Ideas For Small Home Office SetUps

Tom's Guide

Tom's Guide Paul Antill looks at Small Space Desk Setup ideas. To make the most of a smaller converted NYC bedroom to an office space, he needed an all-in-one desk that he could use for video editing, recording audio, making YouTube videos, and gaming. While anything but minimal, everything on this desk has been thoughtfully chosen to maximize productivity and space. Hopefully, this video helps inspire you to create or upgrade your desk setup.

Transcript

00:00This serves a lot of purposes for me, including video editing, gaming, audio recording, and of

00:05course, making videos like these. There's a lot of cool tech here that makes this all-in-one desk

00:10setup come to life. So whether you're looking for some inspiration or you're interested in

00:14upgrading your own setup, you can find the best deals for everything that I'm sharing from here

00:18today. Link below.

00:30Living in New York now, that means I have a relatively small space to work with. With

00:34that, I needed to make my desk as multifunctional as possible without it feeling cramped. Starting

00:39things off, I'm using the Hohenam Electric Standing Desk. This measure is 55 by 30 inches

00:44and is one of the largest motorized options you can buy for under $180. My priority here

00:50was finding a desk large enough that can fit everything nicely. You may notice that the

00:53top isn't a single piece of wood. That said, with a large Razor Strider Chrome and Mouse

00:58Pad, it's not that obvious.

01:00Moving on to the star of the show, I'm using the Samsung 49-inch Odyssey G9. If you've

01:05never used a monitor like this before, it's a multi-tasking beast. Its resolution is super

01:09sharp at 5120 by 1440, and with 240Hz in support for G-Sync and FreeSync, this is also super

01:16awesome for gaming. And because this is effectively two 27-inch monitors side-by-side, I can have

01:22two full windows open at the same time, research on one side and my script on the other, or as

01:27I usually like to have it, a massive video editing timeline spanning across the entire

01:31screen. And if I had to pick the single most important part of my entire setup, it would

01:35definitely have to be this monitor. And when you can find it on sale, open box for under

01:39$500, this thing is an absolute steal. Powering everything, I'm usually using the M1 Max MacBook

01:45Pro 14-inch. Even though it's a few years old, it's still incredibly fast for most of

01:50my video editing. For my dock, I'm using the pluggable TVT4-UDX1, which can either drive

01:56two 4K 60Hz monitors or a single 8K 30Hz monitor. I've gone with this one because it has the

02:01perfect amount of USB Type-A and Type-C ports for my needs, as well as an SD card reader

02:06on the front. And the biggest advantage here for me is that I can just come home from work,

02:10plug in with one cable, and quickly get connected to the monitor, internet, and all my devices.

02:15To keep things a little bit more tidy, I found one of the cheapest, but still really good

02:19looking vertical laptop stands, and only cost $10. Moving on to the other side when I'm

02:24done with work, or I'm waiting on a really long video edit to finish exporting, I can

02:29quickly switch over to my second, somewhat hidden setup, using the ASUS ROG Ally. This

02:34little guy is a gaming handheld that runs Windows 11. Its performance won't blow you away, but

02:39for its size and price, it's pretty amazing. Considering the only PC game that I really play

02:44nowadays is Overwatch 2, it's more than capable of hitting 100-120fps at 1080p with a low to

02:50medium setting. And then connected to this, hidden behind there, I have a second smaller

02:55pluggable dock, which is pretty much a must considering that the Ally only has the one

02:59USB-C connection. And so with that, I can quickly connect to my monitor, LAN, audio interfaces,

03:04and all my peripherals. And then speaking of peripherals, I've gone with Razer for my mouse

03:09and keyboard. I recently put out a gaming setup video that takes a deeper dive into my picks,

03:13but basically I'm a huge fan of clean wireless gaming setups. So I went with this white Razer

03:19Deathstalker V2 Pro, which is one of the best low profile wireless mechanical keyboards you can buy

03:24today. But as I also said in that last video, I strongly believe to make the most of a Razer setup,

03:29you need to pair it with two or more peripherals to really take advantage of its light sync features,

03:34which is why I've gone with the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro, which in my experience is one of the most

03:38ergonomic mice I've ever tested. It's heavier than most of the competition, but in terms of one

03:43mouse that I can use both for gaming and productivity, for me, this thing can't be B.

03:47Now, if you're really big into putting RGB into everything, you'll probably love the Razer

03:51Strider Chroma mousepad. This is easily the most ridiculous and overpriced part of my entire desk

03:56setup, but arguably it's the one piece that also ties everything together. And as cool as it is to get

04:01the keyboard, mouse, and mousepad all synced together, you can take things even further with these

04:06ye-like cubes. As you can guess, just like the Razer Picks, they're also super overpriced,

04:10but they're also my favorite part of this lighting setup. And then usually hidden off to the right

04:15here, I have the Belkin Boost Charge 2-in-1 charger, which I use to charge my iPhone 15 Pro,

04:20my AirPods Pro 2, and my Apple Watch. I've tried a few other charging stands in the past,

04:26but this is the one that I've tested that has the best mag save for holding up my phone,

04:29even when rotated horizontally to enter standby mode. I also happen to think it's one of the nicest

04:34looking, especially when not in use, because you can just fold it down and it doesn't stick out

04:38like a sore thumb. And then off to this side is also quickly worth mentioning this EVE Smart

04:43thermostat. And even though this has a cool app that lets you get notifications on your phone,

04:47I like this because of how simple it is and how long-lasting the battery is on a single charge.

04:52And to add a little bit of fun to the desk, I've got the Timebox Evo. Even though you can use this

04:57to display the time, date, weather, this thing really stands out for the community and custom

05:03pixel art that you can also show on it. This is usually just cycling through a bunch of custom

05:07art and I love having this thing off to the side. Aside from my monitor, it's probably my audio setup

05:15that's the second most important thing to me. It's a downsides from the larger RODECaster Pro 2 that I

05:19used to use until about a year ago, but it basically has the same core functionality and a much smaller

05:24footprint, which is perfect. But tied in with that, the RODE Studio arms deserve a big shout out as

05:29they're everywhere on this desk. Aside from being attached to this pod mic, I'm also using it in a

05:34MacGyvered fashion as one of my other key lights, which is also my hair light right now. And

05:39occasionally I'll also use a third one to hold cameras like my a7S III. For audio playback, I'm

05:45usually using the Edifier 360 dB speakers. They're pretty overkill for just monitoring audio, but it's

05:51also one of the best 2.1 channel Bluetooth speaker systems that you can get for under $500 and an absolute

05:57steel when it goes on sale for under $400. When I'm trying to be a little bit more quiet, I usually

06:02switch over to the RODE NTH 100s. I really like these because of how comfortable they are. They've

06:07also got this Alcantara gel here that's plush and it manages to stay super cool even with longer gaming

06:14or editing sessions. And beyond having a really great high quality neutral sounding profile, these

06:19things are also built like a tank and they're also relatively affordable at just $100.

06:23You've seen a lot of it in the B-roll so far, but lighting has become an especially important

06:29part of this setup. A big part of what sets the mood here is this GE Smart Light Strip,

06:34which is wrapped around the tabletop of my desk. While technically not part of my desk,

06:39right above it, I have an Ikea lamp with a GE Sync Smart Bulb that can also do the same lighting

06:44effects as my desk and sync them together for a really cool effect. And I've gone with the Echo Show 5

06:49because it's basically dirt cheap and even though it's small, it has a pretty nice display that

06:53shows me all the information I need and allows me to make smart home controls easily. And then

06:58lastly, as I mentioned, MacGyver to one of these, I have the Mollus G200 by Zhiyun. This tiny light

07:04packs a huge punch at 200 watts. Not only does it take up less footprint, being able to attach directly

07:10to my desk, it's also a huge time saver because of how easily I can dial in my lighting.

07:14So there you have it. That's my entire desk setup for 2024. I went through a lot here, but I'll have

07:23everything linked below if you want to learn more. And of course, let me know what you think about these

07:27picks in the comments down below. And if you have any other suggestions that you think I should try

07:30out for another future video, be sure to share them there as well. For more awesome tech, you can

07:34follow us everywhere at Tom's Guide. You can also follow me for a more behind the scenes look into how I

07:39make videos like this and other cool tech that I'm reviewing. Until the next one, I'll catch you later.

07:44Bye.

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