Ask HN: What's Your MacBook* Desk Setup

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5811074

by tzury • 13 years ago

31 46 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Assuming your laptop is Macbook(pro|air), I wonder what's your setup when you are at your desk.

Using any docking solutions?

Which monitors are you using?

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.

jbl• 13 years ago

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.

st3fan2• 13 years ago

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• 13 years ago

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• 13 years ago

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.

omarali• 13 years ago

You can tell from the picture that it's a Dell. Probably a U2410.

st3fan2• 13 years ago

Yeah it is a Dell U2410. Not sure what they did but it looks just fine rotated.

I also have an older one from 2008 which looks very horrible in portrait mode.

nairteashop• 13 years ago

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...

MarioRicalde• 13 years ago

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.

te_chris• 13 years ago

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...

diminoten• 13 years ago

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• 13 years ago

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

gte910h• 13 years ago

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

bwh22• 13 years ago

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

supergauntlet• 13 years ago

USB? Does that cause a lot of CPU usage?

toomuchtodo• 13 years ago

It's going to cause more lag than anything. Chat, browser, terminal should work fine. SD/HD video? Not going to work well at all.

bwh22• 13 years ago

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.

bobidden• 13 years ago

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• 13 years ago

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?

snowwrestler• 13 years ago

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.

swdunlop2• 13 years ago

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• 13 years ago

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?

swdunlop2• 13 years ago

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. :)

ruswick• 13 years ago

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• 13 years ago

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• 13 years ago

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

tjr• 13 years ago

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.

ah-• 13 years ago

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

LoganCale• 13 years ago

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.

dillonforrest• 13 years ago

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.

rluhar2• 13 years ago

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... [2] http://www.amazon.com/Ergotron-Desk-Mount-Tall-45-295-026/dp...

psychometry• 13 years ago

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.

rluhar2• 13 years ago

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

conradev• 13 years ago

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/

mturmon• 13 years ago

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.

eflowers• 13 years ago

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)

paulwithap• 13 years ago

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.

swiil• 13 years ago

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

declan• 13 years ago

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!

rhapsodyv• 13 years ago

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.

vinitool76• 13 years ago

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/

jamesaguilar• 13 years ago

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.

wigsgiw• 13 years ago

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.

mmphosis• 13 years ago

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.

rafeed• 13 years ago

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

jam• 13 years ago

macbook air

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

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

nice couch, good speakers

bdunbar• 13 years ago

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.

Ask HN: What's Your MacBook* Desk Setup

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