[music]

>> I spent a lot of money on things I ended

up regretting later. You know, in the

moment designer clothing feels nice, but

a few months later you realize that it

doesn't really do anything for you. And

unfortunately, this is a lesson I've had

to relearn over and over again in my

life, but the one thing I never regret

spending money on is my setup. I mean,

that's literally where I make my money

working as a software engineer as well

as making these YouTube videos. So today

I wanted to show you all some of my

favorite setup items that I don't regret

spending money on, and hopefully this

video is going to give you some

inspiration for your own setup if you're

looking to make some upgrades to your

workstation. Now starting with the most

important thing, which is the desk. This

is something you can feel kind of bad

spending money on because at the end of

the day, it's just a desk. But from my

own past experiences, the worst thing

you can do is not take your desk

seriously. With one of my past setups, I

used to feel some serious rage because

the desk was wobbly, and there's

absolutely no way that those cortisol

spikes were worth the money saved on the

desk itself. Also having the options for

sit and stand modes is a game changer.

I'm not going to be that YouTuber who

says I use the standing mode all the

time. Like, I really don't. But after

long times of sitting down, it's just a

fresh feeling standing up. And when you

put your desk to the standing mode, it

kind of makes everything feel new and

fresh. It's kind of like you're seeing

your setup in a whole new way almost.

Now the desk I have is 140 cm wide and

80 cm deep, but I think the most

important part is having enough depth to

your setup. So if you're in a situation

where you have to choose between the

width or the depth, I'd definitely

choose the depth because you need to be

able to rest your arms on your desk

while you're working. Otherwise, you'll

end up developing some wrist and

shoulder injuries, which you definitely

don't want. Then the next, I guess,

luxury upgrade I went for on my setup

was the cable management. To me, there's

nothing worse than having a messy

environment, and I just can't focus

[music] in an environment like that.

That's also the reason I have almost no

cables on my desktop because I just

can't focus if my environment is

cluttered. So, when it comes to your

cable management, make sure you do it

properly from the get-go so that later

on you can easily add and remove items

from your setup. Again, I'm speaking

from experience because in the past

[music] I took the cheap route. I used

zip ties for my cable management, and

man, it was the worst experience when I

tried to add or remove things from

[music] my setup because I would have to

deal with all the zip ties, and it

caused a huge mess every single time.

So, nowadays, I just have this metal

tray from Below Low, and with this I can

easily add or remove things, and I don't

have to worry about that affecting other

cables. So, for example, if I want to

add a new light or something to my

setup, all I got to do is plug in the

cable, and then I can hide the rest of

the cable inside of the tray. Really,

the only thing you need to be aware of

here is that if you're using a

microphone with a XLR cable, then

coupling that XLR cable with some other

cables can cause static to your mic. So,

just make sure that the XLR cable isn't

too tightly coupled with other cables.

Then again, another luxury upgrade to

your setup, which I actually think makes

a huge difference, is the lighting.

Winters are dark here in Finland, and we

rarely have any natural light coming in

through the day, and even just from an

eye strain point of view, having some

other light sources to your setup other

than your monitor is crucial. So, if

you're living in a place where the

winters are super super dark, make sure

you take the lighting of your setup

seriously. But even outside of health

benefits, the lighting of your setup

makes it feel way cozier, and let's be

honest, it just looks dope. It's funny

actually because when I have my setup

facing the window like this and I'm

working at home, whenever some of my

friends are working outside, they can

see my setup super clearly because of

the lighting. Um that's a 10 out of 10

way to dox myself, but I might be moving

soon anyway, so it's [music] fine. But

yeah, the most important lighting

upgrade is for sure a monitor light. You

can get them for relatively cheap on

Amazon, too, so even if you have a

tighter budget, I'd still consider

making the investment heavily. The point

of it is that it lights up the entire

desk as well as your other peripherals,

so that the contrast between [music]

your bright monitor and other stuff on

your desk is not as harsh. Another

lighting trick I like doing is adding a

light strip below my desk, and it

doesn't really serve any other purpose

other than just look cool. And lastly,

having one light that you can move

around easily is also a nice to have, so

that whenever you're taking meetings and

stuff, people can still see you clearly

no matter how dark it might be. All

right, then next up, let's talk about my

chair, and as you all remember, I used

to have a lot of back pains as a kid

from my old chair, so investing [music]

into a proper chair is definitely a must

for me. For the past month, I've used

the Sihoo Doro C300 Pro V2, which is the

world's first full-body adaptive

ergonomic chair. And trust me, I

wouldn't be talking about a chair before

putting it to a test myself because of

my past experiences [music] that I

mentioned earlier. This one is actually

pretty unique, and what I really like

about it is what they call the full-body

dynamic support. You know, with most

office chairs, the support [music] only

really works when you sit perfectly

still, but as soon as you move around,

then the support is gone. But with this

one, the chair actually adjusts to

[music] you during movements, so when

you're moving forwards or backwards, the

chair doesn't just stay still, but

instead, due to its what they call

DynaCore system, the head, back, lumbar,

and armrests move together with you,

unlike most office chairs that you set

up once and call it a day. So, for

example, when I'm reclining, my lower

back is supported all the way through

instead of it creating a gap. And like I

said, I used to have some brutal back

pains from a chair I was using

previously, [music] which is why the

lumbar support is so important to me

when it comes to a chair. Sihoo Doro

C300 Pro V2 uses something [music]

called self-adaptive dynamic lumbar

support 2.0, which makes it so that the

lumbar support doesn't just stay fixed,

but instead, slides with your body when

you recline. There are three level

adjustments that you can switch between

for upright work, resting, or slightly

tilted. And lastly, it features these 8D

bionic armrests. It can take some time

[music] getting used to, but afterwards,

when you're working or watching content,

your arms are going to be always

supported with the upward tilt. But

yeah, I've genuinely been super happy

with it, and for the price point,

[music] I think it's a great chair all

the way from the aesthetic to the

ergonomics of it. So, if you're looking

for a new chair for your setup, then

definitely check out the Sihoo Doro C300

Pro V2. I'll leave it as the first link

in the description, and a big thank you

to Sihoo for supporting the channel and

sponsoring the video. Then moving on to

my display, this is something I was

scared of pulling the trigger on at

first because I was thinking to myself

if there's any point in spending [music]

so much money on a monitor, but now

looking back, I have literally zero

regrets. So, the monitor I've been using

is the first generation [music] Studio

Display, and where do I even start, man?

It has so many good features you would

need for productive work, but also a lot

of nice-to-haves in one package. I mean,

first of all, I'm a big fan of glossy

displays, and yes, I know it reflects

light like crazy if you have a light

behind you while you're working, but the

Studio Display actually combats this

quite well [music] because it gets so

bright. Also, the Studio Display has

what are, in my opinion, really great

speakers. So, that in itself freed up

quite a bit of space on my desk. Of

course, it's not going to be as good as

a dedicated pair of speakers, but for

most people, this is good enough.

Well, actually not good enough. It's

great for most people. Let's be honest

here. But even more importantly than the

speakers, the Studio Display also has a

webcam built in, which has surprisingly

good quality video, and since it's built

into the display itself, it leaves space

at the top of the display for the

monitor light. And last but definitely

not least, the Studio Display can act as

a dock for your other peripherals. For

example, I have my keyboard, sound card,

and laptop all connected to the display,

but they're still working sync. This

again saves me some space on the desk

itself because I don't need a separate

dock currently. So, yeah, while the

Studio Display is only 60 hertz and it's

overpriced and this and that, it

packages so many different useful things

that I use on a daily basis into one

package that I just haven't had any

regrets blowing the bag on it.

Especially now that the new version's

out, if you can find the old generation

Studio Display for a decent price, I'd

say take it. And sticking with the theme

of killing multiple birds with one

stone, something that's become an

essential part of every one of my setups

moving forward is a monitor stand. Like

again, this is not a must-have by any

means, but once you get one, you're

never going to go back. Mine is from

Balolo, and yeah, it [music] was

expensive, but the reason I like Balolo

monitor stands is because you can attach

all these different accessories to the

monitor stand itself. So, I have a

headphone holder, a MagSafe charger, an

iPad stand, a tray for holding different

items, as well as a laptop stand, all

attached into this one construction. So,

again, a lot of space was saved on the

desk itself because I didn't need

separate things for each of these

functionalities. And even on its own

without any accessories, I think having

a monitor stand is still worth it

because it introduces kind of two

separate levels to your desk. So, you

could put your laptop under the monitor

stand, and it's kind of out of sight.

But yeah, if it wasn't obvious yet, I

like keeping things quite minimal, and

if there's a way for me to address

multiple different pain points with one

product, then I don't mind spending the

extra money on that product

specifically. Then the thing that powers

up my entire setup is of course my

laptop. Mine is the M4 Max MacBook

[music] Pro with 48 gigs of RAM and 1 TB

of storage. And yes, I do need the Max

chip for running the build on my

TypeScript projects. No, I'm kidding,

but having a powerful laptop is such a

good quality of life improvement. The

fact that I don't have to ever think

about whether or not my laptop can

handle some workflow has been a massive

weight off my shoulders. In the past, I

would often cheap out on the specs, and

then I'd find myself getting really

pissed off because my computer would lag

when I tried to work on things. I don't

know, maybe I tried to run a few

containers while having a few Chrome

tabs open and an IDE, and it would put

my computer to its knees. But now, it's

such a refreshing feeling that pretty

much no matter what I throw at my laptop

from programming to editing work, I know

it can handle it. If I had to go back, I

would probably get a Mac Studio instead,

and then get like a 14-in MacBook Pro or

a 15-in MacBook Air to go on the side

for whenever I want to work outside of

the apartment, but uh

oh well. Lastly, when it comes to some

of the other peripherals like your mouse

and keyboard, my general rule of thumb

is that if it makes your work feel more

fun, then don't feel bad spending money

on it. For example, a lot of people

enjoy mechanical keyboards, and picking

them up is kind of like a hobby for

them. And you know, I'm not mad at it. I

totally get it. I've spent a couple

bucks on keyboards myself over the

years, and

it's fun. It's fun. What can I say? If

your keyboard, for example, makes you

even 1% more likely to get to work, then

I think investing a couple hundred bucks

on a keyboard is well worth it. And the

same goes with a mouse. Currently, I'm

using the Lofree Flow 84 as my keyboard,

and the Logitech MX Master 4S as my

mouse. Also, I have this wrist support

from DeltaHub, which they sent to me,

but I've been using it for a quite a

while now. Just want to be fully

transparent whenever things are sent to

me. So, yeah, those are the most

important desk setup items that I don't

regret spending money on. Hopefully, you

got some inspiration for your own setup.

I know building the setup can feel like

this never-ending project, but that's

also part of the fun. You know, it's

kind of like this real-life Minecraft

project almost. Anyways, thank you so

much for watching all the way to the

end, and I'll see you in the next one.

Peace.