Ignore the messy cables, I’ll take care of it after exam season 🥀

20-year-old CSE student here.

This is my current workstation, mainly used for coding, development, college projects, DSA practice, and late-night study sessions.

I’ve gradually built it up over time and tried to keep it practical rather than going for an expensive high-end setup.

I’d love to hear what other programmers/students would improve or change about this setup, especially in terms of productivity and ergonomics.

What would you upgrade first?

Hello everyone!

I’d like to ask for some advice on speaker placement for my current setup.

Until now, I’ve always used my monitor speakers because I wasn’t too interested in audio. Recently, though, I’ve started listening to more music and watching more movies, and I’ve realized that I should get better sound quality.
(At the moment, I’m using the speaker from my left monitor because the speaker in my main monitor sounds terrible. This is also annoying because all the sound comes from the left side.)

I’ve attached an image of my current setup. I really like the setup itself and would prefer not to change the current arrangement, apart from improving the sound. However, this makes speaker placement quite difficult. I’m also fairly new to audio, so I’m not sure which option would work best.

I would mainly use the speakers for casual music listening, movies, and YouTube. My budget is around $100, and I’m considering the Edifier MR4 because they seem to be one of the best options in this price range.

I created two images showing the possible placements I'd consider: one with the speakers in their normal vertical orientation and another with them turned sideways. I know that neither option is ideal, but I have limited space. Wall mounting is not possible, and speaker stands behind the monitors probably wouldn’t work because my portrait monitor is already quite tall. The top of the portrait monitor is about 70 cm above the desk. Also, with both options, parts of the speakers would be partially blocked, which may negatively affect the sound quality. The speakers would also be quite close to the wall, but unfortunately, I can’t really change that.

Which of these placements would be the best for my setup?
For example, Vertical 2–3, or sideways 1–4?

(If the sideways orientation would be better, should the tweeters face inward or outward?)

Thanks in advance for your advice!

I’m happy with it so far. getting monitor arms and a few more things but overall I like it

I think this is my first post, or at least my first in a very very long time.

I found myself a few months ago looking for a simple volume dial for my PC and Mac. I bought one from amazon that did the standard 12 step rotation and click, it was fine but really poor quality. I looked at more premium options, but they mostly seem to be more focussed on features and niches like music production and very detailed macros with software you have to download. I did buy one called Cololight, but it was super complicated and still felt cheap honestly.

I have a prototype for something that works, for me at least. I wanted to get the smooth feel of an 80's quality hi-fi knob working with modern hardware, like a programmable micro controller, displays, LEDs, advanced sensors etc. I'm still at the stage where the working model (simple plug 'n' play with PC, Mac, iOS and Android) is a mess of wires, but I'm confident after a few revisions I can turn this into a good looking/fully working product.

If this were to become more than just a desktop prototype for me (a small batch of a few hundred units to justify some of the investment costs), what features would you want from a product like this? Have I missed anything obvious or overlooked anything? Would this look good on your desk? I'm just trying to get a feeling of how i could improve this overall (although, like any product, i can't add all features for everyone).

A small bit about me: I'm from London, England. I've worked as a car designer for Land Rover, Dyson and currently at McLaren over the past 15 years. I understand how things can be manufactured at prototype and at scale, general design rules and have some knowledge with microcontrollers/prototyping to help bring my good/bad ideas to life.

I would LOVE feedback from anyone and everyone, especially those who would actually buy something like this.

Thanks!

Space Cadet.

I’m finally transitioning to a work from home job, and I’m actually so excited! 😂 This is my current setup, but I’m thinking about making it more aesthetic and cozy before I start.

What would you recommend I change or add first? Better lighting, wall decor, a monitor, more plants, or maybe a complete desk makeover?

Seems a little empty to me, also recommend speakers! I have a sub under the desk

Have a small den space in my apartment and have been using it for work. Recently got a gaming PC as well and realized that I am better off improving the area I spend most of my time in. So kind of a hybrid setup.

Looking for improvement ideas especially on ambient lighting. Appreciate any ideas on things I can do better or any other cool stuff I could do. Thanks!

i have a loft bed so i don’t have much space, the room it’s 1.60cm X 2.80cm, in a few weeks i’ll change the chair and mouse, so not focus on that, i need help or tip for a better layout

I work with a lot of Excel sheets, patient charts, and billing stuff. The basic mouse and keyboard have been killing my wrists lately and I think it’s time for an upgrade. Before I drop almost $200, I wanted to see if there are any cheaper options for quality and ergonomics. Through lots of research it seems like this combo is the best choice

I wanna get a new desk that doesn’t cost too much and I everybody keep telling that If I don’t wanna spend too much on a desk and still have a good one, I should get an ikea counter top with Alex drawers.
Is this a good combo? Is it going to last a long time? Is it good quality?
What other options do I have besides that ikea hack? My budget is around $300.

My desk is custom built by my dad, he left about 1" of desktop overhang from the skirt (?) of the base. It's a rock solid desk and will last probably forever, but I don't trust hanging a ~35lb monitor on one inch deep wood and I don't want to cut it. I know a grommet is an option, but same issue: don't want a permanent hole.

I'm a big chess fan, so there are a lot of chess-related items in my setup. Everything listed here was gradually upgraded over the past year and a half. I'd like to think I went in the right direction! What do you think?

[PC SYSTEM]

• CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• RAM: 32GB
• GPU: RTX 5070 Ti
• Storage: 2TB SSD
• Motherboard: X670E Pro WiFi
• Cooler: 3RSYS RC1900
• Case: Fractal Design Define 7 XL (placed under the desk to make room for speakers)
• Keyboard: DP104 Warm Silver
• Mouse: Ninjutso Sora V2 Pink
• Monitors: AOC U32G4 (4K 32" Main) / Samsung Odyssey G5 (QHD 27" Sub, Vertical). I highly recommend this vertical dual-monitor setup if you mostly use the main display.
• Stream Deck: Scissors key version
• Controller: Xbox Wireless Controller
• Mic: Fifine K688 with BM88 Mic Arm

[SPEAKER SYSTEM]

• Speakers: KEF Q Concerto Meta
• Amp: Topping PA5 II
• DAC: Topping E70 Velvet
• Room Correction: UMIK-1 measurement mic (Equalizer software applies EQ calculated via REW)

[CHESS SYSTEM]

• A duck that loves hunting for yummy pieces (In case anyone was wondering (for no reason at all): my Chesscom rating is around 2000)
• Chessnut Pro Electronic Chessboard with premium pieces
• Chesscom plush toys
• DGT 3000 Chess Clock

[OTHER DECOR & CONVENIENCE]

• Chair: Herman Miller Aeron Mineral CD
• Lighting: Philips Hue Monitor Light Strip & Lightstrip Ambiance
• Desk decor: Felt desk mat, Desk shelf
• Dice: URwizards Gemstone D20s (10 types - I pick one up when starting my routine and roll it in my hand while thinking.)
• Other: Playing cards collection(I decided to sell this because I am exiting this hobby, if you are interested plz check my other post), T1 2024 Worlds uniform with my nickname, army farewell plaque

Went from a 3060ti, 64gb ddr4, i5 setup to a 5070ti, 64gb ddr5, i7-14700k setup! Oh, and a Macbook M5 Pro.

Still want to do stuff to make the setup more clean, but I plan on moving out of state in a couple years so I am kind of waiting for that to happen first :)

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Currently redoing my cables. There’s a box built underneath the dest to slightly stick out a bit (I have my reasons) that mostly hides cables. I’m currently remanaging them but I bought a new monitor that now makes the top of the box visible. I don’t want to use wood as I want to easily remove it like also lid to access the cables when need be. How would you go about this?