Hi everyone. Sorry for the longish post - I wanted to get the detail across. This thread was partly inspired by
@M1ck 's thread about KVM switches, but it's something I've been thinking about for a while.
I'm lucky enough to have a dedicated office room at home (the smallest bedroom, so not a huge space). Over time, and partly driven by home working, I've ended up with a bit of a rats nest of equipment and cabling. Here's a diagram:
That's a lot of stuff, and it makes my small space feel quite cluttered. I'm willing to compromise on workflow (a bit) in exchange for less clutter - so not having a dedicated Mac monitor, keyboard and mouse for example, and losing the vertical monitor in exchange for one big one.
One obvious idea is a KVM for the mouse and keyboard, and I'm interested in replacing the two monitors with a single 34" 4K one. I've done the maths, and I'd lose a small amount over overall screen real-estate, but it would look loads neater. There's room for a 34" curved screen where the two monitors are now.
I don't know much about the current state of the monitor market, and even less about KVM, so I'm open to comments, thoughts etc. One last point to note is that I don't think my poor old ten-year-old Mac Mini will drive a 34" 4K screen, so I would need to the desktop and the screen at the same time.
All input welcome.
Comments
It’s a Logitech MK850 keyboard/mouse set.
Chris Thanks @ChrisRG - that’s helpful. The mouse I use with Mac (a Logitech something or other) can already do that, so that might be one option to cut down on clutter, especially if I got a keyboard that can switch as well.
*it's a gaming mouse but it's very comfortable and doesn't look like a prop from a sci-fi movie
Also, are you using monitor arms, or the stands they came with? I've found that using monitor arms massively increases the amount of usable desk real estate.
Then you could use a remote desktop app to handle switching between the laptop and the Mini.
Just a note about replacing the old Mac Mini with an M3… there’s been a lot of people complaining about DAW performance on this new chipset. Word on the street is the M1 is still fantastic especially if you go for 16gb RAM and a bit of a bargain used.
For me having the multiple mice & keyboards would do my head in, so that would be something I would personally aim at.
But beyond that I've found I gain a lot of sanity just by straightening things up and minimising the other shite that accumulates. Tidy cables (Velcro ties, power strips mounted to the underside of her desk etc) tidy up pens & papers and remove anything that doesn't strictly need to be there makes a big difference.
I've been using shelf risers on various desks for years. I built one with an IKEA Lack shelf and some feet from a sofa I think - like this https://ikeahackers.net/2015/12/10cm-lift-desk-shelf-monitor-stand.html ;
At work I have one of these https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/vattenkar-laptop-monitor-stand-birch-80541565/
And at home I treated myself to a desk shelf and laptop stand from Grovemade, which were admittedly really expensive but superb stuff for to improve the environment where I spend hundreds of hours a year.
Otherwise a big +1 to screens on clamped boom arms. It also makes it easy to move them as you need to. I'm not sure I would want to swap 2 screens for a single one, as I prefer to have different windows segregated rather than side by side on one screen, but YMMV
I use the MX master keyboard and mouse, which you can switch between devices. Dongle in the windows machine Bluetooth with the Mac.
I have have two video outputs from each device going to each of the monitors, and switch the monitor inputs to what ever requirements I have. I then have the audio interface and the audio out from the PC going to a small 2 channel mixer.
Now an issue you may have is you can't install the software on your work laptop. The only way round that would be a KVM switch.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/111931
I just got a pair of these, though they're 32-inch rather than 34-inch. I am very pleased with them, even though they've dropped another £50 since (grrr, argh etc).
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/32-msi-mag323upf-monitor-ips-3840x2160-160hz-1ms-freesync-pp-hdr600-100m1-600cd-m-hdmi-dp-usb