What's on My Desk - 2026 Edition

May 30, 2026

I thought I would write about my desk setup and what I use on a daily basis. Links are provided; none are affiliate. I'm just providing them in case they might be useful.

Desk

I bought a Vari electric standing desk in 2023 to replace a Husky 2-drawer Work Table. I bought the Husky Work Table because it was considered to be an affordable alternative to your typical standing desk. While not advertised as a desk, people caught on quickly that it can be used as one due to its adjustable height and drawer configuration. It certainly can function as a desk but I will tell you from experience to save your money for an actual standing desk, for two reasons. First, the depth is too narrow for anything except laptop use. I fashioned one of the drawers to be used as a keyboard tray, but it wasn't very ergonomic. Second, it's just an overall awkward piece of furniture. Most standing desks are heavy when assembled. My Vari desk weighs around 100 pounds. The Husky is similarly heavy, but the difference is that the Vari desk can be easily disassembled. The Husky, on the other hand, cannot. I can have my Vari desk apart in five minutes. You won't get anywhere near that with the Husky. That's why when I moved apartments I chose to sell it. I bought the Vari instead, which is what I should have done in the first place.

Computer

My primary computer is a 2023 M2 Max Mac Studio with 64GB RAM and 1TB SSD. I also have a 2022 MacBook Air (15”) in Midnight with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD.

The Mac Studio has been the best Mac desktop I have owned. It's silent, fast, with plenty of connectivity. The MacBook Air is great too. The battery life is incredible and the standard configuration offers plenty of everyday computing horsepower. If I had to buy the MacBook Air again, I would probably get the Silver color instead because the Midnight color tends to show fingerprints easily.

Monitor

I am using a 27”, LG UK650-W, 4K monitor that I bought in 2018 for $380. The monitor has been great, but some uniformity issues have developed. It's most noticeable on light-colored backgrounds. The top 1/3 of the display is darker than the bottom 2/3. It's subtle, but it's there. So far it hasn't affected any color-critical work, but I will likely replace it in the near future. The one thing I will say about this monitor, though, is that it has always had a consistent 100% sRGB coverage when calibrated (using the Spyder X Pro). Despite the minor uniformity issue, it's been hard to complain about price-to-performance ratio.

Chair

My office chair is the Steelcase Amia. I spent a lot of time trying to find a good office chair without spending a fortune. While there are adequate budget options out there (Ikea, for example), you do get what you pay for. I was able to get mine at a reduced price from a local office supply store, so that's an option worth pursuing if you're looking to get a break from the regular MSRP. I've spent countless hours in this chair and it remains comfortable and in like-new condition. My only complaint is that it can be 'squeaky'. This can be fixed by greasing the pivot points under the chair, but eventually you will need to grease them again. I'm not as annoyed by it as some people are, but it does seem to be a common issue.

Desk Lamp

For years, I used two Bostitch Office Swing Arm Desk Lamps. While they are cheap and work well, they were a little conspicuous on my desk. By chance, I found the Honeywell Pro Sunturalux Folding Desk Lamps. They are small, cast an impressive amount of light, and have a nice feature set for a reasonable price. At first I was mostly indifferent to the integrated USB-C and USB-A ports, but I use them all the time. They work great for charging some of my peripherals like headphones and Apple Watch. They have a utilitarian design that may not appeal to everyone, but after having them on your desk for awhile, you forget they are there. They can be found on Amazon for around $40.

Mouse

I currently use a Logitech G502 X wired mouse. It's comfortable with a nice set of customizable buttons. The key feature is being able to adjust the polling rate. I feel polling rates get overlooked. The higher the polling rate, the smoother the cursor movement. It's like screen refresh rates, but for a mouse. The G502 X has a max polling rate of 1000 Hz, which I think is a good happy medium for everyday computer use.

To fully customize the mouse you will need to install Logitech's G Hub software. The software works okay. It seems bloated for what it is, but once you have your settings dialed in, you can mostly ignore it. Despite the clunky software, I do recommend the G502 X.

Storage

Two years ago I wrote about my storage backup strategy and how I planned on incorporating cloud storage. That has not happened yet, sadly, and I continue to use local storage for my backups. It's not ideal, but it is what it is. I still use my Synology DS216 for redundancy and two SSDs at my desk for immediate access. I switched from SanDisk to Samsung's T7 Shield Rugged after the SanDisk external SSD firmware failures from a few years ago. Each is paired with an Apple Thunderbolt 5 Pro Cable (1 meter). Yes, the Apple Thunderbolt cables are overkill, but they were surprisingly on sale at Best Buy for a brief period of time and figured it would be a way to future-proof peripherals for at least a little while.

Audio

My current daily drivers are the Bose QuietComfort (QC) over-the-ear headphones. I recently switched to them after years of using the Sony WH-1000XM4 (XM4). These headphones were dependable and worked well with my eye glasses but the one negative is the shallow ear cups. My ears rest against the driver pads. Newer versions share the same shallow ear cups, so I decided that I got my money's worth out of them and switched to QCs. The ear cups are noticeably deeper, so there's less fatigue during longer listening sessions. Despite the shallow ear cups, the XM4 might still have a small advantage in overall comfort but that is likely due to them being well worn. I suspect the Bose will be equally comfortable with time. Like the XM4, the QCs work well with my glasses.

Now that I own both, it's been interesting comparing how they sound. If I had to describe them in as few words as possible, the XM4 is warm with a bass forward response that contributes to a more closed sound stage. The Bose seemingly have better separation between frequencies leading to a more open sound stage with a precise bass response. My go-to reference track for this is 'Show Me' from Galimatias and Alina Baraz's album ‘Urban Flora'. This is a vocal forward track with bass and sub-bass emphasis and the QC is simply more fun to listen to. Alina Baraz's vocals sound more present and defined while the bass rumbles away clean and precise. The XM4 is no slouch, but the QC has the advantage here.

What about active noise cancellation (ANC)? I think the XM4 and QC exhibit similar performance, but I might give a slight edge to the QC. It seems to filter higher frequencies better than the XM4 and maybe even in the lower frequencies too. The differences to my ears, though, are negligible enough to not make a substantial difference if choosing based on ANC alone. They are both excellent.

When I'm not using the QCs, I'm using the Apple AirPods Pro 3 for casual listening and phone calls.

Conclusion

So that concludes the tour of what's on my desk for 2026. The only update I can foresee happening this year is a new monitor. I feel I can justify a new one, so it's just a matter of doing some homework to find a replacement. I am slowly narrowing down my options, but will post more about that in the near future.