cleanest look. So this is something you haven’t worked on yet, is definitely worth investing, the 10 or 20 minutes to hide your cables. I think is gonna make a massive improvement for most setups.

And next to add more personality to the room, I added posters on my favorite things. I have one of Tokyo Japan, it’s my favorite place on earth. And I have another poster of Demon Slayer. It’s like one of my favorite animations that you can watch on Netflix. These are actually metal posters from Displace. They are magnetic. So installing it was super easy. All I had to do was install the magnet stickers on the wall and simply just stick the posters on. 

I love this installation process because I can get the frames to the perfect angle without much fuss. And it’s also super secure. I’m pretty surprised that magnets can hold up the weight of these metal frames. Then added bonus here is that when my standing desk goes up, you can actually see the light shining on it and it gives the posters more color, more vibrancy and kind of brings it to life.

And next to make the space look more like a studio, I used the same panels from our previous setup. This time I added a lot more and I really like it because it gives my setup a distinct look especially with my RGB lights shining against it because it absorbs the colors very well. Also, I think it’s very important and let you guys know that the foam looks better than it works at reducing echo in the room.

So I added a carpet which turned out to be more useful than the foam, and it’s great using it with my rolling chair. And moving on to lighting, the light fixture that I’m using on the right is just the one that you find out Ikea. If you followed me from the beginning, this is actually the yellow one that I’ve been using back then. I actually just spray painted a gray to match the overall theme and I think it looks awesome.

Inside, I am using a Lifx bulb. I have another one tied to the monitor arm behind the monitor. I also stuck some Phillips hue play lights on the sides of the monitor to add some extra glow on the side. I’m very happy with this light setup because I can drastically change the theme of the desk from a very simple, focused white theme for productive work or I can make it epic for gaming on my YouTube background just by using my voice command. 

To add more of a tech look, grid studio sent the iPhone 4S frame over. It’s actually the phone, which has been disassembled and put together very artistically. It’s a very beautiful product. They even printed my logo on it and that adds such a personal touch to their frame. It’s just so beautiful and I love what they’re doing with recycling old products and making it look great.

So this product is just a perfect addition for the room for a tech content creator like me. As for my computer, I’m still using my Mac mini setup with the same eGPU and external storage. I’ve put the specs on the screen. There are two little improvements that I made with the configuration. The first design I’ve been able to move most of it off the desk using Longer Thunder Bolt 3 Cables so that the desk space is less cluttered. 

The second upgrade would be using this portable SSD drive to edit videos. The write and read speeds are super-fast so I can edit 4K videos with no problems at all. So this setup took me like nine months to figure out. I tried configuring my desk in all four corners of the room, but this is the one that I ended up liking the most and is most satisfied with.

I don’t know why I do that, I maybe I’m weird, but if you like moving things around all the time too, comment below, let me know. And by the way, I added links to everything that I mentioned in this video, in the description below. 

So you can easily find them for yourself. So anyways, I’m really into designing desk setups because I really believe that a space helps a person to think and function. So it was definitely worth the investment for me to create an environment that’s enjoyable for me to be in and allows me to do what I usually do, but better. And I’m still learning about space design and all of that. But you have any questions at all, please comment below. I’d love to help you guys out.