A laptop for work and a home desktop used for gaming on one standard-sized desk? That’s quite a challenge that required careful planning of the available space and selection of specific accessories. How did I deal with it? Here’s my solution.
Lack of space for a comfortable workstation is one of the biggest problems for people working remotely. Especially when, like me, they live in a block of flats. In such a situation, as a rule it is impossible to allocate an entire room for a home desk. All that’s left is to put a desk in one of the other rooms and organize the space so that there’s enough room for everything. That’s what I do. My home workspace is limited to a desk in the children’s room, where I have to fit everything I need for work.
What’s worse is that the same desk is also used by other household members outside of work hours. It houses my home desktop computer, which I also use, although mainly for entertainment. So how do I make my work station and my home desktop computer the same? I used a few pieces of equipment that I can’t imagine working without these days. Here’s what I had on my desk to balance my MacBook and PC.
Laptop and desktop on one desk: the key is the right monitor
Let’s start with what’s most important. To make work on both of these devices possible, an appropriate monitor was needed. It should be a design that offers the right set of ports to connect everything together in a sensible way. In my case, it’s not a particularly sophisticated or particularly expensive monitor. It’s the Acer CB273U, whose most important advantage is the presence of a hub that makes it easy to connect a laptop.
In my configuration The MacBook is connected to the monitor via a USB-C cable with Power Delivery. This means that the image transfer and computer charging are done using the same cable. This also eliminates at least one additional cable.
I connected the computer to the same monitor using DisplayPort 1.2. The monitor automatically detects the signal, so it always switches to the input I need to use at a given moment.
Buying a monitor with a built-in hub is also a good decision when you don’t need to connect a desktop computer. Thanks to it, you can also connect devices using the USB interface or a wired network to your laptop (the monitor has a built-in RJ45 socket).
Three accessories to make working on two computers easier
The right monitor isn’t everything. In order for the whole thing to work smoothly and for switching between the MacBook and the desktop computer to not cause unnecessary difficulties, I had to choose the right accessories. I mean here primarily keyboard and mouse allowing pairing with more than one device and seamless switching between them.
For this purpose, I chose a set from the Logitech brand. On my desk, there was room for a Logitech MX Master 3S mouse and a Logitech MX Keys Mini keyboard. The mouse and keyboard connect to the MacBook via Bluetooth, and to the desktop computer via the Logi Bolt receiver included with one of these accessories.
Thanks to this solution, switching between a desktop computer and a laptop is as easy as pressing one key on the keyboard and one button on the mouse. Quickly and easily.
The whole thing is complemented by the Creative Stage Air V2 soundbar, connected to the MacBook via hub in the monitor, and to the desktop computer via a standard mini-jack cable.
How to fit it all in?
The final step was to properly arrange the space on the desk so that there was as much room as possible for what I needed at a given moment. Although, as you can easily guess in this case, as many as possible that’s not much at all. The desktop computer was placed in the right rear corner of the desk. The monitor was in the center, and the soundbar fit on its leg. On the left side of the monitor was the MacBook, which I could quickly unfold if I needed to use the camera or a second screen.
Naturally, the keyboard and mouse are on their own. permanent places on the pad. What else can fit on such a planned desk? Only a charger for mobile devices, but a multifunctional one. This is the x-kom Alu MagCharger 3 in 1 charger, thanks to which I can Charge your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods at the same time.
Unfortunately, there was no room for a lamp and a printer. Fortunately, in the first case, the backlit keyboard saves the day. LEDs, which are equipped with a desktop computer, are also useful. What about the printer? There is a place for it under the desk.
Little space, lots of possibilities
As you can see, even a standard desk can be used to create a quite practical corner for work and play. Thanks to the fact that I spent some time on the right selection of accessories, I can work and play in the same place. I can also make them available to my family for everyday computer activities.
MacBook and PC on one desk? As you can see, it’s possible.
