Cable Management ideas

[Donut417]

Spoiler

 

 

First of all, Yes I know I need to wipe down the desk! About a month ago we painted the room and I was able to set my desk up better for me. I just need some ideas on cable management. The issue is I run dual systems, both using the same keyboard and mouse. I use the built in input switchers on both monitors and I use the USB switcher in the picture for the mouse and keyboard. 

 

Problem 1) One of my monitors who plug is pictured, my modem and router have plugs that well block other outlets, I have enough outlets on my UPS, but some are unusable due to this issue. So I need ideas there. The second plug in the picture is to my Nintendo Switch which Im considering moving from the desk as it doesnt play well with my ultrawide. 

 

Problem 2) The Mac has two cables coming off of it. 1 is a type c to type c that goes to the 34" ultrawide, this provides not only video, but Power and two USB ports one of which is connected to the USB switcher. The second cable is a type c to HDMI adapter. Im looking for a better way to hide or at least tidy up the cabling. I have my keyboard and mouse cables to content with as well. 

 

Other info. The desk is the Ikea Freddie. It has two cable pass thru's in the back at each corner. My desktop computer is on the left side of the desk on the built in shelving. My UPS is on the opposite side on the built in shelving. I have considered velcoring the USB switcher to the back of my ultrawide, the button used to switch things has a pretty long cord so that wont be an issue. The biggest problem is hiding the USB cable going to the desktop. 

[Donut417]

More complete picture. 

[adarw]

clean your mouse pad lol

 

edit: @Arika S put him on the wall of doom.....

[Donut417]

Just now, adarw said:

clean your mouse pad lol

My sister let is slip Im getting a desk pad for xmas. So Im not too worried. Also I kinda eat all my meals at my desk as thats the only space I have. 

[IkeaGnome]

Loving the Gameboys up top.

Depending on how attached to the desk you are, there's a couple spots I'd start. Attach a short shelf to the bottom back to act like a cable runner/storage. Behind the monitor, I'd also probably drill the hole and install one of these.

 

I can't tell how much space is behind your monitors, but if there's enough a less invasive way would be a set of peg board. Like this, but if you went to Home Depot you might be able to get one that would cover the desk as one piece. It wouldn't fix the problem, but you could hide cables behind it. Zip tie cables to it that you can't hide in a clean way. 

Does the Mac have thunderbolt? If so, you could use a thunderbolt hub to get it to just one wire coming out of that. 

If there's a way to move that (looks like) wireless charger from the front of your desk to the back, the shadows of the monitors will help hide the cables a bit. 

[Donut417]

14 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

Depending on how attached to the desk you are, there's a couple spots I'd start. Attach a short shelf to the bottom back to act like a cable runner/storage. Behind the monitor, I'd also probably drill the hole and install one of these.

My desk has two grommet pass thrus one on each side. I should mention Im not allowed to attach anything to the walls. My parents house Im afraid, so I have to follow their rules. 

 

14 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

oes the Mac have thunderbolt? If so, you could use a thunderbolt hub to get it to just one wire coming out of that. 

Im afraid that at least from all the reading I have done and product info from Amazon, MacOS doesnt support having multiple displays on one Thunderbolt port. So in order to use multiple displays you have to use multiple ports. 

14 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

f there's a way to move that (looks like) wireless charger from the front of your desk to the back, the shadows of the monitors will help hide the cables a bit. 

Take a look at the first post, I have what it looks like currently in the spoiler. The wireless charger is a battery bank I was charging up. 

[IkeaGnome]

30 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

My desk has two grommet pass thrus one on each side. I should mention Im not allowed to attach anything to the walls. My parents house Im afraid, so I have to follow their rules. 

I meant mounting the shelf to the bottom of the desk top. Like the shelf on the left side, but it looks like you could zip tie a peg board here.

Spoiler

While that wouldn't make it perfect, extra cables could be pushed behind the pegwall on the desk to hide them. 

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, IkeaGnome said:

meant mounting the shelf to the bottom of the desk top. Like the shelf on the left side, but it looks like you could zip tie a peg board here.

The slots dont go all the way thru. Its actually for mounting small shelves on the side of the desk. I choose to remove those shelves as at the time they didnt really do anything. They were not big enough to really matter. I might be able to wrap zip ties thru the holes on the peg board and around that back support. 

 

As far as the shelf under the desk. 

 

 

It would be difficult as I got this under it. Its not pretty, but all the cables are off the ground, which was my goal. 

 

Ultimately Id like to find a way to eliminate the power strip on the top of the desk at the very least. 

 

Started looking at Peg boards. The challenge is going to be finding one wide enough. The desk from pole to pole is 55 inches and I have just over 19 inches from the back support bracket near the desk surface and the support for the top shelf. Im kinda liking this idea however, because I might be able to mount the power strip to the board as well using some bolts and nuts. 

[IkeaGnome]

1 hour ago, Donut417 said:

Ultimately Id like to find a way to eliminate the power strip on the top of the desk at the very least. 

 

If your power strip has the holes on the back you can mount it right to that piece that sticks down under your desk. They'd be shaped like a tear drop. I used some zipper sleeves on my desk. Was able to bundle all the wires into one sleeve then just have a sleeve running along the back. Well 2. One from monitors to tower and one from tower to power strip. Usb cables ran through the one to the monitor and popped out with the monitor cables. 

[BondiBlue]

3 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Im afraid that at least from all the reading I have done and product info from Amazon, MacOS doesnt support having multiple displays on one Thunderbolt port. So in order to use multiple displays you have to use multiple ports. 

If you're using a Thunderbolt dock then yes it does. It's regular USB-C docks/dongles that don't support multiple extended displays in macOS. 

[Donut417]

2 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

ight to that piece that sticks down under your desk. They'd be shaped like a tear drop.

I was trying not to drill in to the desk. Ive tried Velcro and it doesnt hold long. Also, I would like to have a couple of power outlets easily accessible. As sometimes I get roped in to fixing computers and things. I seen some power strips that have clamps on them, offer two outlets and a few USB. But after if I can figure out the Peg Board idea, I could mount what I have to it and even being behind my monitor it would be accessible enough. 

 

1 minute ago, BondiBlue said:

If you're using a Thunderbolt dock then yes it does. It's regular USB-C docks/dongles that don't support multiple extended displays in macOS. 

Every thunderbolt dock I have looked at on Amazon explicitly states it does not support extended displays in MacOS. Also, Im not willing to spend $300 on a doc, when all I need is display outputs. 

[BondiBlue]

4 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Every thunderbolt dock I have looked at on Amazon explicitly states it does not support extended displays in MacOS. Also, Im not willing to spend $300 on a doc, when all I need is display outputs. 

Then you weren't looking at Thunderbolt docks, you were looking at USB-C docks. There's a difference. And yes, the Thunderbolt docks are more expensive (as are all Thunderbolt peripherals), but they have different functionality. 

[Donut417]

1 minute ago, BondiBlue said:

Then you weren't looking at Thunderbolt docks, you were looking at USB-C docks. There's a difference. And yes, the Thunderbolt docks are more expensive (as are all Thunderbolt peripherals), but they have different functionality. 

Still Im not paying $300. I have an Anker USB C dock I use if I need extra USB. Unplugging two cables when I need the laptop mobile is not that bad.