Desk setup for a Mac: chair, keyboard and screen, step by step

A good desk setup for a Mac is built from the floor up. Set your chair so your feet are flat and your back is supported, bring the keyboard and mouse to your elbows, then move the screen to your eyes, and finally sort out the light. Each step depends on the one before it, which is why so many desks feel wrong: people start with the screen, then adjust the chair to suit it, and end up with dangling feet or raised shoulders.

The whole thing takes about ten minutes and needs nothing more than a few books and perhaps a box for your feet. Work through the steps below in order, then use the checklist at the end to check it once a month or whenever something starts to ache.

Step 1: chair height and feet

Ignore the desk for now. Sit all the way back in the chair and adjust the seat height until:

• your feet rest flat on the floor,
• your thighs are roughly level, and
• your knees are at about the height of your hips or a little lower.

If your chair has an adjustable seat depth, slide it so that there is a gap of a few fingers' width between the front edge of the seat and the back of your knees. A seat that presses into the back of your knees pushes you forward to perch on the edge.

You may find later that you need to raise the chair to reach the desk. That is fine. When your feet then no longer reach the floor, put something under them: a footrest, a sturdy box or a couple of thick books. Feet that dangle or tuck under the chair pull the rest of your posture out of shape.

Step 2: back support

Now make the chair hold you up, so your muscles don't have to.

• Sit back. Your bottom should be at the back of the seat, with the backrest touching your back. Perching on the front half of the seat is a common reason a good chair feels bad.
• Support the lower back. If the chair has adjustable lumbar support, move it to sit in the curve of your lower back. If it has none, a small cushion or a rolled up towel does the same job.
• Lean back a little. Sitting bolt upright is tiring. A backrest tipped slightly past vertical lets the chair take some of your weight, and many people find it more comfortable over a long day.
• Set the armrests low. They should let your shoulders stay relaxed. If they push your elbows up, lower them or take them off, and if they stop you from getting close to the desk, move them out of the way.

Step 3: elbows and keyboard

Let your arms hang loosely at your sides, then bend your elbows to about a right angle, or a little more open. Your forearms should be roughly level. That is where your keyboard belongs: at about elbow height or slightly below.

• If the desk is too high, the keyboard ends up above your elbows and your shoulders rise to reach it. Raise the chair and use a footrest from step 1.
• Keep your wrists straight. Your hands should continue the line of your forearms, not bend up at the wrist. Many ergonomics guides suggest leaving the keyboard flat rather than propping up its back feet, because the tilt bends the wrists back.
• Center the letters, not the keyboard. On a keyboard with a number pad, the letter keys sit to the left of center. Line up the middle of the letter keys with your body, and let the number pad stick out to the right.
• Rest between bursts, not during them. Floating your hands over the keys while you type and resting them in your lap or on the desk when you pause is easier on the wrists than leaning on them the whole time.

If you work on a MacBook, this is the step where the built-in keyboard stops working: it cannot be at your elbows while the screen is at your eyes. A separate keyboard fixes that, and good posture with a MacBook goes through the options.

Step 4: mouse or trackpad

Put the mouse or trackpad right next to the keyboard, at the same height, close enough that you can use it with your elbow still by your side. Reaching out to a mouse at the far corner of the desk can leave one shoulder higher and tighter than the other by the end of the day.

• Keep it on the same surface as the keyboard. A mouse on a higher desk while the keyboard sits on a lower tray makes you lift your arm every time.
• A Magic Trackpad can sit on either side of the keyboard, or right in front of it. Some people swap sides now and then to share the work between hands.
• Keyboard shortcuts cut down on mousing. Learning even a handful, like Command Tab to switch apps and Command W to close a window, saves a lot of reaching over a day.

Step 5: screen height and distance

Only now does the screen move, because it has to fit the position you have just set.

1. Center it. Put the screen you use most directly in front of you, so you don't sit with your head turned. With two displays you use equally, put the place where they meet in front of you.
2. Set the distance. Sit back in your chair and stretch an arm forward. The screen should be at about your fingertips, or a bit further for a large display. How far your screen should be from your eyes has the details.
3. Set the height. The top of the screen should be at or slightly below eye level, so that you look a little down toward the middle of it. Use the display's stand, a monitor arm or a stack of books.
4. Tilt it back slightly, so the screen faces your eyes rather than your chest.
5. Adjust for your glasses. If you wear bifocals or progressive lenses, you probably read through the lower part of the lens, so set the screen a little lower than usual to avoid tipping your head back.

If you find yourself leaning toward the screen after all this, the text is too small. Make it bigger on the Mac rather than moving the screen closer.

Step 6: light and glare

Bad light makes you squint and lean in, which undoes the rest of the setup.

• Put windows to the side. A window behind the screen means you stare into bright light. A window behind you puts its reflection on the screen. Side on is best.
• Look for reflections. Sit in your normal position and look at the screen with it dark. If you can see a lamp or a ceiling light, tilt the screen or move the light.
• Match the screen to the room. On a Mac, turn on Automatically adjust brightness in System Settings > Displays, if your Mac shows it, and True Tone where it is offered. Mac screen brightness for eye comfort covers both.
• Light the desk, not the screen. If you work from paper, a desk lamp aimed at the paper is better than turning up the room's overhead lights.

The checklist

Run through this once your desk is set up, and again whenever something feels off.

Keeping it set up

A desk does not stay set up. Chairs sink, laptops creep back onto the desk, and over an afternoon you slide forward until you are perched on the edge of the seat with your nose near the screen. Even the best setup is a starting point, and moving often matters as much as getting the heights right. Get up between tasks, change position, and come back to the checklist position rather than holding it rigidly all day.

Notchpals' Posture characters are made for that drift. If Barnaby, a butler who announces your reminders with perfect dignity, or Sir Pounce, a posh cat, is the Posture member of your crew, it comes out of the notch every so often with a Posture check or a Shoulders down. Once a day, between 2 and 7 PM, it also asks about the two screen rows of the table with a Screen distance visit. One of Barnaby's posture checks goes straight to the top row:

BarnabyFeet flat on the floor, ankles uncrossed. Anything else is a minor scandal.

Press Done once your feet are back where they belong, or Later if you're mid-sentence, and it returns once, 20 minutes later. How often they come is set by one crew-wide choice in Settings (Calm, Normal or Chatty), and on any of the three you get a nudge a few times a day, not a nag every few minutes.

A good setup can make everyday stiffness less common. If you have pain that lasts, gets worse, or comes with numbness, tingling or weakness in your arms or hands, see a doctor or a physiotherapist rather than adjusting the chair again.