Michael Shi's white minimal desk setup — Shanghai
In their own words
Invest in plenty of cable management tools as hiding cables is crucial. Enjoy the journey!
— Michael Shi
Observation notes
Invest in plenty of cable management tools as hiding cables is crucial.
Michael Shi's Shanghai desk sits at a window, curtains and all, with a Hexcal Studio shelf riser doing the work of organizing a genuinely enormous inventory: a Nixie-tube clock, an open-frame liquid-cooled PC with its GPU on full display, and a rotating cast of Xbox controllers charging in their stands. A curved ultrawide monitor anchors the middle, lit by a single slim desk lamp overhead.
Underneath the shelf, a translucent keyboard glows against the desk surface next to a compact MIDI-style controller and a stream deck — the layered under-desk setup reads as a workstation built for switching contexts fast, not settling on one. Wireless charging pucks and phone stands are scattered across the shelf, evidence of a multi-device workflow that never fully powers down.
For someone managing this much hardware, Shi's own advice tracks: invest in cable management before anything else, because a setup this dense only stays usable if the wiring disappears.
Gear list
27 items- Desk
- Third-party custom height-adjustable desk
- PC
- LianLi O11D Evo + ASUS TUF 3080OC ITXA Xproto L + GIGABYTE AERO 4070s TRYX + NVIDIA 4080s founder edition
- Laptop
- Lenovo Legion 7i （r9000k）2021 Macbook air 13 inch 2018 Surface book 14 inch 2019
- Laptop stand
- Brateck E700 Grey
- Dock
- Eleksmaker NK2 / NK5
- Monitor
- Samsung odyssey qd-oled G8 Kuycon 24 inch 2k/144hz LG C1 w-oled 48 inch
- Monitor arm
- Ergotron HX / Humanmotion T10 -W
- Monitor light
- Cololight Strip 2m
- Keyboard
- Angrymiao cyberboard r4 Nooir noland 1 Angrymiao 65 less TPS 40 x2 Lelelab maxum 65 r1 x2 Meletrix zoompad x2 Deadline studio new retro 66 Deadline studio doys pad Qwertykeys 65r2 x1 , 75 x2 Matrix navi , corsa Neo70 TKD cycle7 x2 , cycle 8 Whatever studio paper 80 Iqunix zx 75 Keychron q1 Razer blackwidow v4 ，Deathstalker v2 ROG Falchion, Scope II nx , Azoth Logitech G913 Tenet 70 Nuphy Halo 65, Field 75, Air 60
- Keyboard cable
- Unknown error / Geekcable
- Mouse
- Logitech g502, g913, gpw, Vertical Mxmaster Razer basilisk v3pro, basilisk ultimate, viper ultimate, deathadder V3pro Steelseries Aerox 3, Rival650
- Mousepad
- Razer goliathus L / Firefly V2
- Desk lamp
- Cololight
- Storage
- IKEA ALEX drawer units x2 IKEA PAX wardrobe converted workbench x2 Wallspace pegboards of various sizes x8 Spectrum bookshelf 120x60 used as a keyboard shelf x1 IKEA BJORKASEN side table x2
- External storage
- WD p40 2TB / Seagate FAST 500GB
- Headphones
- AirPods pro / Angrymiao Cyberblade / FIIL cc pro2 / songx 06 x2 / songx 07 x2
- Camera
- Canon 5D MK2 / Canon 80D / Nikon Z30
- Phone
- iphone 15 pro max / iphone 13 pro / iphone xs max / iphone 8 plus / iphone 6s (opens in new tab)
- Watch
- Apple watch 7
- Clock
- Eleksmaker / Jeffbona
- Charger
- Tegic / Sharge / Trozk / Mophie
- MIDI controller
- Arturia Keylab 61 MKII (opens in new tab)
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