Equipment

Three Builds.
Three Budgets.

First what is actually on my desk, then what I would buy at three, six and nine thousand Canadian dollars. Apple first, then the peripherals that actually change the work, and nothing on the list that is only there to look good in a photo.

Start At Under $3,000 The Rig I Run

Cody Wise works on a 2021 MacBook Pro M1 Max bought maxed out, with a widescreen monitor, a Blue Snowball microphone, a Sony A7 III camera and a LaCie 4TB drive. The page then gives three complete builds, priced in Canadian dollars at under three, six and nine thousand. Each build is Apple first.

The Rig I Actually Run

11 things on the desk today. This is an inventory, not a recommendation. The three builds below are what I would buy with the money in one go, which is a different question, and the honest answer to both is on the same page so you can see where they disagree.

MacBook Pro M1 Max, 2021 The machine everything runs on. Bought maxed out in 2021, which is the reason it is still the machine and not a trade in. It is also why tier two below is a Pro laptop rather than an Air.

Widescreen monitor The main display, on the arm, at eye height.

Monitor arm and Mac mount Screen off the stand, machine off the desk. The cheapest fix for your neck on this page.

Apple Magic Keyboard Low profile, nothing to install, matches the machine.

Apple Magic Mouse The Apple pointer. Gestures the way the operating system expects them.

Logitech MX Master 3S The second mouse, and the one on tier one below. Quiet clicks and a wheel worth the money.

Blue Snowball microphone The microphone currently on the desk. It is the weakest item here and the first thing on this page I would replace. Every tier below has a better one, which is the point of listing it.

Sony A7 III Full frame body for stills and video. The jump from a webcam to a camera, which is tier three on the list below.

Monitor light bar Light on the desk, not on the screen. No glare and no lamp in the shot.

Large desk mat Runs under the keyboard and the mouse. The desk stops looking like a desk.

LaCie 4TB external drive Working storage, so footage does not live on the laptop.

No prices in this list. I gave the items, not the receipts, and inventing a number here would undo the only thing that makes the three lists below worth reading.

How To Read This

Four rules that decide the order things get bought in. They matter more than any single item on the lists below.

Machine First

Every other purchase is downstream of the thing you work on. Underbuying here costs more than it saves, every time.

One Light Beats One Camera

At every budget, lighting moves the picture further than a bigger sensor does. Buy the light first.

The Chair Beats The Second Screen

It is the item you use most and think about least. It goes before a second monitor, not after it.

Ports Are Not Optional

A hub, or a monitor that is one, is the least exciting line on the list and the reason the desk stays one cable.

Every price is in Canadian dollars, checked against Apple Canada and Canadian retailers in August 2026. Where a retailer was running a sale I have used the regular price, not the sale price, so the number does not go stale the week the sale ends. Prices still move. Treat the totals as a shape, not a quote, and check the current price on the link before you buy anything. Links go to an Amazon.ca search for the exact product.

Tier One

The Start

A desktop, not a laptop. At this budget a Mac mini buys more machine than an Air does, and the money saved goes into the screen, the microphone and the light, which are the parts a viewer actually notices. There is no chair on this list, because at three thousand Canadian there is no room for a good one. It is the first thing to add when there is more budget.

Under $3,000 $2,805 CAD as listed

Item	Why It Is On The List	CAD
Apple Mac mini M6 16GB 256GB	The machine. More power per dollar than any laptop at this price, silent, and it lives under the monitor.	$1,249
LG UltraFine 27UP850K-W 27 inch 4K USB-C	One cable carries picture, data and power. 4K so type is sharp instead of soft.	$500
Apple Magic Keyboard USB-C	Low profile, matches the machine, no software to install.	$119
Logitech MX Master 3S mouse	The mouse designers keep buying. Quiet clicks, a wheel worth the money.	$160
Elgato Wave 3 USB microphone	Sounds like a studio on a call and good enough to publish.	$230
Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP	Gets the microphone off the desk and out of the shot. Buy it with the microphone, not later.	$140
Elgato Facecam MK.2	A real sensor and a fixed focus lens. No autofocus hunting mid sentence.	$180
Elgato Key Light Neo	One light beats any camera upgrade at this budget.	$100
Anker 555 USB-C hub	Ports back. Card reader, HDMI, USB-A, pass through charging.	$70
Desky Leather Desk Mat Medium	The desk stops looking like a desk and starts looking like a setup.	$57
Total as listed		$2,805

Tier Two

The Working Setup

The build for someone doing this every day, and the tier where the work stops being tied to the desk. A Pro laptop, a hub monitor that replaces the dock, and audio, video and a chair good enough to charge for.

Under $6,000 $5,854 CAD as listed

Item	Why It Is On The List	CAD
Apple MacBook Pro 14 inch M5 16GB 1TB	The machine you keep for five years. Handles multicam, big Photoshop files and local models, and it travels.	$2,799
Dell P2725QE 27 inch 4K USB-C hub monitor	90W of power, ethernet and a USB hub in the monitor, so one cable does the whole desk and there is no dock to buy.	$899
Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID	Touch ID on the desktop. Small thing, used forty times a day.	$179
Apple Magic Trackpad	Gestures the way the operating system expects them.	$159
Twelve South Curve Flex laptop stand	Screen at eye height. The cheapest fix for your neck you will ever buy.	$110
Shure MV7 Plus microphone	USB now, XLR later. The podcast microphone that does not need a treated room.	$380
Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP	Gets the microphone off the desk and out of the shot.	$140
Elgato Key Light	Full size, app controlled, mounted to the desk instead of the floor.	$230
Elgato Facecam MK.2	Fixed focus, real sensor, no hunting.	$180
Branch Ergonomic Chair	The chair you sit in for eight hours. Buy it before the second monitor.	$449
Apple AirPods Pro 3	Calls, edits on the move, and noise cancelling in a coffee shop.	$329
Total as listed		$5,854

Tier Three

The Studio

A desktop that never throttles, a 5K panel you can grade on, and a camera and audio chain that shoots publishable work without a crew. This is a room you film in, not a desk you sit at.

Under $9,000 $8,905 CAD as listed

Item	Why It Is On The List	CAD
Apple Mac Studio M5 Max 36GB 512GB	The room does not get warm and the fans do not spin. Renders, exports and local models.	$3,499
Apple Studio Display	5K, P3 colour, and a stand that gets it to the right height. The reason the desk looks like this.	$2,099
Sony ZV-E10 II camera body	Interchangeable lens, proper autofocus, clean 4K. The jump from webcam to camera.	$1,400
Shure SM7dB microphone	The broadcast standard, with the preamp built in so you do not need a cloudlifter.	$750
Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID	Touch ID on the desktop. Small thing, used forty times a day.	$179
Apple Magic Trackpad	Gestures the way the operating system expects them.	$159
Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP	Holds the SM7dB and keeps it out of frame.	$140
Elgato Key Light	App controlled, mounted to the desk. Add the second one when the frame gets wider.	$230
Branch Ergonomic Chair	Same chair as tier two. There is no version of this that gets better by costing more.	$449
Total as listed		$8,905

Why It Is Apple

Not brand loyalty. The machines are silent, the battery lasts a full working day, the resale value is real, and the software I use every day is built for them first. When the tool disappears you stop thinking about the tool.

The peripherals are the opposite. There is no reason to pay a premium for a keyboard that types the same, so the money goes where it is felt: the display, the microphone, the light, and the chair.

One thing worth saying about the numbers. Canadian pricing runs about forty percent above the US on hardware, so these are not the American lists converted. Each tier was rebuilt to actually land under its cap here, which is why tier one is a Mac mini rather than an Air. At this budget the mini buys more machine, and the difference goes into the screen and the microphone.

What To Skip

A second monitor before a chair. RGB anything. A camera upgrade before a light. Storage in the machine when an external drive is a quarter of the price. A microphone with no arm, so it lives on the desk and picks up every keystroke.

Buy The Kit Once.
Then Go Build.

The gear is the easy part. If you want the room where people are actually using it, that is Creator Club.

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Three Builds.Three Budgets.