Comfy Chair Computing

For most of my career, my idea of a development workstation was an office chair, a desk, and a capable Windows machine connected to three large monitors. I always made sure I had plenty of screen real estate so that I could keep code, documentation, email, and whatever else I needed open at the same time. I spent a lot of hours planted in office chairs in front of desks, both at my workplace and at home.

Retirement gave me the chance to rethink not just what I work on, but where I sit while I work on it. These days, when I want to do some development, I often settle into a reclining, comfortable chair with my MacBook on my lap. A large monitor sits on a side table, along with holders for my most important accessories: my coffee cup and my reading glasses. I also have my iPad connected for development, which can act as a third screen if I need it.

It is a smaller setup than the one I used to rely on, but it works surprisingly well. The MacBook is the center of things; the side monitor is for email, browsers, and maybe an AI console. A single cable connection plugs my MacBook into the desk-side setup, providing video to the external monitor, audio to my headphones, a fast wired connection to my iPad, and power to the MacBook (Thunderbolt 5 bandwidth is impressive!). Even though having a conventional mouse on my desk was a given for my conventional workstation setup, I find that using the trackpad on my MacBook works just as well — I’ve gotten so that I can use it without even thinking about it now. The reclining chair is much easier on my back than even the best office chair that I’ve owned.

I have also tried changing up my computing environment by using a standing desk, but I found it just didn’t work well for me at all. YMMV.

The change in environment towards comfy-ness is more than a rearrangement of equipment. An office chair and a desk tend to put me in an “at work” mental state. In fact, for my part-time day job, I still use my Windows 3-monitor rig most of the time. The reclining chair feels more relaxing, and it fits better with the way I want retirement to feel.

Of course, there is a small catch. Before I can do any development in my little comfy ecosystem, I have to get plugged in: sit in my chair, grab the (optional but recommended) lapdesk ¹ that I put under my MacBook, grab the MacBook, connect the one cable to its Thunderbolt port, put on my reading glasses, recline, and make sure my coffee cup is in reach. When I need to get up, I reverse the process. Getting up for a coffee refill is a much bigger undertaking from my comfy computing nest.

My Windows workstation was built for long days of focused development, in an era when my back was less problematic than it is now. My comfy computing setup is built for doing interesting work in a way that feels comfortable and fits into retirement. Comfort is worth the effort of plugging in and unplugging.