The Ultimate Computer Desk? 67
Roonster asks: "I've just moved into a new house and I am now lucky enough to have a separate room to use as a computer room/office. I have been searching for a new computer desk but most of the standard offerings seem to be lacking in imagination and design. I also tend to sit in a reclined position with my feet up on the desk beside the monitor, this eliminates a lot of the corner and U shaped designs. Have any of you come up with unique yet functional desk setups? I remember seeing some really wild (and expensive) workstations a few years ago, but have been unable to locate them recently. Any Ideas?" This topic was last discussed some 2 years ago. I figured it was time for a rehash.
my desk (Score:1)
Repost! (Score:1, Flamebait)
Seriously, I use a huge, heavy, solidly-built desk that is at least 20 years old. The older desks seem (in general, not in every case) to be built wway more solidly. This is important for me, cos I have a LOT of stuff on my desk (at least 60kgs all up, plus my weight when I'm killing spiders on the ceiling).
Also, the older desks weren't built with PCs in mind, yet they quite often seem to work better than new "workstation" desks and like - especially those desks with a tower holder and monitor cavity, etc. What the hell do you do with your larger-than-15-inch monitor that doesn't fit in that little hole? I find that a large, flat desk just works better for me.
And one inportant bonus is that I find you can obtain these desks rather cheaply and they last forever.
For Some Reason (Score:1)
Simple but effective (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Simple but effective (Score:1)
counter? (Score:1)
Care about your back and eyes (Score:2, Insightful)
I've always liked the Antro stuff (Score:3, Informative)
-shoOz-
Re:I've always liked the Antro stuff (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I've always liked the Antro stuff (Score:1)
My DIY Office Desk Plans (Score:5, Informative)
I designed my own computer desk and after using it for nearly a year now, I must say that I really like it a lot! I decided to build my own after realizing a few things...
After much searching around town I came to the realization that I wanted the look and functionality of a cheap desk but made out of hardwood like the expensive, god awful ugly unfunctional executive style desks. So from this I realized that I would have to make my own. Luckily, my grandfather is very skilled at woodworking and has made pieces of furniture before. So after talking it over with him I began making plans for a computer desk with enough room for:
I did the plans in MS Word 2000 (yea, try to keep the laughing to a minimum) in 1/12th scale (i.e. 1 inch = 1 foot). The plans show only the left side and the printer/server island. The second desk is a mirror of the left side. The plans are available here [areontheweb.com] in PDF and Word 2000 versions. These plans are a little different from desk we eventually made, but the desktop area remained unchanged.
If you are truly interested in this design, I can take some photos of the finished product and provide modified plans for the version we built, along with a parts list (not to mention the "what not to do's" you only know after building one =). If you are so interested, just write a replay to this posting and I'll see what I can do. The approx cost of my desk for both sides and the server island was about $550-600 I believe (which included nearly $100 for some really nice drawer rails/slides/thingys).
Anyway this is the DIY home office solution I've came up with so I hope it either gives someone else ideas or the guts to do it themselves!
Re:My DIY Office Desk Plans (Score:3, Informative)
The desk layout shown in the document on thecampbeln's website is very much like what I am using; although mine wasn't DIY.
About 18 months ago I moved my office into a room in my basement. At work, I had been using a HermanMiller Passage Suite [hermanmiller.com] and had been very satisfied with it. While brand new HermanMiller furniture was out of my price range, the local HM dealer did have some old show room components that I was able to purchase for a much more reasonable price.
Re:My DIY Office Desk Plans (Score:1)
Bring 'em on!
Smilee
Here are some photos of the desk... (Score:2, Informative)
View the JPGs here. [areontheweb.com]
I can't be the only one (Score:2, Informative)
This [techtv.com] would be quite an upgrade, but I can't imagine sitting there all day like that.
I saw on techtv the other day a desk that had 2 flat panels that hung down in front of you. It wasn't even really a desk... just a really sweet looking computer chair thing. I can't find the link to it, but it was a whole system, and from what I remember it wasn't too expensive. Anyone else know what desk I'm talking about? I'll look for a link...
Re:I can't be the only one (Score:1)
Not far off
I've got a peice of laminated particle board on cinder blocks, with a shelf I built out of some scavanged pallet lumber.
yeah, my desk is redneck, what's your point?
Re:I can't be the only one (Score:1)
Re:I can't be the only one (Score:1, Flamebait)
Al Queda is going to invade any second and you want to use an important resource to build a desk, are you mad.
Re:I can't be the only one (Score:1)
Seriously, asuming Al-Queda did launch a major attack on my town of 2000 souls in the middle of nowhere, how many people would seal their windows but forget to enclose the AC air intakes, range hood, fireplace, and/or dryer vent, that's right 99% would screw up. Do you really trust your building super to attend to your apartment complex when his own house and family are in danger? Do you really trust 6 mil plastic made by someone making minimum wage (or less, depending on country of manufacture) to really be as fine grained as needed to prevent a VX gas exposure. Unless you retreat to your nearest positive air pressure, known clean air, nuke/tornado shelter, you aren't going to survive a bio/chem attack without immediate medical attention.
That being said, if they attack, I'm going to the company data center bunker, it should be survivable, and with the addition of a firearm, defendable. Take that Sarah Brady!
Re:I can't be the only one (Score:2)
One geek, one gun. The showdown in the data center. I'm really sure Al Queda is worried about you
Re:I can't be the only one (Score:1)
Re:I can't be the only one (Score:2)
He's counting on IDKFA.
One thing you might want to consider (Score:2)
One thing I like is to have a lot of technical books by my machine. Because of this, the next desk I buy will have a shelf above where the monitors will go. Its otherwise wasted space anyways.
Poetic Technologies (Score:1, Informative)
http://www.poetictech.com/ [poetictech.com]
Re:Poetic Technologies (Score:1)
Here's an example... (Score:3, Informative)
This desk [penny-arcade.com] looks very nice. I particularly like the rackmount piece, it integrates nicely.
All in all, it's a nice finish, a nice rack (mount), but not huge. This is a work desk, not a lounging desk.
Still, it's given me ideas, perhaps it'll help you too.
(Yes, it's off the Penny Arcade domain. No, the link isn't to a comic strip.)
what about DIY (Score:4, Interesting)
or if you have no mechanical abilities, and thats fine, you can go to IKEA [ikea.com] and buy kits at a reasonable cost. plus theyll look good.
Re:what about DIY (Score:2)
an old door, you know a solid, flat one, supported by two bookshelves that are also old and sturdy. I built it for $10 out of stuff at from local estate sale (like a garage sale)! it holds 3 moniters fine, and all of my books on the shelves. a bit of paint and it looks great.
Re:what about DIY (Score:2, Insightful)
It is the best desk I have ever had. I have room for my two monitors, ample space to do schoolwork, and still more space for stoarge or whatever. It's a bit weird cause I have nor shelves or drawers.
All of the good desk I have seen have been the do it yourself variety, usually done pretty cheap using second hand parts.
Store bought desk tend to be cheap and not sturdy. They are constructed from particle board and held together by pegs or some other crappy means. A _good_ store bought desk will cost you a lot. Try going to a used office supply store and see if they have any real old desk, those are always the best. If there are any colleges in your area go to their surplus stores/sales, you can always find an old desk or material to build one yourself.
check this thing out. (Score:3, Interesting)
only $7K!
http://www.mypce.com/products.html
Get a real desk... (Score:4, Interesting)
PoeticTech Desks [poetictech.com]
All others pale by comparison and the amount of comfort and human convenience is mind-boggling. There's even room to put in tiny little fridges!
There is nothing better (that I've seen) than what these guys can do for you. A computer desk with air conditioning; a power swivel--for the whole desk just to track the sun (no sun-glare for you); specially-designed ambient lighting; ultimately adjustable seats! What more need be said? This Ask Slashdot is answered.
Re:Get a real desk... (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally, I just use a standard executive office desk. Nice huge workspace, sliding keyboard tray, cable organizers at the back, and two small bookcases on wheels that roll around the room. Tower lives beside the desk, printer lives on one of the bookcases, and you can guess where the books live. Maybe it's just me, but I don't mind getting up if I need a book or grab a printout. Now if you took away my Aeron or my second monitor, that would be an entirely different story...
Re:Get a real desk... (Score:2)
Re:Get a real desk... (Score:1)
Nice L Desk (Score:2, Interesting)
Cinder blocks and plywood (Score:1)
ObSimpsons Quotes (Score:4, Funny)
Bart: According to three-time soap box derby champion Ronny Beck, "Poorly guarded contruction sites are a gold mine."
Quote 2: [snpp.com]
Marge: Homer, we have a perfectly good bookcase.
Homer: Yeah, but this is what they're doing on campus. Besides, it isn't costing us: I swiped the cinderblocks from a construction site.
[At the site, a worker walks forlornly up to his boss]
Worker: Sir, six cinderblocks are missing.
Boss: There'll be no hospital, then. I'll tell the children.
~Philly
My desk (Score:2)
It's a hack, but it works.
Ghetto (Score:2)
Ikea (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Ikea (Score:2)
At one stage, I even constructed a poor-mans dealer desk using a Jerker - two monitors, two weokstation boxes and a keyboard + switch.
I use Grandpa's desk (Score:1)
Wide drawer in the center for pencils and desk supplies, drawers down both sides -- bottom right is double height for file folders. On either side of the chair, there are pull out boards for writing or holding papers -- but I use em for resting my elbows on while I'm typing.
I've never measured it, but it must be over a yard deep. With the keyboard in front of me and a few inches of open space, my 21" monitor doesn't hang off the back of it. Plenty of room on either side for a stack of books, a picture, phone, and speakers.
Only downside is the sheer size of this thing. Barely fit though my doors moving in, and it's heavy! Any future apartments will have to be on the first floor -- not sure I could convince friends to help me move it up a flight of stairs!
This seems like it'd be the perfect desk for kicking your legs up on and leaning back, but I just sit kinda normal like in my chair.
Wire Racks (Score:2)
I'm a fan of this system. They have a few competetors with similar specs.
Since they have many odd parts, you can easily make exactly what you want.
Wire rack makes it simple to velcro or zip tie cables, and attach things to an overhead shelf like speakers and lights
Hospital table or a reading table (Score:1)
Ikea makes this small computer unit that can sit by the side of your chair.
I worked at Borland years ago and someone at the time used a lazyboy and a hospital table so that the monitor was positioned just right.
A door and milk crates (Score:1)
Re:A door and milk crates (Score:1)
Build it yourself (Score:2)
If you have the tools, then building your own really isn't all that hard. A 10'x8', 3/4" MDF sheet is about 11 quid ($15) and should be adequate to build a desk to hold multiple machines.
You can use batons to wall mount it, backed up with tubular steel legs (again, fairly cheap) and since you're doing it yourself you can shape it precisely and plan where you're going to put holes, mount points, power points etc.
If I was bulding one, I'd set ethernet ports into the top, or build a vertical section to mount them to. Same with power points - get wall mounting sockets and fit them into the desk and have a single plug coming out near the bottom of the desk to plug it into the wall, making cabling much simpler.
Mounting rack-designed units would be pretty easy too. Stuff like ethernet switches and the like could be mounted vertically in the desk top off to one side, and if you had heavier stuff it wouldn't be hard to build a rack unit into the design in place of one of the legs - a 12U rack would be slightly too small for desk height, but modifying it to enable you to fit a desktop above it would be easy.
Plus, building stuff is fun!
Ultimate `stands' and ThinkerToys (Score:3, Interesting)
A company called Ultimate [ultimatesupport.com] makes keyboard stands and `studio equipment stations' that are quite popular in the music world. After poking at some of these in my local Mars Music, I decided that they were almost what I wanted, and then found the `ThinkerToys' stuff -- basically, Ultimate sells the individual pieces used to construct these stands, so you can design your own. Mine is a 3-tier, sitting next to a 6' wire rack shelf. I made the `desktop' myself, from thin pressed wood (Mmmmm, luan...) sheathed in corrugated plastic (available at any decent art supply store). The displays sit on a row slightly above this one, and there's a utility shelf above them. There's also a side-shelf mounted on the right support, slightly above the kayboard, that holds my laptop when I want it and swings out of the way the rest of the time. The wire rack shelf holds the CPUs, printer, scanner, and other junk.
My setup was a little pricey (about $400 total, I believe), and took a while to get `just right', but I enjoyed putting it together, and I'm pretty happy with it.
Re:Ultimate `stands' and ThinkerToys (Score:1)
Careful with cheap desks! (Score:2, Informative)
Ergonomic Furniture (Score:2)
One of the few places I've seen that carries a wide range of ergonomic furniture, including sit-to-stand desks, is OfficeOrganix [officeorganix.com]. I have my eye on them for outfitting my office at work.
In addition to more or less traditional desks and chairs, they have some crazy stuff, such as the Stance chair [officeorganix.com], which adjusts from a kneeler chair to a regular chair to a lean-back-while-standing chair; and a couple of reclining desks [officeorganix.com] or desk/chair combinations [officeorganix.com].
Even if you want to build your own, their site may be worth looking at for ideas. Their prices also approach reasonable, which is a rarity in the ergonomic furniture arena (where, I suppose, the assumption is that insurance or lawsuit money is paying for everything).
Conference Tables (Score:2)
You can easily do Dual-head, multiple machines, multiple people, plus it is fairly portable!
-OctaneZ
cheap if redundant solution (Score:1)
Plywood and some industrial table legs (Score:2)
All you need is a few sheets of 3/4" plywood, a way to cut it, a drill and some screws, and some industrial table legs. You can finish it however you want, I didn't bother. I just sanded it down. I might get fancy and laminate it or whatever, but that strikes me as one more thing to cause a problem.
I looked at the room I had - about 10' x 4' on one side of the L in the corner, 5' x 4' on the other side of the L. I cut out the plywood to match the shape I wanted. Then I doubled it up by screwing the two sheets of 3/4" plywood together into a good, very, very solid 1.5" sheet. A few minutes with a sander will take off the rough edges. Then just screw/clamp on the table legs you bought, or pile up some cinderblocks. I recommend the legs, though. When you move, just throw away the plywood and keep the legs. Plywood is very cheap here, no more than $100 or so for two very large sheets.
This allows you a solid surface to bolt things to without worries you're destroying an expensive desk. I'm waiting to get one of those floating arms to put a 15" LCD panel on to move around to whatever machine needs more screen space.
The lack of drawers lets you put machines and cables underneath at will without problems. You can stretch your legs out and not worry about smashing your knees. I store my extra stuff in large plastic toolboxes that cost me about $10 and are really handy for hauling stuff around in. The cheap metal storage shelves you find (or slightly more expensive wooden ones) are all you need for books and whatnot.
If you don't have access to woodworking tools, then do what I did when I had my apartment - go to Sears et. al and get the biggest, cheapest, thickest kitchen table you can find. Use that for your desk. It's all about massive surface area. It's also a lot cheaper than a useless "Executive" style desk with no room for monitors.
Hope that helps. Works for me. Doesn't look real good, but it is very functional.
I like my store-bought one, but it can be replicat (Score:1)
It's got a long board about 6 inches above the main desk surface, with a supporting board, between the two. It's wide enough for 3 monitors side by side (2 for my main box's ti4200 dual head, another for whatever other little box I have hooked up) If you make one (which I think would be a good idea, with your requests), try to do a similar thing. It's a computer desk, but it does not sacrifice working area. It's about twice as wide as the area for your legs, so I've got the other area filled with an industrial ethernet chassis (Cabletron MMAC-M8FNB) and two skinny-ish desktop cases (old vectra's). There's plenty of room on it, especially with the tower stand off to the left of it. If you can picture what i'm saying, try making it. I like mine a lot.
I use a loft (Score:2)
1' under the bed area (now used for plain-old storage space), there's a recessed shelf that's deep enough for my array of home theater components, all arranged on a 6' long power strip.
2.5' below that is a desk that's wide enough for a set of large (shielded) bookshelf speakers, a 21" and a 17" monitor.
The area beneath the desk is high enough to accomodate the tallest tower cases I could find.
The sides are cross-braced, and the desk and shelf are supported on the braces. The "back" braces have their own, small shelf for rear-surround bookshelf speakers, right at ear-level.
The whole set up inspired geek awe when I was in college, and I've never found anything so functional anyplace else, so I continue to use it as a grown-up, even though I can afford real furniture.
Re:I use a loft (Score:1)
Acres of space... (Score:1)
We each have main computer tables: 36"x78". 3 feet gives a nice deep amount of space. They're 30" high, with knee/thigh clearance of 26". They have a couple of thin, deep drawers. There are 2-3 machines lurking under each table. Something I will soon add to the setup is a sort of bookshelf underneath (out of kicking range) for external firewire drives, the hub, the hardware firewall, etc.
I have another table, meant for one monitor, that's 36"x48", with one deep drawer.
All of these were built by English Country Pine, in San Rafael, CA. [englishcountrypine.com] Since they're basically big rectangles that will last forever, they may see future use in a dining room, or, they would be straightforward to sell. I like them because they have acres of desktop space.
My U-Shaped desk is the best (Score:1)