Forgive me, but I am going to reuse a picture I posted yesterday.
Working from home has caused some desk setup questions that I didn’t want to deal with, but I think I finally have.
Prior to social distance I had two laptops on my desk in our home office. I used my MacBook Pro along with a second monitor for all but the eight hours I was telecommuting on Thursdays. While telecommuting, I switched to a second laptop, running Windows 10. I used the same second monitor. I have a 3-1 adapter that has a USB 2.0, HDMI, and USB C input into a single USB C plug. I had my USB dock, my monitor, and my power all running into it. When I switched from Mac to Windows I’d just pull the adapter out of one machine and plug it into the other. Done.
Once the lockdown started I brought my work PC home from Waltham and used that instead of the Windows laptop. I couldn’t use the same monitor cable for both machines, and the desktop doesn’t have a USB C port, so I was pulling plugs in and out twice a day.
On top of that, Jen and I are both working from home, both in the same room, and both having to join meetings at the same time. To deal with this I moved my Windows laptop to our bedroom and jokingly called it the conference room. At first I was using a dinner tray table as a desk, then I setup one of Jen’s old desks instead, and then Jen brought a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse out and turned the spot into an actual work station.
Yesterday Jen and I both had meetings scheduled for the better part of the day so I bit the bullet and moved my Waltham desktop into the bedroom and spent the whole day in there. I was planning to move it back to the office this weekend, but instead I talked it over with Jen and we decided to keep a Windows desk in the bedroom and an Apple desk in the office.
Now I am a two desk crazy person. Certifiably.
The minute the lock down ends, my Waltham machine goes back to Waltham and I move all my stuff back to the office. This is temporary.