Proart — BLOG — JAY YBARRA

As 2022 came around I decided I wanted to stop staring at my tiny Macbook screen, and finally get a proper display. It was finally time to upgrade my workstation! I had been eyeing these ProArt Displays from ASUS for a while, so I went ahead and took the jump. This is a great monitor straight out of the box, and it feels like it freed up so much space on my desk somehow, even though its a huge screen.

Only a couple visible cables, but nothing to distracting.

The more I started organizing the more I felt like I should just free up the desk from as much clutter as I could. I had this Epson V600 scanner that I use to scan film just sitting there without power until its ready to be used, so I wanted to figure out a way to still have it near me, but not have it stored completely away. I grabbed this under bed storage where it fit perfectly and slid that under the couch I have in my office. I’m still not sure if I’m going to get a foldable table I can pull out for when I do need it, or I will just place it on my desk/couch when its in use, but we’ll what is most practical it feels once I have a ton of film I need to scan.

I still scan film a bit, but I don’t need the scanner on the desk all the time. This bin fit the scanner and wires perfectly.

This monitor has multiple USB A inputs on the side and bottom that act as a hub for anything connected to thunderbolt, like my MacBook is. I have this Sandisk Extreme SSD that I work off of, plugged into the back where its out of sight, but still as functional as ever. One of these USBs is also taken up by the unifying device meant for the Logitech MX Master mouse I’ve been using for a while now. It’s a really great mouse to edit in Lightroom and Photoshop with. I can map out what each button does for my Macbook and even for specific apps to make my workflow so much faster, I don’t think I could ever go back to a standard mouse after this. I’m using this big leather mousepad I found on Amazon to make up for the room I have now. I always find myself sitting in different positions, and moving my mousepad around anyway, so having more surface area for the MX to move around made sense to me.

Using this huge mat has been great! Much prefer over a small mousepad.

Another thing that I added was a mechanical keyboard. This one from Keychron feels pretty great! It has RGB and works for both Mac and Windows, and even has keys so you can swap between the two depending on your preference. I like that you can cycle through the lighting effects with a dedicated key, without having to download another program. I would say that I’m pretty happy with this keyboard, but I would like to see a dedicated USB dongle, and a better way to conserve battery than just turning off completely when connected via Bluetooth. I opted for the wired setting just because I would get annoyed with it disconnecting from bluetooth every time it would not use it for a few minutes, more so getting it to connect again. On top of the monitor I have this fairly affordable monitor light from JISULIFE. I haven’t ever heard of the brand, but a light with a wireless remote seemed pretty intriguing. It feels decent, and the remote feels…fine enough. When you turn the dial it will brighten or dim the light, but It kind of feels like if you were using bluetooth just out of range, because it doesn’t dim very smoothly. The instructions were translated to english English, so I’m not sure I’m getting I’m even using it to its fullest. Double tapping the button gives you a few different preset temperatures, and holding it down turns the light on and off. This is the only part of the desk that I think I may sit on for a couple weeks before I can have a real opinion on. I may opt for the BenQ Screenbar Halo, which is the exact same idea just a bit more expensive and I can guarantee works so much more like it’s supposed to. I will update here once I decide whether I keep it or not.

The light was pretty easy to set up. I like that it has this little base on the back so that I can possibly add a webcam in the future.

I love the idea of this dial, but it doesn’t feel and work as well as I would have hoped.

Sometimes I take a break and stream some Gamepass on my phone using my Razer Kishi.

I have everything plugged into this desktop outlet from Anker. It has three power inputs, 3x USB, and one USB-C which has enough power to charge a phone, or even my Macbook.

Overall, I’m pretty content with this setup. I eventually want to upgrade my MacBook to an M1 version, but for now this one 2017 will do. I attached all the links to everything you see here below!

ASUS ProArt Display PA279CV 27” 4K HDR UHD https://amzn.to/3pSFCnL

Keychron K3 75% Hot Swappable Bluetooth RGB Keyboard https://amzn.to/3FUJtGx

Anker USB-C Power Strip https://amzn.to/3zrIZFt

YSAGi Multifunctional Office Desk pad https://amzn.to/3pToTAx

Logitech MX Master 3 https://amzn.to/3JIq0Lu

Sandisk 1TB Extreme SSD https://amzn.to/3JFghp6

3M Sticky Mouse Pad https://amzn.to/3ES28kP

OSP Desk with RGB https://amzn.to/3eMwV8a

Pixel Stand Wireless Charger https://amzn.to/3HQkrcf

Pixel 5 https://amzn.to/31Qvkvd

Razer Kishi (Android) https://amzn.to/3qKXn7H

Razer Kishi (iOS) https://amzn.to/3qGvCgw