The topic of jobs will always be relevant – especially during the heyday of remote work. Your workflow depends on how your workplace is arranged.

Despite the pandemic, Rozetked has been working in the office since the end of spring 2020 – this is more convenient and practical for us. I moved closer to the office not so long ago, and therefore at the end of the year I thought about making myself the most comfortable place for myself.

I will say right away – not everything is completed yet. For example, you can still work on a work chair, but I think everything else is ideal for myself. So perfect that I decided to tell you what I chose to work with. I will describe everything in detail and leave links.

And if you have something to teach me, come to us on Telegram and drop in the comments to this post a photo of your ideal desktop. Maybe I’ll humbly borrow some part. In the meantime, let’s start!

Work Machine – MacBook Air on M1

I will not talk much about this, I have already described everything in the reviews. I’m a fan of the Air line, I used the 2015 version, then 2018 and in 2020 I switched to Pro. But the prospect of an Apple Silicon M1 processor motivated me to return to the MacBook Air again.

True, not everything is going smoothly here, you should take this into account right away. Autonomy is class, gold color is perfect, the processor with all my tasks is loaded by a maximum of 6%, and that’s all.

8GB of RAM isn’t enough for everything, Lightroom alone eats almost everything. The system is extremely unstable, applications often crash or the desktop restarts. The fault is, of course, optimization, but I believe that over time it will all be repaired. The transitional period, so to speak.

Monitor for work – 27-inch LG 27QN880 Ergo

It would seem that there are so many monitors now that choosing is not a problem at all. In fact, it turns out that there are many typical and completely ill-conceived devices that are inconvenient to use.

I needed a 27-inch monitor, because I don’t need more, my eyes run wide, and less is also uncomfortable. I’m used to splitting the screen in half – Telegram on the left, browser on the right, the rest on top when needed.

The second important detail is USB-C for connection and charging, the cable is already included. The third is the ability to easily raise, lower and move the monitor in different directions. And fourth – no huge round legs, the monitor should take up a minimum of space on the table.

The only model that meets all my requirements is the Ergo from my beloved LG (yes, I’m slightly biased, but justified). The monitor attaches to the edge of the table, and in addition to USB-C, it has two HDMI ports, two USB-A and even a mini-jack. There are stereo speakers with a total power of 10 watts.

Notable drawbacks are 2K resolution, so if you have eagle vision, you will notice the pixels. After a few months I got used to it (or my vision completely fell). The maximum refresh rate is 75 Hz. Recently there was a gaming version with a 1ms latency. This model supports AMD FreeSync, if anything, just 5ms response. There is an anti-reflective coating, brightness up to 350 nits.

In general, I honestly think this is the best monitor on the market. And if it’s too small, there is a 32-inch version in the range already with 4K. For details on the model, visit the LG website page.

Logitech keyboard and mouse

Moving on to the next important part of my combo. The MacBook was placed in a stand, connected to a monitor, then a mouse and keyboard are required. Initially, I had an Apple keyboard and a second generation MX Master.

From a visual point of view, it didn’t look very good (the mouse was yellow), besides, the mouse was charged via microUSB and often slowed down. So I decided to upgrade to a combo set from Logitech.

This is the MX Keys keyboard and the MX Master 3 mouse. Everything is in black. Both devices are charged from Type-C (in my case, from a monitor), connected via Bluetooth, but the keyboard can also be connected using a wireless adapter. I have never charged the mouse yet, the keyboard only once.

I heard negative reviews about the mouse, but so far it suits me in everything. Both the keyboard and the mouse have one useful thing – quickly switch between three different devices. Not everyone needs this, but when you test another laptop or use a Windows computer separately, you begin to appreciate such a detail.

Separately in the keyboard, you can customize the top block of keys and, best of all, there is a del button, which is not found in either the MacBook or the proprietary keyboard. I can definitely advise.

The set is not cheap, but worth it. Keyboard and mouse from 9990 rubles.

Economy stand

As you might have guessed, my work case is simple: I come to the office, connect the MacBook via one cable and work. But that’s not all. In an ideal workplace, everything should be thought out.

That’s why I set out to get a comfortable MacBook stand so that it doesn’t take up a lot of desk space. As it turned out, it’s not that easy.

The most famous stand – Twelve South BookArc – will cost 4990 rubles, which, to put it mildly, is not cheap. And on AliExpress, most often you can find small coasters that do not inspire confidence (but I also used this one).

But I searched well and, not as an advertisement, found almost a copy of the BookArc of all for a thousand rubles… Aluminum with rubber bands to avoid leaving marks. Everything was done imperfectly, but the price is not so high either. True, while I wrote the text, it was taken off the market, and it was not possible to find an alternative. Just in case, I’ll leave a link, what if you can find it.

Charging and music

This detail is the Harman Kardon Citation Oasis DAB. I recently replaced my wireless charger with this miracle. Soon there will be a review on the site, but in short.

Firstly, this is a 12 W speaker with a screen. Secondly, a nice design, perfect for both the desktop and the bedside table. Thirdly, there is a real FM radio here!

And then there’s AirPlay, Chromecast, Google Assistant, USB-A ports for charging gadgets, and wireless charging! Really great and nice looking gadget. I would not have thought that such a thing is being done at all.

You can learn more about the system on the Harman page.

For cinema – iPad Air 2020

If you didn’t know, we are writing more and more about movies and TV shows. Naturally, there is no time for everything, so sometimes you have to watch something without stopping from work.

The new iPad Air is perfect for that. I’ve been using it instead of Pro for four months now. The experience of use can be read in a separate article.

iPad can also be used to display images from MacBook, as an additional screen. But I used this function only a couple of times – there is no special need.

Games and air

It makes no sense to tell more about other little things, so I’ll run quickly. Most recently, I put an Xbox Series X next to my desk and it caught on.

You can quickly switch from a laptop to a set-top box, play for half an hour and continue working – it’s a beauty. By the way, we talked about the Xbox in a separate article.

On the other hand, I would gladly swap it for the Xbox Series S – it takes up less space and has enough power for a 2K screen. You only have to buy a 1 TB memory card, and so far the perfect Xbox.

Another trifle is the LG PuriCare air purifier. I talked about it in 2019, after a trip to Korea. And recently I got one in my workplace. I don’t know how much it cleans our room, but occasionally I turn it on for peace of mind. It also charges via USB-C, which is convenient, and is designed for a room of 0,6 sq. m.

Perhaps this is where we can finish. I understand that there is still room to strive for. For example, I recently took Nanoleaf light panels, thought about gluing it behind the monitor, but decided that it was not very convenient. The plans are to take the backlight to the monitor instead of a separate lamp from IKEA. By the way, the light bulb in the base is also not simple, but clever from Gauss. 

PS I’d love to hear your comments and see your desktops. Share the photo in the comments to this post on our Telegram.