Pristine design workstation's keys to clean cable management [Setups]

Leave it to a digital product designer to work their magic in a tastefully pristine workstation with an absolute minimum of cable clutter. “Cable management gets a 10 out of 10,” one person said of today’s featured computer setup. And all that walnut wood doesn’t hurt, either.

But how did they manage to tame the cable monster?

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Keys to clean cable management

Redditor jgcarolina (JG), whose work includes design for the Chime banking app, showed a beautiful setup in a post entitled, “Product Designer’s Mac Setup.” They called the chore of cable management “the most painstaking part” of putting together the workspace.

“What did you use or how did you handle the cable management?” asked one Redditor. “I have a very similar setup and would love to know how to clean it up.”

You know it's solid cable management when the back of a setup is not festooned with wires. — You know it’s solid cable management when the back of a setup is not festooned with wires.
Photo: jgcarolina@Reddit.com

In reply, JG said they started with the Topbook Cord Management Organizer Kit and the Stageek Cable Raceway Kit (links below, along with the rest of the setup’s gear, such as the 16-inch MacBook Pro, 32-inch Dell UltraSharp monitor, Logitech StreamCam and more).

And JG did such a nice job of describing the rest of the effort, we’ll just quote the key points below.

I have it arranged where the raceways [span] the entire width of the desk. They’re positioned at the rear taking in all the cables from above.
I have a surge protector screwed into the desk. This is adjacent to the cable raceways.
All extra cable slack is zip tied and fastened to one of the desk’s cross bars.
I have some Hue light strips circling the perimeter of the desk for some mood lighting.
It helps that my monitor acts as my hub for all other devices. So it’s really just one TB cable to my laptop.
For the series of cables feeding into the monitor, I wrapped them in a nylon sleeve to tidy the look. The speaker cables are simply zip tied. Any other power bricks (hue lights, speakers, etc) are stuck to the bottom of the desk using 3M double-sided hanging strips.

Webcam and light bar

On another note about this setup, JG’s webcam and monitor light bar situation is a little unusual. First they got a Logitech StreamCam webcam, which has a blockier shape than many webcams. Then they added a BenQ monitor light bar. So the two had to be made to work together atop the display.

JG described it when a commenter asked whether the Logi StreamCam is a good deal. Featuring 1080p streaming and recording at 60 frames per second, they go for about $170.

“The simplicity of setup and quality is worth the price compared to other webcams out there,” they said. “The included software is good enough. I’ll say I wish it was a lower profile than it is. Logitech’s 4k webcam is a nice design. I had the webcam before the light bar, and didn’t account for the added height.”

This view gives you a fuller sense of the home office.
Photo: jgcarolina@Reddit.com

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Computer:

2019 16-inch MacBook Pro

Display:

Input devices:

Audio and video:

Accessories, furniture and lighting:

Cable management:

If you would like to see your setup featured on Cult of Mac, send some high-res pictures to info+setups@cultofmac.com. Please provide a detailed list of your equipment. Tell us what you like or dislike about your setup, and fill us in on any special touches or challenges.