How gear gets chosen

The ten rules behind the owner's monitor, desk and accessory decisions on this site, written down so you can borrow them or disagree with them. Every record on the site follows this order.

1. One constraint at a timeLayer requirements: "38 inches max", then "released this year", then "6K". Each answer narrows the field. Do not try to specify everything up front.
2. Hard physical limits firstDesk width, leg-opening width, thigh clearance, where the wall and the curtain are. "Will it fit" gets answered with spec-sheet math (31.1 in of drawers vs a 33-35 in opening) before "is it good".
3. Spreadsheet-first use caseDense sheets all day, so text sharpness, resolution and a gentle curve win over gaming features. 1000R curves were rejected because they bow straight lines in Excel; OLED was flagged for burn-in on static sheets.
4. Canada-first sourcingDell.ca, Desky.ca, Amazon.ca, Best Buy Canada. Prices in CAD, checked against US retail after conversion before calling a discount real.
5. Incremental upgrades have to earn itThe LG-to-Dell move was real but incremental (120 vs 72 Hz, 2,000:1 vs 1,000:1, 450 vs 300 nits). It happened because the gains compounded with the hub and KVM.
6. Consolidate rather than addThe Dell's hub replaced a dock. The C$99.90 slim drawer beat the C$549 cabinet because it solved the actual problem without taking floor space. The question before any purchase: does what is already owned cover this?
7. Trust the instinct, verify with specs“I feel like I don’t need the cabinet” was already the owner’s answer; the measurements confirmed it.
8. Verify compatibility down to the SKUThe Ergotron LX was within the weight range for the 40-inch Dell but not the size rating. Check the specific listing, not the product family.
9. Price is a tiebreaker, not the driverC$99.90 vs C$549 sealed the drawer decision; a C$2,899 monitor was fine once the upgrade was justified.
10. One pick, one reasonShortlists are fine for research. Decisions get a bottom line.

See the rules applied to the desk → · and to the pocket dump →