How I removed friction when switching between computers – Part 2

Before we get to the post, I just want to say one thing. Yes, even I was offered the Interim CEO role at OpenAI. I declined it. Now let’s go on with my post.

Earlier this year, I decided to remove most friction points in my current setup when switching between both my computers, personal and work. The two issues left from my previous setup were –

1. simpler monitor switching
2. better cable management for simpler switching between the two cables, power and display

I wanted to solve these in a sleek and minimal way too. This seemed like a bigger challenge.

Considerations

At first, I considered having a better cable management strategy and researched a lot for it. I almost finalized on a solution that basically required me to fix a casing to the table that’d hold the cables underneath it.

Then, one day, at work, I noticed a Dell monitor that had support for both power and display. Immediately, I realized that this essentially would solve both the problems. This made me switch my research into monitors that supported this feature.

Solution

I searched a lot of monitors and fixed on the Apple Studio Display. There’s a few particular things that made me pick this one to solve the remainder of my targeted problems and then some.

1. No extra cables. Just one power + video cable. This replaces 3 cables on my desk with 1.
2. Ability to control the brightness and not having to deal with different contrast/color levels nonsense. I hated configuring the contrast, sharpness, brightness, etc on my old monitor.
3. Tilt + Height control is an underrated feature.
4. In-built webcam so I can use it in meetings with much ease. I refuse to use a third-party external webcam and instead, been using the iPhone camera with continuity.

Here’s the old setup –

Here’s the new setup –

With that, I don’t think I have anything else I would like to change on my desk at this point of time. To switch from one computer to another, I do the following –

1. Select the computer on my keyboard – Keychron K3 Pro
2. Select the computer on my mouse – Logitech MX Master 3S
3. Switch the cable (power + display) to the computer

This concludes my side project.

Featured image generated by Adobe Firefly AI. Prompt: better cable management between two computer monitors, personal and work; filter: art