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Ask HN: What's Your MacBook* Desk Setup

31 points by tzury ↗ HN
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.

46 comments

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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.

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.
omarali
You can tell from the picture that it's a Dell. Probably a U2410.
st3fan
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.

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.
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...

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.
gte910h
ACD above it, sideways 1920 next to the acd, use the mbp keyboard
bwh2
Two external 24" Acer monitors - one via Mini DisplayPort, another via USB.
supergauntlet
USB? Does that cause a lot of CPU usage?
toomuchtodo
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.
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.
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?
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.
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. :)

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.
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.
ah-
Try VMware Fusion instead of Virtualbox, for me it runs way better and is easily worth the premium.
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.
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.
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... [2] http://www.amazon.com/Ergotron-Desk-Mount-Tall-45-295-026/dp...

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..
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.

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)

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.

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

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.
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/
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.