
Ask HN: What's Your MacBook* Desk Setup - tzury
Assuming your laptop is Macbook(pro|air), I wonder what's your setup when you are at your desk.<p>Using any docking solutions?<p>Which monitors are you using?<p>I recently switched from ThinkPad/Ubuntu to MBP with virtualbox as my Linux machine and willing to make this my main development station, so I'd like to learn from other's experience.
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declan
In my home office I have a Macbook Pro with Retina display on a Griffin iCurve
stand (curved transparent plastic) attached to an Apple LED Cinema display
that is, alas, pre-Thunderbolt. I use a Blue Microphone Yeti for radio
interviews.

These all sit on an adjustable-height Geekdesk along with a Microsoft keyboard
and mouse. I use an Aeron chair and Artemide's Tolomeo task lamp. A thick foam
footrest helps when sitting and a thin foam pad when standing for more than an
hour or so.

Unfortunately my setup at CNET in downtown SF isn't anywhere near as nice!

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mmphosis
My MacBook is oh-oh-oh-old. Snow-leopard, 32-bit only, Xcode Version 3.2.6.

The wireless barely picks up a signal even with the MacBook right beside the
router, so basically the wireless is broken. At the desk, the MacBook connects
wired. To go wireless, I plug directly into another router which runs as a
bridge running linux -- I could just get wireless USB, but the steampunk
factor of the bridge is too much of a conversation piece.

The keyboard has been sticking, but now I think it is just failing because the
battery pack has been expanding to the point that the internal hard drive and
the keyboard have failed. So, I removed the battery and I am typing from an
old macally USB keyboard. The trackpad seems to have failed as well, so there
is an Apple mouse plugged into the keyboard.

Since the hard drive crapped out, I am booting directly from a big USB hard
drive with lots of partitions. Turn on the MacBook, wait for the flashing
folder, then turn on the USB hard disk. Also have the choice of Mac OS X to
boot from using the external partitions.

My hot new "desk" setup is to place the MacBook a top an electronic piano
keyboard, with all the other fore-mentioned gear. The piano has MIDI in and
out that go to a very old MIDI-USB adapter which I plug into the left side of
the MacAlly keyboard. Now I can play music whilst at the MacBook.

I got a big flat screen monitor at a garage sale for $5, but I am just way too
cheap to buy one of Apple's way too expensive MacBook to VGA adapters. The
raspberry pi happily plugs into the new monitor via DVI/HDMI.

Virtual Box is great. If the Apple hardware that I am using is any indication,
your MacBook Pro might last you for quite a while.

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rluhar
I have a 15 inch Macbook Pro mounted on a BookArc stand [1]. I use an Ergotron
LX monitor mount [2] for a cheap 27 inch Iiyama monitor, though I do want to
upgrade to a Thunderbold cinema display.

I use an Apple wireless keyboard, wireless trackpad and a Microsoft mouse. The
desk is a generic 150 cm (width) by 50cm (depth) that I picked up online. I
like to keep my work surface clutter and cable free. The Ergotron desk mount
has been my best investment.

I use a Herman Miller SAYL chair. I think it is overpriced for what it is, but
it is very very comfortable.

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-South-12-1105-BookArc-
MacBook/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-South-12-1105-BookArc-
MacBook/dp/B0053XG1AW) [2] [http://www.amazon.com/Ergotron-Desk-Mount-
Tall-45-295-026/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Ergotron-Desk-Mount-
Tall-45-295-026/dp/B00689HXI4/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1370233883&sr=1-3&keywords=Ergotron+LX)

~~~
psychometry
Why would you spend $50 on a device that simply takes a closed MacBook and
turns it on its side? I don't see any other point for it.

~~~
rluhar
Well, it looks neat on my desk. I am happy to pay $50 for something that may
not be very useful, but looks good..

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st3fan
Here is a photo oh my setup in the Mozilla Toronto office:
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/19132706@N00/8867085758/>

Very basic: I do all my work on the MacBook (I _love_ the Retina display) but
have a browser with devtools open on an external 24" display in portrait mode.

~~~
tzury
Mind sharing the type / model of that "24 display?

In my experience, some screens (Samsung and Philips in particular) are loosing
quality when rotated - This may not be the screen's fault but NVidia or the
open-source video driver I have used.

~~~
jasonabate
Same here, have had really bad experience with Samsung displays when rotated
to portrait mode. Currently, we have a number of Dell Ultrasharp models (23"
and 24" mostly), all of which look good in either orientation. They cost a bit
more, but the quality is definitely worth it.

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swdunlop
I have a recent Macbook Air 11 and two Thunderbolt Displays that I daisy
chain. That lets me keep my telemetry terminals that monitor cluster health,
chat and music off to one side while I work on the other display in a full
screen iTerm2 session.

I keep a bluetooth keyboard and a magic trackpad at the desk. Docking is just
a careful sequence of power.. wait a second.. thunderbolt cable. (That pause
seems to ward off occasional hiccups in OSX recognizing the daisy chain.)
Undocking is the same -- savagely yank out the thunderbolt cable, don't sleep
first; most of my crashes came from introducing thunderbolt devices while OSX
was sleeping.

EDIT:

Regarding Virtualbox -- it works quite well with Linux and one of the
displays, although you probably don't want to use a bulky compositing window
manager at a Thunderbolt Display's resolution. I use i3 with boring old
urxvt's, so the lack of compositing oomph from Virtualbox doesn't bother me.

~~~
DinosaurArms
I have a new MacBook Air 11 as well, with only 1 Thunderbolt Display this is
my perfect setup but there is one drawback, the fan is almost constantly
running (not at full speed - unless YouTube etc is open). How do you find it
runs with two displays?

~~~
swdunlop
I have found that fan will run like crazy even with htop showing low CPU
usage. It is something about Thunderbolt that seems to produce substantial
waste heat, even when it's just a single terminal watching htop.

Driving one or two displays doesn't have a perceptible difference for me; I
wouldn't want to play a Steam game that way, but watching Hulu or Netflix on
one screen while I code on the other doesn't impact Sublime Text's
performance. :)

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jbl
I have a two arm Ergotron stand. One arm holds a 24" display, the other holds
a laptop tray that I put my Macbook(s) on. I don't use a dock, just
plug/unplug cables as I need them.

I use a program called Jettison that unmounts external disks on sleep or
command. It comes in handy when you have drives hooked up via USB/thunderbolt.

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te_chris
I've got a griffin laptop stand [1] and a cheap AOC 22inch monitor which I
boost up with a couple of phone books. Would like a thunderbolt display, but
the lack of vertical adjustment is a bit off-putting. May get one of those
dell 27 inch IPS displays next time they discount them as I really do need a
better 2nd monitor.

I've been working like this for ~3 years now but have recently been getting
neck pain, this was the motivator for buying the stand. Having an ergonomic
viewing angle that doesn't make you tilt your neck too much is a must for
making this work.

[1][http://store.apple.com/nz/product/H2619ZM/A/griffin-
elevator...](http://store.apple.com/nz/product/H2619ZM/A/griffin-elevator-
desk-stand-for-mac)

~~~
diminoten
This is exactly how I've been working for the past 18 months or so, and it's
just fine.

In our new offices however, we have a ton of these little breakout rooms which
hold 2 or 3 people at most and are equipped with large screen televisions.
I've been finding that if I hole up in one of those, connect my laptop to the
monitor, and move my terminal window onto the television, I'm able to fit two
huge pagefuls of vim, and I'm quite happy with it.

At home I've been using my Macbook with my Linux machine, connected through
the mouse/keyboard sharing app Synergy, found here: <http://synergy-foss.org/>

~~~
circa
yes synergy is great. I use it between my windows/Mac setup.

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nairteashop
If you have the $ for a thunderbolt display ($999) it works as a great
"docking" station for your macbook, in addition to being an excellent monitor.

Here's an anandtech review of this setup from a while back:
[http://www.anandtech.com/show/4832/the-apple-thunderbolt-
dis...](http://www.anandtech.com/show/4832/the-apple-thunderbolt-display-
review/2)

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mturmon
In main office, 27'' thunderbolt display + Pegasus thunderbolt RAID-6. The
RAID is very quiet and has been zero trouble. This is a slick setup that I did
not pay for.

In secondary office, old-fashioned BookEndz dock plus 27'' IPS display (~$400
from MicroCenter), same resolution as TB display (2560x1440). This is a pretty
nice setup that I did pay for.

USB keyboard + Bluetooth trackpad in both places.

Mac used in closed clamshell mode in both places.

I used to have a dual-monitor setup, but the pixels of the TB display made the
second monitor less valuable and more of an obstacle to people sitting across
my desk.

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rafeed
I have a 15" MBP on an mStand[1] connected to a 27" thunderbolt display, using
the Apple wireless keyboard, touchpad, and magic mouse with jitouch and
magicprefs. The thunderbolt display is a great docking solution since it's
just the power and thunderbolt cable.

Also, Parallels and VMWare are probably better solutions than virtualbox.

[1] <http://www.raindesigninc.com/mstand.html>

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vinitool76
I have a 24 inch Asus monitor and have 13-inch macbook pro. Along with it, i
use a Wired Apple keyboard and Logitech G400 gaming mouse. I have very happy
with this setup and quite productive with it as well. Also, you can check out
this link for a detailed insight. <http://vinitkumar.me/articles/my-setup/>

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jamesaguilar
I used to use a macbook on the desk. I used the mini-displayport to dvi
adapter (the separately powered one) and its USB hub part. Both were plugged
into the monitor, which was in turn a USB hub that connected to my keyboard
and mouse. When I sat down at my desk, I plugged in three cords, which were
clipped to the side of the desk, and that was that.

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ruswick
Space and money don't allow for a desk or a monitor, and the overwhelming
majority of my work doesn't necessitate coming into an office, so I do most
everything from coffee shops and/or from my couch. In the case of the former,
my setup is largely beholden to the surroundings. In both cases, I use my 13"
MBP without any accessories or peripherals.

~~~
marklubi
Most of my work is done remotely with just my laptop now. When I did have a
desktop setup (Cinema display), I spent more time rearranging windows and
becoming reacquainted with the smaller/larger display when switching. It just
seems easier to open the laptop and have everything exactly where it was when
I left it.

~~~
kondro
Display Maid is an awesome tool for automatically rearranging your
applications' windows when you move from one display setup to another.

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snowwrestler
I have a MacBook Air that sits on my desk, connected to an 27" Apple
Thunderbolt display, which I like for its "hub" functionality. I have a
Bluetooth Apple keyboard and trackpad that are aligned in front of the
Thunderbolt display. I run Windows in Parallels on the laptop screen;
everything else runs on the Thunderbolt display.

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wigsgiw
I've a Dell 3007WFP that I use with my 2011 MBP. It is positioned above the
MBP with an unused fridge vegetable draw (perfect height, and locks it in
place). Use the MBP keyboard, with just my text editor maximised on that
screen, and everything else happening on the Dell.

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conradev
For my 2012 MBA I use a BookArc[1] as my stand, Thunderbolt Display as my
external monitor, and Apple wireless keyboard + trackpad for input.

[1] <http://twelvesouth.com/products/BookArc_for_Air/>

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MarioRicalde
I currently use two LED Displays plugged in to my Macbook Pro 15''. One thing
that you need to bear mind when acquiring the LED Displays is that they tend
to get dust behind the glass. It's not complicated to clean, but it involves
taking off the glass.

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bobidden
I have one of the 27" Korean monitors in the middle (from eBay), a 24"
vertical on each side (one Dell and one HP), and a 23" horizontal above the
27". My laptop sits on the side, although I don't really use it's screen when
I'm plugged in.

~~~
pjbrow
How do you use the 4 screens for workflow? I've been thinking about an eye-
finity setup for web development (1 screen for TMUX, 1 screen for text editor
and the last screen for browsers) - how does 4 work for you?

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jam
macbook air

home theater projector: <http://goo.gl/S9siD>

apple wireless keyboard and trackpad with tray: <http://www.hekseskudd.com/>

nice couch, good speakers

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paulwithap
15" MBP + 27" Thunderbolt display Wireless Apple keyboard/trackpad

I plan on getting a stand for the Macbook soon.

My ideal setup would have 27" Thunderbolt displays and a standing desk.
Sitting for ~11 hours a day really bothers me.

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dillonforrest
I actually don't like using extra monitors, keyboards, or a mouse. I just use
my 13" Macbook Air with basic headphones. I find that I'm most comfortable
when I'm mobile and minimalist.

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LoganCale
Pretty barebones, just a wireless mouse (Logitech Performance MX) and
headphones. I alternate between sitting at a desk, reclining in a chair, lying
on a couch, and standing.

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bdunbar
Pretty vanilla.

* 2-year old MBP, Snow Leopard.

* An IBM Model-M keyboard.

* Three 17-inch monitors I picked up from the desktop support group, using USB video adapters.

* No dock, I have all of the cables twisty-tied together for neatness.

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rhapsodyv
It seems that I'm only one with just a note in the desk. I have mbp retina. I
don't use an external screen because good quality monitor are too expensive
here.

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tjr
27" Apple display (2010, pre-Thunderbolt), Happy Hacking keyboard, cheap Dell
optical mouse that to this day I have no idea where it came from.

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eflowers
11" Macbook Air and 2 27" Thunderbolt Displays.

Staples folding banquet table, 72".

Full size apple keyboard.

Microsoft Intellipoint Optical Mouse, 1.1 (USB/PS2)

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ah-
Try VMware Fusion instead of Virtualbox, for me it runs way better and is
easily worth the premium.

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bwh2
Two external 24" Acer monitors - one via Mini DisplayPort, another via USB.

~~~
supergauntlet
USB? Does that cause a lot of CPU usage?

~~~
bwh2
Not really. There's enough lag that I don't like coding on that display, but
it's not awful. So my USB monitor is mostly used for my web browser.

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gte910h
ACD above it, sideways 1920 next to the acd, use the mbp keyboard

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swiil
2x23 inch AOC's a logitech mouse and a split M$ keyboard.

