Although we haven’t had many opportunities to travel recently, travelling is a fun experience
and possibly even necessary depending on your situation or job.
Maybe you travel to and from university or school across the country, or maybe you frequently
travel internationally for your job.
Or maybe you just love getting away to a different city for the weekend.
Whatever it is, it’s important to be able to work effectively and efficiently if you
need to, whether it be studying for an exam, writing code for an app, or approving finance
requests for your job.
In this video I’m going to show you my Mac travel desk setup, perfected from years of
international and interstate travel, either for work or for pleasure.
While the setup is relatively lightweight and minimal, it still allows me to have a
high level of productivity no matter where I am on the planet.
Also, big thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring this video.
I’ve used Skillshare a lot recently to improve the quality of my content, but more on that
later.
Let’s start with the big stuff - the bag.
If you’re not familiar with the term “onebag”, I encourage you to do some research into it.
In a nutshell, it means travelling with a single bag, whether you’re going away for
the weekend or a 4 week international holiday.
My most recent international trip was to France and Russia for 2 weeks, and I took a single
35L bag.
Sounds a bit crazy right?
Well actually, it was great only having a single bag.
No waiting at the baggage carousel after a flight, no checking in bags, and being able
to go anywhere and do anything because I didn’t have a big roller bag to lug around.
I thoroughly recommend that you look into this whole onebag strategy because I guarantee
you you’ll never look back.
Recently I went on a short trip that involved a few hotels, so I shot some footage of the
setup I use when I travel.
My one bag of choice is the Minaal Carry-On 3.0.
It’s not cheap, but damn it is a rugged bag with a tonne of tech-oriented features.
I won’t go too much into detail on the bag as I will leave that for a separate video.
Comment down below if you’re interested in seeing that by the way.
The Minaal 3.0 allows me to pack all of my clothes, toiletries, and technology in a single
place.
The tech compartment at the back is amazing and allows me to pack my M1 MacBook Air safely,
you can see the design suspends the laptop in the middle of the bag, so even if I drop
the bag on concrete, the laptop will not hit the ground and the bag absorbs everything.
And yes, I’ve tested this several times.
My computer of choice is a base model M1 MacBook Air.
I can do pretty much anything on this machine, including some basic 4K editing and rendering.
I do have the thermal mod applied, which gives me roughly an extra 15% more performance at
the cost of the back chassis getting much hotter during intensive use such as rendering
a video.
I have a video on this if you’re interested, link in the top right corner.
I chose the M1 MacBook Air because it’s super powerful, lightweight, and isn’t super
expensive so if it’s lost or stolen, I won’t cry for too long.
The battery life is also amazing which is perfect for travel, especially on long plane
flights or at airports where powerpoint access is limited.
What about accessories and peripherals?
Good question.
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When I’m away, I generally have to type a lot, so having an ergonomic setup wherever
possible is ideal.
The best way to do this easily and cheaply is to buy a collapsible laptop stand.
I’m using a cheap one from Amazon, and it’s surprisingly sturdy and adjustable.
This will raise your screen up much further than if your laptop was simply sitting on
the table.
Your neck and back will hurt less because of it.
If you can find a stack of books or something similar, you might even be able to get the
screen up to eye level, depending how tall you are.
I love this stand because it folds away into almost nothing, and even though it’s made
of metal, it’s aluminum so it’s still quite lightweight, which is important, especially
if you’re one-bagging and the airline has a weight limit for carry-on luggage.
Every ounce of weight counts.
By the way, all the items I talk about in this video are linked down in the description
below.
For peripherals, I use the standard Apple wireless keyboard, and a Logitech MX Master
mouse.
Starting with the keyboard - there’s no real reason behind my decision.
I’ve had this keyboard for 3 years from a previous job, so I don’t care if it gets
lost or damaged.
Would I be better off with a much smaller and travel-oriented keyboard?
Probably, but then I’d have to go out and spend extra money on it.
I usually spend at least 1-2 hours typing every day, so a proper keyboard is a welcome
addition.
I also like that it charges via a lightning cable, which is something I already carry
for my iPhone.
The MX Master mouse is a no-brainer.
I’ve featured this mouse on my channel several times now and can thoroughly recommend it.
It’s super ergonomic, comfortable, and responsive.
Like the keyboard, you can certainly get smaller and lighter mice, but for something you’ll
be likely using for hours every day, in my opinion the slightly heavier weight and larger
size of the MX Master compared to a slim profile mouse is worth it.
Make sure you bring a cheap, thin mouse pad too because the surfaces of hotel desks may
not be too smooth.
By the way, all of this is stored neatly in the back compartment of the Minaal 3.0.
Another super useful piece of equipment is the Anker 8-1 USB-C hub.
I’ve also reviewed this on my channel previously and it’s a great addition for any setup.
I can instantly gain access to ethernet, USB ports, SD cards, HDMI, and more all with a
single dongle.
I tend to use it mainly for the SD card as all the peripherals I use with my MacBook
are wireless.
Staying with the Anker theme, I also have the Anker PowerCore III Slim power bank.
I did a heap of research before buying this about 12 months ago, and in my opinion it’s
one of the best power banks you can get.
It has 10,000 milliamp hours and is the PD version, which stands for power delivery.
This means you can not only charge your other devices, but even your MacBook itself.
Although, like I found in a previous video, the charging speed is very slow.
I also use a 1TB Samsung T5 SSD to store all of my footage and files that don’t fit on
the internal SSD of my base model MacBook Air.
As for small tech items and miscellaneous things like cables and chargers, I keep them
all in the Peak Design Tech Pouch.
Just like the Minaal bag, the Tech pouch is rugged and very well designed, with an incredibly
intuitive origami-like interior.
If you’re interested in this bag and what I have inside it in further detail, I have
a review on it on my second channel that I’ll link below and up in the top right corner
of this video.
And that is pretty much it.
Like I mentioned before, I’ve implemented onebagging into my travel setup, so although
it looks like I’m taking a heap of gear with me, it’s still relatively lightweight
and minimal, allowing me plenty of space for clothes, toiletries, and other miscellaneous
travel items like travel plug adaptors or even a raincoat for wet weather.
Everything fits into my 35L Minaal 3.0 bag, and the whole setup weighs under 8kg.
Now, I will be refining this setup over the years, but for now I love it as it allows
me to work at a consistent level of productivity from anywhere in the world.
Anyway thank you for watching this video, if you want to check out anything I've featured
in this video links are in the description down below but apart from that, I'll catch
you in the next one.