Wireless equipment makes sense when a desk changes often or devices travel between rooms. At a desk that stays in one place, a wired keyboard and mouse can remove two small chores: keeping batteries charged and keeping track of receivers. The tradeoff is visible cabling, which can be manageable when its route is planned once.
Begin with available ports. A desktop tower under the desk may have plenty of connections but require longer leads than a laptop sitting beside the keyboard. A monitor with a USB hub can offer convenient sockets, provided its upstream data connection to the computer is in place. A monitor's USB ports do not necessarily send data through its video cable.
Make the cable part of the layout
Leave enough free length for the keyboard to move when you write on paper. Route a mouse lead so it does not drag against a rough desk edge or catch under a notebook. Small reusable clips can help keep slack in a useful place, but avoid attaching the cable so tightly that moving a device pulls its connector.
The connector itself needs room. A bulky plug can conflict with the neighboring socket on a slim laptop. Where several permanent peripherals use a hub, check its power and data support for those devices. A hub chosen for a keyboard and mouse is a different proposition from one also expected to run external drives.
Simple does not mean feature-free
Basic typing and pointing may work as soon as a device is connected, while special buttons, lighting controls or saved profiles still require software. Read those requirements if the computer is managed by an employer. Avoid choosing a product mainly for features that cannot be configured on the machine where it will live.
For a shared desk, wired devices also have an obvious connection point. The next person does not need to determine which computer a keyboard was paired with. That can make a plain wired setup particularly useful in a room used occasionally by several people.
Keep the connections reachable for cleaning and replacement. A cable hidden behind fixed furniture can become more troublesome than the charging routine it replaced. The aim is a desk that is straightforward to use and maintain, with just enough visible wiring to explain how its parts belong together.
