2026 Desk Tour
It’s been a while since I’ve dug into my hardware setup. Judging from the outdated state of my gear page, it’s been at least 5 years since I’ve made an update. The biggest change since my last update is that I don’t daily drive macOS anymore, and rarely use my iPad for anything but Zwift and a video to go along with training.
I’ve been happily on Fedora Linux for a few years now and have been using Hyprland as my desktop for pretty much all of 2025. I’ll go deeper into my software stack in a later post though.
Today, let me walk you through my hardware for 2026.
My Computer
My computer is a Framework 13″ laptop with a using the Ryzen 7 7840U mainboard. I have 64GB of RAM installed and a 2TB M.2 drive where all my files live. The 7840U comes with AMD Radeon 780M Graphics. This is enough to play indie games like Hollow Knight or Silksong, but doesn’t have enough power at all for AAA gaming or heavy 3D titles.
At my desk I have 3 monitors outside the built in laptop monitor. My main monitor is a Dell U4320Q 43 and on either side I have an LG 27UL500-W 27-Inch UHD in a vertical position. On those side monitors I have file browsers, code documentation or Slack if I have to have that open.
To hook all my extras up to the laptop I have 2 CalDigit TS4 docs. One hooks up my Dell monitor and the left LG while the other handles the right LG and a my web cam.
For a while I was using a Canon 90D with a Camlink as my webcam, but I was missing my camera for taking photos so I purchased an OBSBOT Meet 2-4K which I’ve been using for the last number of months and for all my recent YouTube videos. I notice a small difference in quality when I look at a 4k image, but web video is so compressed that even when I’ve switched between the two cameras during testing my coworkers couldn’t reliably tell me which camera was the better one.
Desk Audio
The speakers on my desk are Edifier R1700BTs which are wired into my computer via the line out on one of my CalDigit TS4 docs. I’ve never used the Bluetooth functions and don’t feel the need to use the subwoofer interface on the speakers. If I really want more bass I can use the stereo in my office which has a large subwoofer attached.
For headphones I use a set of Sennheiser HD 550 headphones. This is my first set of open back headphones and the sound quality was a revelation. No I don’t get noise cancelling, but in my office it’s already quiet enough that audio playing drowns out all the noise in the house unless something big happens and then I should probably go investigate.
I plug my headphones into a Steinberg UR 22 MKII audio interface. I use it to control the volume for the headphones and also as the interface for the mic I use for video calls and YouTube. That mic is an Audio Technica AT897 Condenser mic. I’ve been using the AT897 for a number of years and it’s great. I get good isolation from the rest of the house and great smooth sound quality on my audio.
The Steinberg UR 22 is routed through the USB interface into one of the CalDigit TS4 docs.
Keyboard and Mouse
I’ve used the Moonlander as my primary keyboard for at least 5 years now. While I wish I didn’t get the white variant, at least I can see how fast the keys get dirty from my hands. The black would look nicer, but would be even more filthy because I wouldn’t clean it very often.
My mouse is a Logitech MX Master 3s. I’ve used MX Master mice for years and have a spare one that hooks up to my second computing station where I play with older hardware I have kicking around to see how various flavours of Linux work on that old hardware.
Misc
I do a bit of gaming on my laptop, like Silksong, and use an 8Bit Do Ultimate controller. I use it with the dongle on my laptop and if the kids want me to game with them on the Switch upstairs I swap it over to bluetooth mode which is always paired with the Switch.
For charging my phone at my desk I have an Anker Magsafe stand which isn’t available anymore, but looks exactly like this Belkin one. Both companies make good products so I’d be happy with the Belkin if I needed to replace the the Anker charger.
Upgrades?
At one point I was planning to build myself a desktop PC, but now that RAM prices have gone crazy I’m going to sit with my laptop for a while still. I’m still contemplating using an eGPU setup which would let my video recording and editing go a bit faster or upgrading to the Ryzen AI 9 HX mainboard. I could order a second enclosure, along with more RAM and a WiFi chip and have a spare computer just in case my primary computer died.
Otherwise, I have no planned or dreamed of hardware upgrades. Sure I hear the fans on my laptop when I’m doing video work, but it’s a laptop so I’d expect that unless I had a huge laptop meant for video work and gaming. I have a reasonably portable powerful laptop that I mostly use at my desk anyway.
#Edifier #Framework #moonlander #Sennheiser
