My quick shortlist for a cleaner, more useful desk

Small tactile accessories make the desk feel less digital

The tabletop flip calendar is super inexpensive, but it does exactly what I want a desk accessory to do: it makes the setup feel better without taking over the whole desk. In a world where everything keeps becoming more digital focused, having something tactile and old school sitting there is weirdly satisfying.

That is the theme running through a bunch of these picks. Not every accessory needs to be the most practical thing on the planet. Sometimes the right little object makes the desk look cleaner, feel more intentional, and give you that tiny bit of enjoyment every time you use it.

Lofree Flow 2 is a properly nice keyboard upgrade

For the longest time, I was using the Lofree Flow mechanical keyboard as my go-to keyboard of choice, and nothing had really come close to the typing experience I enjoy. Then Lofree sent over the Flow 2 a few months back, and I was not ready for how nice an upgrade it was.

I went with the void linear switches, and oh my goodness, they are amazing. The Lofree Flow 2 also makes two hardware changes that matter: it now has a touch sensitive bar on the side that can adjust computer volume or screen brightness, and it comes with a 2.4 GHz USB receiver, which is so much more stable and reliable than Bluetooth.

The custom keycaps on mine came from my older NuPhy Air 96 V2 mechanical keyboard that was sitting in storage. I do not recommend buying an entire keyboard just for keycaps, obviously, but NuPhy sells a similar Coast Dawn set on its website for about 25 bucks.

A proper cleaning kit is a no-brainer for keyboards and screens

The 22-in-1 keyboard cleaner is an absolute no-brainer accessory because it looks simple from the outside, then hides a bucketload of useful little cleaning tools inside. It technically doubles as a wrist rest, but the real magic is the stuff inside the lid: tools for cleaning earphones, USB-C ports, keycaps, and keyboards, plus little pop-out phone brackets, a cloth, and a spray bottle.

The catch is that the spray bottle does not come pre-filled, which is where the Whoosh Cleaning Kit comes in. I’ve tried a bucketload of screen cleaning solutions over the years, and despite the high price tag, I always come back to Whoosh as my go-to option. It cleans screens properly, and it is non-toxic, so it is not going to inadvertently damage them.

Shortcut pads and timers are more useful than they look

The mini keyboard is one of those accessories that keeps popping up in the background of my B-roll, and people keep asking what on earth it is. Basically, it is a pretty inexpensive mini mechanical keyboard with 19 keys, a volume knob, programmable buttons, a joystick, and a scroll wheel, designed to sit beside your existing keyboard and mouse setup.

You can download software for customization, and the way I use it is for keyboard shortcuts. If I am constantly opening something like the Lumetri Color window in Premiere Pro, I can map that shortcut to a single key press instead. I have not found much success with the macro functionality, and the software is a little hard to get your head around, but for standard shortcuts, the tactile jog wheel, and the joystick, it is pretty dang nifty.

The TK3 Timer is another accessory that looks cool just sitting on the desk, but it is also genuinely useful for efficiency. It works as a digital clock, then when you want a dedicated amount of time for work, meditation, or even a break, you just flip it to one of the preset times and the timer starts instantly.

The base, with its funky little keys, is essentially a glorified fidget toy. That said, it also provides pass-through charging to the timer, which is pretty nice.

Wrist support and SSD mounting solved real desk annoyances

The Carpio wrist rest from DeltaHub has been on my desk for literally over 4 years now. The concept is brilliantly simple: it sits behind your mouse and raises your wrist by about a centimeter. Before I started using it, my wrist would start aching during long editing sessions, but in the 4 years I’ve been using it, it has not ached once.

DeltaHub’s magnetic mount system is also genuinely clever if you use an external SSD with a laptop. You place one side on your drive and the other on your laptop, giving the SSD a cleaner spot to live instead of dangling from a cable. It also helps keep the drive secure, which reduces the chance of accidental unplugs.

Drawer trays, phone mounts, and cable clips clean up clutter fast

The shallow drawer organizer set solved a very specific problem on my main editing desk. My Omnidesk drawer add-on is lovely, but it is shallow, and I struggled to find trays that fit. This kit is designed to be uniquely shallow, and because it is not one single unit, it gives you way more flexibility across different drawer shapes.

The Cloud Valley magnetic phone holder is the cleaner alternative to leaving a phone stand on the desk. You attach it to the rear of a monitor or laptop with the included adhesive tape, unfold it when you need a phone spot, then fold it away when you are done. It works best with MagSafe devices, but it also includes a metal ring for non-MagSafe phones, which is how I am using it with my S25 Ultra.

Lamicall cable clips are another small accessory that can make a desk look dramatically cleaner. I still recommend my in-desk power solution, but it can leave the desk feeling cluttered, so I’ve recently started routing charging cables through these clips instead. You do need to be strategic with cable routing, otherwise you can end up with too much excess cable under the table.

Charging and cables are where compact gear really matters

If you still want to use an in-desk power solution from time to time, swapping a clunky power brick for the Novu 100W USB C Charger makes a lot of sense. It is a fraction of the size of the brick that came with my MacBook Pro, and it has no problem charging my MacBook Pro. As far as charge bricks go, this is by far the most compact 100 watt version I could find.

The Verbatim retractable headphone cable is exactly the sort of accessory I should have bought earlier. I was untangling my headphone cord for editing and realized I already liked retractable USB cables, so why not use one for headphones too? It has been working perfectly, and it is so much cleaner than storing a coiled cable.

Sharge Disk Pro is expensive, but the feature stack is wild

The Sharge Disk Pro is the premium pick here, but if you are in the market for either a new SSD or a USB hub, the whole idea makes a ridiculous amount of sense. It has Sharge’s transparent base design, it works as an SSD, and it includes its own built-in USB-C cable, which is handy if you often forget to pack cables.

Once plugged in, the Sharge Disk Pro also becomes an actively cooled USB hub. The slot where the cable tucks in can accept another USB-C cable, and the drive can output up to 80 W of charging. There are also two USB-A ports, which I use for the USB dongles for my mouse and keyboard, plus an HDMI port for connecting to an external monitor or TV.

The built-in fan helps it stay cool, MagSafe functionality lets it attach to MagSafe devices for capturing footage straight to the drive, and the data protection control switch can put the SSD component into idle mode so it cannot be accessed on a computer.

From Sam Beckman