Ideas For Small Home Office SetUps
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.
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TechTranscript
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 linked below. Living in New York now that means I have a relatively small space to work
00:34with. With that, I needed to make my desk as multifunctional as possible without it feeling
00:38cramped. Starting things off, I'm using the Hohenam electric standing desk. This measures 55 by 30
00:44inches and is one of the largest motorized options you can buy for under $180. My priority
00:49here was finding a desk large enough that could fit everything nicely. You may notice that the
00:53top isn't a single piece of wood. That said, with the large razor strider chroma mouse pad,
00:58it's not that obvious. Moving on to the star of the show, I'm using the Samsung 49-inch Odyssey G9.
01:04If you've never used a monitor like this before, it's a multitasking beast. Its resolution is super
01:09sharp at 5120 by 1440, and with 240 hertz in support for G-Sync and FreeSync, this is also
01:16super awesome for gaming. And because this is effectively two 27-inch monitors side by side,
01:21I can have two full windows open at the same time, research on one side and my script on the other,
01:26or as I usually like to have it, a massive video editing timeline spanning across the entire screen.
01:32And if I had to pick the single most important part of my entire setup, it would definitely have
01:36to be this monitor. And when you can find it on sale open box for under $500, this thing is an
01:41absolute steal. Powering everything, I'm usually using the M1 Max MacBook Pro 14-inch. Even though
01:47it's a few years old, it's still incredibly fast for most of my video editing. For my dock, I'm
01:51using the pluggable TBT4-UDX1, which can either drive two 4K 60 hertz monitors or a single 8K
01:5930 hertz monitor. I've gone with this one because it has the perfect amount of USB type A and type
02:04C ports for my needs, as well as an SD card reader on the front. And the biggest advantage here for
02:08me is that I can just come home from work, plug in with one cable and quickly get connected to the
02:12monitor, internet, and all my devices. To keep things a little bit more tidy, I found one of
02:17the cheapest but still really good looking vertical laptop stands and only cost $10.
02:23Moving on to the other side, when I'm done with work or I'm waiting on a really long video edit
02:28to finish exporting, I can quickly switch over to my second somewhat hidden setup using the
02:32ASUS ROG Ally. This little guy is a gaming handheld that runs Windows 11. Its performance
02:38won't blow you away, but for its size and price, it's pretty amazing. Considering the only PC game
02:44that I really play nowadays is Overwatch 2, it's more than capable of hitting 100 to 120 frames per
02:49second at 1080p with a low to medium setting. And then connected to this, hidden behind there, I have
02:53a second smaller pluggable dock, which is pretty much a must considering that the Ally only has the
02:59one USB-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,
03:14but 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
03:29setup, you need to pair it with two or more peripherals to really take advantage of its
03:32light sync features, which is why I've gone with the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro, which in my experience
03:37is one of the most ergonomic mice I've ever tested. It's heavier than most of the competition,
03:42but in terms of one mouse that I can use both for gaming and productivity, for me, this thing can't
03:46be beat. Now, if you're really big into putting RGB into everything, you'll probably love the Razer
03:51Strider Chroma mouse pad. 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
04:01get the keyboard, mouse, and mouse pad all synced together, you can take things even further with
04:05these Yi-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 heading 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,
04:25but this is the one that I've tested that has the best magsafe for holding up my phone,
04:29even when rotated horizontally to enter standby mode. I also happen to think it's one of the
04:33nicest looking, especially when not in use, because you can just fold it down and it doesn't
04:37stick out like a sore thumb. And then off to this side is also quickly worth mentioning this
04:42EveSmart thermostat. And even though this has a cool app that lets you get notifications on your
04:47phone, I 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.
04:56Even though you can use this to display the time, date, weather, this thing really stands out for
05:01the community and custom pixel art that you can also show on it. This is usually just cycling
05:06through a bunch of custom art, and I love having this thing off to the side. Aside from my monitor,
05:13it's probably my audio setup that's the second most important thing to me. It's a downside from
05:18the larger Rodecaster Pro 2 that I used to use until about a year ago, but it basically has the
05:22same core functionality and a much smaller footprint, which is perfect. But tied in with
05:26that, the Rode Studio Arms deserve a big shout out as they're everywhere on this desk. Aside
05:31from being attached to this pod mic, I'm also using it in a MacGyver fashion as one of my other
05:36key lights, which is also my hair light right now. And occasionally I'll also use a third one to hold
05:41cameras like my a7S III. For audio playback, I'm usually using the Edifier 360db speakers. They're
05:48pretty overkill for just monitoring audio, but it's also one of the best 2.1 channel Bluetooth
05:53speaker systems that you can get for under $500 and an absolute steal when it goes on sale for
05:58under $400. When I'm trying to be a little bit more quiet, I usually switch over to the Rode
06:03NTH-100s. I really like these because of how comfortable they are. They've also got this
06:08Alcantara gel here that's plush and it manages to stay super cool even with longer gaming or
06:14editing sessions. And beyond having a really great high quality neutral sounding profile,
06:19these things are also built like a tank and they're also relatively affordable at just $100.
06:25You've seen a lot of it in the b-roll so far, but lighting has become an especially important part
06:29of this setup. A big part of what sets the mood here is this GE Smart light strip, which is wrapped
06:34around the tabletop of my desk. While technically not part of my desk, right above it, I have an
06:40IKEA lamp with a GE Sync smart bulb that can also do the same lighting effects as my desk and sync
06:46them together for a really cool effect. And I've gone with the Echo Show 5 because it's basically
06:50dirt cheap and even though it's small, it has a pretty nice display that shows me all the
06:54information I need and allows me to make smart home controls easily. And then lastly, as I
06:59mentioned, MacGyver to one of these, I have the MOLUS G200 by Zhiyun. This tiny light packs a huge
07:04punch at 200 watts. Not only does it take up less footprint, being able to attach directly to my
07:10desk, it's also a huge time saver because of how easily I can dial in my lighting.
07:17So there you have it, that's my entire desk setup for 2024. I went through a lot here,
07:22but I'll have everything linked below if you want to learn more. And of course, let me know what you
07:26think about these picks in the comments down below. And if you have any other suggestions that
07:29you think I should try out for another future video, be sure to share them there as well.
07:33For more awesome tech, you can follow us everywhere at Tom's Guide. You can also
07:36follow me for a more behind the scenes look into how I make videos like this
07:40and other cool tech that I'm reviewing. Until the next one, I'll catch you later.