For the most part, I love my setup. It's

the place where I spend most of my days

working on my 9-5 software engineering

job as well as making these YouTube

videos. But now that I've moved into my

new apartment and can finally call this

place mine, I want to make every area of

it feel perfect for me. And as someone

who works from home, the setup is really

the number one priority for me. So

before we furnish the rest of the space,

we got to get this done first. You know,

one thing I've struggled with a lot in

my past apartments was that my setup was

always the centerpiece of my home. And

it just kept reminding me of work even

when I tried to detach and relax, which

ultimately made me want to change a lot

of things around so that the setup would

no longer be the main part of my home,

but instead a nice area that complements

the space. So today, let's go ahead and

build my new setup in my new apartment

and I'm going to take you through the

entire process.

>> [music]

>> I said it once before and I'll say it

again. Every time I come to this store,

my bank account bleeds. But we're in the

process of building the dream setup, so

you got to do what you got to do.

>> [music]

>> This is it. The Studio Display XDR. I'm

going to lie, this is going to hurt my

pockets, but maybe we can do like a

review video on it and stuff. I don't

know, it looks beautiful. I think we we

have to go through with it.

>> [music]

[music]

[music]

[music]

[music]

[music]

[music]

[music]

[music]

[music]

[music]

[music]

>> Okay then, let's finally start building

the actual setup. Of course, starting

with the desk. Now, something that's

become a must for me over the years in

regards to the desk is that it must be a

sit-stand one. I'm not going to lie, I

don't use the standing mode all the

time, but when you work for long hours,

it sure is nice to switch it up every

now and then. And even more importantly

than it being [music] a sit-stand one,

the desk also needs to be sturdy so that

whenever I'm on the mode, the desk

doesn't wobble when I have my arms on

it. Also, I'm someone who hates cables

with a passion, so having options for

clean cable management is a nice

addition and just saves me a lot of time

when putting everything together. And

lastly, I like my desk being around

[music] 80 cm or 30 in deep so that I

can fully rest my arms on it. It's just

better for ergonomics and reduces neck

strain. So, if possible, go for a bit of

a deeper desk. And with these specs in

mind, I ended up going with this maple

desk from Ver nal. Now, being fully

transparent, they did send it to me, but

this really ticks all the boxes for me

and I was going to get it regardless.

The desk goes up to 128 cm in height

when on the standing mode and they say

it supports up to 160 kg. So, of course,

I had to try out the body weight test. I

weigh around 77 kg at the moment and the

desk had no issues lifting me. So, I

think it passes this test. Yeah, I also

went for the white legs on the desk this

time around. And lastly, finishing the

desk, of course, I had to do my favorite

setup upgrade, which is adding a light

strip to the bottom of the desk so that

it lights the floor below it. In my

humble opinion, this is a must do for

every setup. It just takes it to the

next level, especially at night. But

yeah, if you're looking to take your

setup to the next level, then definitely

check out Ver nal's desks with the first

link in the description. They're

currently running their summer sale

campaign with prices starting from $410

and they give you a ton of customization

options from different desk sizes and

colors all the way to additional storage

that you can add to the [music] desk.

And with the code Luke, you can get an

additional 6% off of your order. And a

big thank you to Ver nal for supporting

channel and making this video possible.

Next, if you've been watching the

channel for a while, you know that I

love my monitor stands. To me, it just

creates this nice separation between the

desk and the display and you can use it

for practical things too, like storing

your files and stuff. Also, I like

putting some more personal items on the

monitor stand to make the setup feel a

bit more personal to me. This one is

also from Ver nal and it matches the

color scheme of the desk perfectly,

which again is important to me. In one

of my past setups, my monitor stand was

slightly different color compared to the

desk, and [music] it was driving me

crazy. Okay, the desk is finally fully

built. This place looks like a

construction site right now, and in the

bedroom, I got all of my old stuff here

as well. But, overall, I'm really

really happy with how the desk is

looking like right now. Of course, we

still have the new display, the

microphone, the keyboard, and everything

to unbox and set up and stuff, but I

have a date with my girl in like an

hour, so I need to start getting ready

for that. And yeah, I think we'll finish

off the setup tomorrow.

>> [music]

[music]

>> Then, finally, we get to my baby, the

display. This has been something I've

been wanting ever since it came out, the

Studio Display XDR. Again, if you've

been watching the channel, you know that

I love the base Studio Display. So, when

I saw that they made an updated version

of it, I really wanted to get it, but

just could never justify the price. I

mean, the price is completely

ridiculous, and it's true that there

isn't really anything like it on the

market, but still, it's wild. Anyways,

like I said, I really want to make this

place feel perfect for me, so I'm kind

of going all in with the workstation.

[music]

At the end of the day, the display is

what I'm going to be staring at for the

most of the day. Now, the main

differences compared to the regular

Studio Display is that this [music] one

goes up to 2,000 nits. So, it gets

bright, and it finally gets the 120 Hz

display that people have been asking for

from [music] Apple. To me, the 120 Hz

display isn't the biggest thing, because

for the most part, I work on code and

editing stuff. And you know, during

those tasks, the display is pretty

static, so I'm not getting the most out

of the refresh rate. But, it's still a

nice to have whenever I'm scrolling

large code files or [music] reading some

articles and stuff. Oh, and also it's a

mini LED display, so the contrast is

incredible. But, yeah, would I recommend

going for this over the regular Studio

Display?

>> [sighs]

>> It's really hard for me to justify the

price, so for most people,

>> [music]

>> I wouldn't. I also wasn't fully sure

what to do with the old Studio Display

because shipping it is such a hassle and

stuff. So, for the first time in years,

I wanted to try out a double monitor

setup for a while. My main issue with

too much screen real estate has always

been getting distracted easily. So,

don't be surprised if you see me rocking

a single display setup soon. But, now

that I had this opportunity, I just had

to try [music] it out. And lastly, one

thing I noticed about the Studio Display

XDR is that it gets kind of warm. So, if

your room tends to get hot, then you'll

notice this for sure when you're sitting

at the desk. When it comes to the desk

mat, I went back to this leather one

from Orbitkey. I like it because it has

this compartment at the bottom for all

my important files, and I'm someone who

always procrastinates paying bills. So,

having this space where I can store them

is clutch. Otherwise, I tend to just

forget about them. I've had this for

around 2 years now, and it's still in

really good condition even though

there's been a ton of coffee spills and

everything on it. So, as far as I'm

concerned, the quality is good. Next,

another big upgrade is going to be my

new keyboard. I liked the previous one

so much that when I saw Lofree release

an upgraded version of it, I just had to

do it. So, yeah, this time I went for

the Lofree Flow 2 84 with the linear

switches, and I mean, just listen to

this.

It sounds so satisfying. Also, the

aesthetic is really clean, and the build

quality is nice. It has [music] this

aluminum shell on it, and on the right

side it has this slider bar that you can

use to adjust your volume and stuff. My

only real complaint is that the charging

port is on the right side for some

reason, which made my coiled cable

completely useless. But thankfully, the

battery life is pretty good, so I don't

need to charge it all the time. And for

the mouse, I kept the Logitech MX Master

4S. I just simply cannot live with a

wired mouse, and this is the best one

I've tried personally, so again, no

reason to upgrade here. For me, the

infinite scroll up top and the side

scroll are the most used features, and I

don't really find myself using the

haptic feedback stuff at all. So, if you

want to save some money, I'd say get the

previous generation instead, and it'll

be just as good. My only complaint is

that this white color gets really dirty.

I don't know if it's a me thing or if

others are experiencing this as well,

but it's getting a little nasty at this

point. And yeah, I also kept this wrist

rest from Delta Hub. Its purpose is to

lift my wrist a little from the surface

of the desk because a few of my

coworkers have complained about wrist

pains, and yeah, I don't want to have

that. Next, for the lighting, I really

like the vibes of the old setup. For me,

lighting is one of the most important

things when it comes to the setup. Not

only does it help with eye strain when

you have other light sources other than

your monitor, but also it makes the

space feel a lot more inviting. And I

mean, especially during winters here in

Finland, it gets super dark, and there's

pretty much no natural light, so having

a well-lit setup is a must for me. But

yeah, I kept this desk lamp from

Logitech. I like it because whenever I

hop on meetings and stuff and need some

extra lighting on my face, then I can

easily adjust and tilt this. And also, I

just think it looks really clean. You

can change the RGB at the top as well as

the warmth and brightness of the light

at the bottom. Then on top of the

monitors, I kept the BenQ Halo screen

bar. This has served me well for the

past couple of years, and honestly,

there's no need to upgrade from it.

Really, its main purpose is to light up

the other peripherals around the setup.

Again, helps with eye strain because the

contrast between the monitor and the

desk [music] isn't as harsh. Okay, then

we get to the audio setup, which again

had a big upgrade. You know, this is

where I wanted to go all in because I

spent so much time in meetings, but also

I make these YouTube videos, so

investing into my audio setup is really

important to me. For my microphone

stand, I went with this white one from

Rode, and it looks [music] really clean

on the setup. I started to really hate

my old microphone arm because it just

popped so much on the desk due to its

color, but this one I really like the

look of. The main thing here is

obviously going to be my new microphone,

and yes, [music] I went for the law pro

max final boss microphone, the sure

SM7DB. To me, it just ticked all the

boxes with it having the built-in

preamp, which allowed me to still use my

old mini fuse one audio interface, but

also the sound quality. I mean,

hopefully it's good. I'll let you be the

judge. This entire voiceover has been

recorded on it. I think it's beautiful,

and I like the form factor of the

microphone as well. You know, it's not

too big and stuff, and I feel like it

fits the setup well. Next, one of the

most important things for me is going to

be my chair, and here I'll be keeping

this one from Sehoo. Now, again, full

transparency, they did send it to me in

the past, but we have no active

collaboration, and yeah, I've been

really liking it. To me, the chair is

always super important due to my past

experiences with some chairs that caused

me a lot of back pain, but yeah, also I

feel like this one fits the aesthetic of

the desk setup so well. The last but not

least, I wanted to mount this nice shelf

on top of my setup. Maybe have a small

plant coming down from it or something,

but come to find out that I shouldn't be

drilling on this wall, so I wasn't able

to mount it there. Now, I'm not sure

what to do here because now I have a

hole in my wall, and the surroundings of

the setup are still a bit of a question

mark, so I'm going to have to figure

this out at some point, but hey, at

least the setup itself looks immaculate

right now, and I've really enjoyed

working here. Also, I like the fact that

whenever I truly need to lock in and go

full work mode, I can move the setup

into my living room, but then when I

want to prioritize relaxing, I can just

move [music] it into this corner, and

you can barely see the setup while I'm

watching TV and stuff because now the

color scheme of the setup is more

low-key. So, yeah, let me know what you

would do differently. Overall, I'm

beyond happy with how it turned out. We

can finally start settling in properly

in here once this huge mess is cleaned

up. Man, I hate taking these boxes to

the trash. Anyways, if you're looking to

do something similar, then again, make

sure you check out Vernal's summer sale

with the first link in the description,

and I'll see you in the next one.

Peace.

>> [sighs]