I’ve only been to London once and there is really good public transportation. Couldn’t you pick a smaller town outside of London maybe on the end of line for trains or something like that to get a cheaper place? You could then save money I presume and still be within an hour or so of family/friends. I’m in US so a 3-4 hour drive to me is nothing and a short train ride is even less of a deal.

I have a sit/stand desk and 2 monitors plus laptop and am experimenting with 1 monitor and will probably buy a webcam soon since I’d prefer the MacBook to be “docked” for desk space. I’d recommend sit/stand since the lower back will feel it after some time, although you are young.

Personally, at your age, I would live in the city (or outside but good connection).

And invest in decent equipment:

- Chair

- Keyboard and mouse/trackball that suit your preferences

- Monitors, like: Dell Ultrasharp - https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/monitors/ar/8141

- Headphones, like: Sennheiser HD280 PRO - https://en-us.sennheiser.com/hd-280-pro

Just make sure you have the essentials. you don’t need fancy setup, bunch of monitors etc, use virtual desktops if needed and just 1 monitor so you can work from wherever you want.

Saying this so you don’t get used to full setup if not needed. Laptop with a good internet connection and a pair of headphones is all I need and use as an SRE

I've been travelling with a t420 for months without really missing anything. Coming from a custom keyboard, multiple screens, etc.

I would just get a current ThinkPad

Comfortable and ergonomic chair-table-keyboard-mouse are the only crucial things you need to pay close attention to.

And the screen of course

- standing desk 140x80

- foot rest

- chair with head rest

- monitor arm

- one monitor - some hp with only one USB C cable..it acts as a charger too.

- keyboard, mouse - logi mx series

- laptop riser/holder

approx cost was 1000€