I think this is a great setup for a moderate budget. Like you mentioned, it's not a setup that you can easily purchase in one day, people will need to save up for some items. I saved up for the Keychron K2 keyboard and MX Master 3 mouse over a few months and I love them both so much. It has made my workflow so much more productive.
Love the video, I really agree that the M1 Macbook Air can be considered a budget laptop because it's actually worth every penny. However, I think a $400 4K monitor is not considered a budget monitor unless you're a pro editor who really needs a 4K monitor. But if you're the average consumer that does not need a 4K monitor for editing, that monitor would be a complete overkill.
4K is great for productivity - allowing you to easily read small text and have multiple app windows open/decrease scaling to fit more on your screen. It also comes with USB-C functionality which instantly saves you around $150 because you won't need an additional charger, cable, or adapter to hook up your MacBook to the screen.
For students in my country to be able to afford the desk usually take them at least a year of savings. By the way it looks really good. If I am able to afford it one day in the future eventually, I would do something inspired in this setup
@@CreatedTech other countries don't have such crazy medical fees my man. Btw, you could have talked about your chair, I imagine it is one of the most important parts of any setup if we are talking about good posture.
@@Stefan-wp2qr But the majority of countries do have crazy medical fees... very few have a proper medicare system. I'm Australian and we have a good system, but this kind of surgery would be out of pocket so still expensive, not to mention the non-financial costs such as constant pain or inability to do sports you love. Regarding the chair - no IMO it's not as important as each person will prefer and fit in different types of chairs. A standing desk is universal and is one of the best ways to avoid long-term health issues as you will be standing much more often.
@@CreatedTech I'm French and I'm so grateful to be born in this country, our medical system is one of the best. But as a student, I can't even afford a macbook, a good desk or chair in the first place so... I'll get the back surgery for free I guess
As a budget alternative for a student setup I can recommend the HP E24D G4 Monitor. It's a dock-monitor which means that you can plug your laptop in with a USB-C cable. Mouse, keyboard, microphone, headset and all the stuff you can connect to the monitor directly. It also has a built-in camera and microphone and costs under 200$.
Appreciate your country because in my country these facilities are very expensive. I am a student and after working hard I was able to buy a 2015 MacBook. I wish I could have a good life like you :)
As a student from Mexico, this is a little expensive for us haha but since the last year I was start to save money and buy some things month by month and now I'm near to finally can get my dream desk setup! I'm focused to obtain a standing desk because my back really starts to hurt a little, I think the vivo seems like a good choice, for the price haha
A great budget option for the MX Master mouse is the M720 Triathlon! It also has Bluetooth and can switch between 3 devices and has an infinite scroll, it just doesn’t charge via usb c it need a battery but overall an amazing mouse Edit: it also doesn’t have a separate side scroll but that’s not always necessary for most people
Yeah I use and love the M720 Triathlon! I actually consider the fact that it uses a AA battery a benefit, because it can last up to 2 years on a single one, and I use rechargeable AA batteries anyway. The USB-C charging mice are advertised to only last 30 days or so between charges which can be annoying if you realize it ran out of juice at the start of your workday.
@@ash.mystic Not to mention the Logitech software that comes with the M720 Triathlon that I am using right now is awesome! I have the first mouse button set to like tweets on Twitter and the second mouse button to go back on Twitter!
the best thing about 27 inch 4k monitors are that they are at around 163 ppi meaning this is as close as it will get to match the display quality of a macbook pro or imac, currently it is not possible to have the same 200 plus ppi like the mac on a monitor without going into 8k territory and a premium price tag
I'm a professional dev of 15 years and i basically use this same gear. The M1 flies. The lower-end chips are so quick now that the biggest bottleneck is usually the brain or distractions.
You will love it. I had an m1 MacBook pro but returned it for the air instead. $400 less and zero performance difference at all. Battery life is unreal too.
@@daz_online not really same m1 chip only difference is Touch Bar and it’s better for gaming but who’s going to game on a Mac so the statement Mac Pro is better is false you slave
I just love that minimalist set up, with all the Covid working from home that some of us have to deal with at the moment I’m definitely going to use this video as inspiration so that I can set up my own home office. Thanks for another great video Liam.
I literally spent weeks trying to find a USB-C monitor at a lower price point that had everything I needed, as I couldn't afford the DELL UltraSharp you recommended. Then literally a week after I settled on a monitor you posted this. Luckily I happened to settle on the exact same monitor, great minds think alike!
I was looking at so many videos for a an affordable student MacBook setup for so long and here you come out with a video about it right when I was about to give to the higher prices. Thank you :)))
I really want to make this setup and im saving up to make it. Thanks for the awesome video it gave me great idea and it looks absolutely amazing! I have a MacBook Air M1 2020 so this is perfect!
I have this exact monitor and use it with my M1 Air and it's fantastic! No issues whatsoever since I directly connect the USB-C cable to the laptop, without using a dock. I don't particularly like the stand, but that's no big deal. Also in the beginning, I had some issues with the resolution sometimes after waking from sleep, but that seems to be fixed in some recent Big Sur update.
@@yerzhant701 I use it in scaled mode with "looks like 2560x1440". Everything is way too large if you use it in normal mode (1080p@2x) in macOS. I also have the 5K iMac from work and even though the 4K LG has less pixels, it doesn't look worse in my opinion even though I'm normally extremely picky about these things. (You do notice it if you use them side-by-side, but since one is work-only and one is personal-only, it wasn't a problem for me.)
@@stefandesu Hello, I don't speak English, so I do this from the translator. One question, when the MacBook is connected to the monitor, will it not always be charging? And if so, wouldn't that affect the battery of the macbook? is that I have the macbook air M1 but only that, I'm just seeing how I could put together my setup Thanks
Almost bought the desk on Amazon but want to quickly note if you have to travel or move your desk, you are literally going to need a lot of patience taking it apart and traveling. So I definitely recommend buying a cheap desk for student work and investing in a better desk for a more permanent place
It's actually really easy to move. Just take off the wood desk top and move top and legs separately. Even if you have to disassemble the base it takes no more than about 10 minutes!
Overall a very thoughtful video and perhaps the only thing I would also consider - find sources for refurbs, reconditioned, open box, etc that can help with the budget for those with fewer funds to work with in this desktop build. I admit I would rather invest a bit more and add RAM to the laptop.
If you're looking at Amazon, that price is currently way out of the normal price range for some reason. If you look at other retailers like Umart it's around $700 AUD.
You see the thing is I’m not a university or college student sooo I don’t know if I need a setup like this yet I’m still year seven so a good setup for me will probably be my bed right now cause we don’t have any assignments where we have to right a lot but thanks I will use this in the future
I'm afraid the electric desk will get stuck in the standing position and I will be forced to finish my workday unable to sit down, if I do this from my work from home office. I can't tell my company I can't work because my desk is broken. I also have a bad back so I don't want the crank, or to push and pull a gas piston. Is there an option that doesn't take a strain on your spine and will never break?
hi,,i have problem with bluetooth connection on my macbook air m1. it comes when i connect my TWS Bluetooth and wifi at the same time. do you have idea to fix that issue?
I think mine is more minimalist. :p I use an iPad Pro with magic keyboard on a tilting desk connected to a LG 32” TV via airplay. A logi mouse and an Apple trackpad with a backup Apple keyboard (Fn keys). Done. :D
Hey, I wanted to ask what that laptop stand was, as *the link in the description is to a different stand*, and I really like the one you showed in the video
When l was engineering student l could hardly afford to eat rather than buying a computer even after graduated l started to work 300 usd / month including transportation and lunch
@@TuTiToo It's not a dumbass question, let me explain it to you, here in India the price difference between FHD and 4k is huge, plus working on an FHD large screen, the display might get too grainy, much different from the 2k resolution of MBA, that's why I mentioned the size limit of < 22 inches, just to know what others think of it. P.S. Next time when you think someone's doubt is dumbass, you might wanna ignore that comment and save yours and other people's time. :)
@@gauravkulkarni555 Thanks man, Well I am a software engineer, and I checked in a local shop, FHD is bearable for my kind of work, so I am going with it, It's BENQ and it costs 8750 INR
