Skip to the roadmap
Workstation roadmap 0/4

05

Home workstationRemote work readyMac and PC

Remote
Workstation

A four phase plan for a six screen home desk: three 27 inch 2K monitors on one arm, a 55 inch LG 4K TV above, a 27 inch touch display below, a Mac mini and MacBook Pro on arms, and an Edifier R1700BT 2.1 sound system, all on a wide motorised standing desk with a PC option underneath.

Start the roadmapShopping listQuestions
By Shree Kumar Sharma5 displays2 Macs + PC2.1 audio
  1. Phase 1, weekend oneDesk assembled, power strip and cable tray on the frame, one cable spine to the wall.
  2. Phase 2, weekend twoTV on the wall, triple arm and touch arm clamped, heights set for sitting and standing.
  3. Phase 3, an eveningMac mini and dock mounted, every display mapped to a port, laptop arm in place.
  4. Phase 4, an eveningDAC preamp, R1700BT pair and subwoofer wired, levels and crossover tuned.
01

Desk, power and cables

Everything else bolts to this, so it goes in first. One wide dual motor frame, all power living on the frame, and a single cable bundle that travels with the desk.

Phase 1200 × 80 cmDual motorOption B: PC

Start with the footprint. Three 27 inch monitors with the side screens angled in need about 170 cm of width, and the Edifier pair wants to stand outside that row so the tweeters are not blocked. That makes 200 × 80 cm the comfortable size; 180 cm works only if the speakers move to wall shelves. The 80 cm depth matters just as much, because the touch display lies tilted in front of the centre screen and still has to leave room for a keyboard.

cable tray power strip Macmini Sub PC, opt. B cable spine to wall touch, tilted keyboard MacBook Pro 200 cm 80 cm
  • On the desk
  • Under the desk
  • Option B, PC tower
Top view at 3 px per cm. Solid shapes sit on the desk; dashed shapes hang underneath. The red dot at the back right is where the one cable spine drops to the wall.

What to look for in the frame

SpecPickWhy
MotorsDual motor, 120 kg or moreThe build carries 70 to 90 kg once the arms and a PC tower are on it
Height rangeAbout 62 to 128 cmCovers sitting and standing for most heights from 160 to 190 cm
StagesThree stage legsLess wobble at standing height, which the triple arm will magnify
Desktop25 to 30 mm thick, solid or plyMonitor arm clamps grip 10 to 80 mm; particle board cracks under clamp load
ControllerMemory presets + anti collisionSaves sitting and standing heights and stops if the cable spine snags

Load budget

Add up the load before you buy the frame. The TV is deliberately left out of this list because it goes on the wall, not on the desk.

Desktop, 200 × 8032 kg
Triple arm + 3 × 27"22 kg
Touch display + arm9 kg
R1700BT pair6 kg
MacBook + laptop arm4 kg
Mac mini, dock, strip3 kg
PC tower, option B14 kg
Total with PC90 kg
Frame rating120 kg

Power and cable plan

Put one surge protected strip with Indian 5A and 6A sockets on the frame crossbar, and feed every device on the desk from it. Only two cables then leave the desk: that strip and the network line, both inside a vertebra style cable spine. Plug the desk motor straight into the wall, not into the strip it carries.

Slack rule: leave a loop of at least 70 cm in every cable that crosses from desk to wall, and test it by running the desk from lowest to highest once before you tie anything down. The TV cables are the ones people forget.

The Mac mini and the dock hang under the desktop on a VESA or under desk bracket, so nothing sits on the floor except the subwoofer. Every cable moves with the desk, which keeps the spine to two lines. This is the quietest and tidiest build.

02

Display wall

Five screens in three layers: a 55 inch LG 4K TV fixed on the wall, a triple row of 27 inch 1440p monitors on one arm, and a 27 inch touch display tilted low under the centre screen.

Phase 23 × 2K4K LG 55"Touch 27"

Each layer has one job. The triple row is where you work, so its top edge sits at eye level. The touch display is a control surface for calls, timers and dashboards, so it lies back like a drafting table instead of standing up and pushing the triple row higher. The TV is for meetings, monitoring and media, and because it is fixed to the wall while the desk moves, it is placed for standing height.

55" LG 4K TVwall mount, tilt 10 to 15° Triple 27" 1440pone triple arm, sides at 30° 27" touch displaytilted back 45 to 60° Edifier R1700BT pair Mac mini + dockmounted under the top PC tower, option Bhangs from the frame MacBook Proon a laptop arm Subwooferon the floor, decoupled Cable spineone bundle to the wall 75 cm TV bottom 172 cm desk 200 cm standing height
Front elevation at 2 px per cm for a 72 to 75 cm sitting height. Dashed outlines show the desk and triple row at standing height; the TV bottom edge sits just above where they stop.

TV height rule: TV bottom edge = standing desk height + 56 cm (the top of the triple row above the desk) + 6 cm of clearance. For a 110 cm standing preset that is 172 cm. Use a tilt mount at 10 to 15 degrees down so the picture still faces you when you sit.

Screens and their settings

ScreenResolutionLinkRole
27" × 3, IPS2560 × 1440, 75 to 165 HzDisplayPort or USB-CCode, docs, chat; centre is primary
LG 55" 4K3840 × 2160, 60 or 120 HzHDMI 2.1Meetings, dashboards, media
27" touch1920 × 1080 on most modelsHDMI or USB-C + USB for touchControl surface, call controls, notes

Mounting heights

ItemSittingStandingNote
Desk surface72 to 75 cm108 to 112 cmElbows at 90 degrees, shoulders relaxed
Triple row top edge+56 cm above desksame, moves with deskAt or just below eye level
Triple row bottom edge+22 cm above desksameLeaves room for the tilted touch display
Touch display+2 to +20 cm, tilted 45 to 60°sameOn its own single arm, not the triple arm
LG TV bottom edge172 cm from floorfixedTilt mount, 10 to 15° down
Viewing distance65 to 80 cm to the triple row100 to 120 cm to the TVFine for dashboards at 4K

Pick this if the TV shows dashboards, terminals or a monitoring wall for hours. LED panels do not suffer from burn in with static content, they are lighter on the mount, and they cost less. The UT and QNED lines in 55 inch run 4K at 60 Hz or better.

Sharp text on the TV: on an LG TV, open the input list, edit the HDMI port the computer uses and set its icon to PC. That switches the TV to full 4:4:4 chroma, so small text stops looking fuzzy. Turn on HDMI Ultra Deep Colour for that port too.

macOS and 1440p: a 27 inch 1440p monitor runs at native 1x on a Mac. Text is clean but not as crisp as a Retina panel; a slightly larger system text size helps on the side screens.

03

Dock and connections

Five displays, two Macs and an optional PC, mapped port by port. The Mac mini owns the desk, a DisplayLink dock adds the screens it cannot drive natively, and the MacBook Pro joins on its arm through one USB-C cable.

Phase 3Mac miniDisplayLinkUniversal Control

The limit to plan around is how many displays the computer drives natively. A Mac mini with a base M4 chip drives three. A MacBook Pro with a base or Pro chip drives two, and a Max chip four. Five screens is more than any of them, so two screens go through a DisplayLink dock, which renders displays in software over USB. DisplayLink works well for documents, chat and dashboards but cannot show copy protected video, so the TV always stays on a native port.

Mac miniowns the desk HDMI · TB 1 · TB 2TB 3 · USB-C front MacBook Proon the laptop arm DisplayLinkdual display dock 2 × HDMI · USB DAC preampwith sub out USB · optical in LG 55" 4K TVnative HDMI, HDCP 27" 1440p leftnative 27" 1440p centrenative, main screen 27" 1440p rightvia DisplayLink dock 27" touchDisplayLink, USB touch Edifier R1700BTRCA into AUX 1 Powered subwoofer HDMI 2.1 USB-C to DP USB-C to DP TB / USB-C MacBook USB-C to right 27" second input Universal Control USB audio TV optical out
  • HDMI
  • DisplayPort
  • USB and Thunderbolt
  • Audio
Recommended. Three screens native, two through DisplayLink, and the MacBook Pro on the right monitor second input.

Port plan for the Mac mini

Mac mini portGoes toCable
HDMILG 55" 4K TVCertified Ultra High Speed HDMI, 3 m with slack loop
Thunderbolt 1Left 27"USB-C to DisplayPort 1.4, 2 m
Thunderbolt 2Centre 27"USB-C to DisplayPort 1.4, 1.5 m
Thunderbolt 3DisplayLink dual dockThe dock's own USB-C cable
Dock HDMI 1 and 2Right 27" and touch 27"HDMI, plus USB A to B for touch
Front USB-CDAC preampUSB-C to USB-B
EthernetRouter or switchCat 6 inside the cable spine

The MacBook Pro on its arm

Mount it on a laptop tray arm to the left of the triple row, open, as a sixth screen for chat or notes. Plug one USB-C cable into the right monitor's USB-C input if it has one with power delivery, so the laptop charges and can take over that screen with an input switch. Turn on Universal Control and one keyboard and trackpad move across the Mac mini and the MacBook without any switch box.

Touch on a Mac: macOS has no built in touchscreen support. A touch display connected to the Mac mini needs the maker's Mac driver or a third party touch driver, and many models only act as a single pointer. On Windows, touch works out of the box. Check the product page for macOS support before buying.

Check before mounting: connect everything on the floor first, arrange the five screens in Displays settings, and only then clamp and tie. Rearranging screens after the cables are dressed is where most evenings go.

04

Sound system

The Edifier R1700BT pair on the desk ends, a subwoofer on the floor, and a small DAC preamp in front of both so every source has one volume knob.

Phase 4R1700BT2.1Option B: custom amp

The R1700BT is an active speaker: the amplifier is already built into the cabinets, with two RCA inputs and Bluetooth. So the "amp" in front of it should be a preamp, a box that picks the source, sets the volume and splits off the bass. Feeding it from a power amp would overload its inputs. The newer R1700BTs adds a subwoofer line out of its own; with the R1700BT, the sub feed comes from the preamp.

Mac miniUSB audio LG TVoptical out, PCM PC, option BUSB audio PhoneBluetooth DAC preampinput select, volume knobsub out with 80 Hz split MAIN RCA · SUB RCA R1700BTbuilt-in amp Powered subwooferplate amp inside Option B, custom ampmono sub amp board+ passive 8 to 10" sub USB Optical Main RCA Sub RCA Bluetooth, straight to the speakers
  • USB
  • Optical
  • RCA analogue
  • Bluetooth
Signal chain. Solid lines are the recommended build; the dashed red box is the custom amp option for a passive subwoofer.

A powered subwoofer such as the Edifier T5 or any 8 inch sub with a line input takes the preamp's sub output straight in. It has its own plate amplifier, crossover and level knob. This is the simplest build and the one to start with.

Placement and tuning

SettingValueWhy
Speaker spacingEqual triangle with your headStereo image lands in front of the centre screen
Toe inAimed at your earsThe silk dome tweeters beam; off axis they sound dull
Tweeter heightAt seated ear height on 10 to 15° standsDesk ends sit lower than your ears
Crossover80 HzHands the deepest bass to the sub, eases the 4 inch woofers
Sub levelSet by ear, then lower one notchA sub you notice is too loud
R1700BT bass knobCentre or a little belowThe sub now does that work

Sub on a standing desk: keep the subwoofer on the floor, not on the desk frame. Put it on a dense foam or rubber pad, a few centimetres from the wall, and the desk will not hum when the bass hits.

TV audio: set the LG TV's optical output to PCM, not bitstream, so the DAC preamp accepts it. Pair your phone straight to the R1700BT over Bluetooth for casual listening; it switches input on its own.

Questions

The things that usually go wrong with a build like this, answered before you buy.

Can a base Mac mini drive all five screens?

Not natively. A base M4 Mac mini drives three displays: two over Thunderbolt and one over Thunderbolt or HDMI. The other two need a DisplayLink dock, which adds displays through a driver over USB. A Mac mini with an M4 Pro chip also tops out at three native displays, so plan on DisplayLink either way.

Why not one Thunderbolt dock for every display?

A Thunderbolt dock passes through the computer's own display outputs, so it cannot add more than the chip supports. Only a DisplayLink dock adds screens beyond that. The hybrid plan keeps three screens native for quality and puts the two quieter screens on DisplayLink.

Will the touch display work with the Mac?

Only with a driver. macOS does not support touchscreens on its own, so check that the display maker offers a Mac driver, or use a third party touch driver. On the Windows PC option, touch works without any setup.

Why is the TV on the wall instead of on the desk arm?

A 55 inch TV weighs around 15 to 20 kg and catches the wobble of a desk at standing height. On the wall it stays still, frees the desk motors from the load, and only needs one long HDMI cable with a slack loop.

OLED or LED for the LG TV?

LED or QNED if it shows static dashboards for hours, because OLED can burn in. OLED if it is mostly for meetings and media, where its contrast is much better.

Do I need a custom amp for the R1700BT?

No. The R1700BT has its own amplifier. What helps is a DAC preamp in front of it for source switching, one volume knob and a subwoofer output. A custom amp only makes sense for a passive subwoofer, as in option B.

Where does the subwoofer go with a motorised desk?

On the floor, under the desk and towards the front wall, on an isolation pad. Never on the frame: the motors and legs carry vibration straight into the monitors.

What desk size and rating should I buy?

Around 200 × 80 cm with a dual motor frame rated for 120 kg or more and three stage legs. Check the desktop is 25 to 30 mm of solid material so the arm clamps grip without cracking it.

Can streaming apps play on the DisplayLink screens?

Often not. Copy protected video such as Netflix may refuse to play on DisplayLink screens. That is why the LG TV always stays on the Mac mini's HDMI port.