I think I can give a list of things to think about. I’m a mod over at !woodworking@lemmy.ca, I might start a thread over there to gather more if there’s interest. But here are some things I’ve noticed over the years of computering at a desk:
Avoid particle board. Particle board is almost synonymous with flat packed furniture like most computer desks are, but…it sags. I had an entire desk that bowed under the weight of a CRT monitor. The desk was on castering wheels, so the weight of the monitor wasn’t directly supported. Plus, on any surface that is touched a lot, the veneer will chip, peel, bubble, and then it looks and feels like crap. Plywood might be acceptable for internal framing but anywhere that hands frequent I would go with solid lumber.
Computer components are larger and more numerous than the manufacturers seem to think. I’ve never seen a computer desk that was designed with power strips let alone UPSes, subwoofers, or network gear. I’ve found so many marketing photos like this with a single 4:3 monitor, a nook for the PC tower that a relatively small mid-tower barely fits in; four books, an old kettle, and a Venus Fly Trap of the Year award. This desk, which looks like it was designed with 2004 era PCs in mind, is for sale right now in the space year 2025 for $3,078, discounted from $4,189. Meanwhile, a computer desk would end up looking like this Cluttered with crap, there’s multiple monitors, multiple computers, two sets of speakers, stuff on the floor, stuff on an upper shelf, more cables than AT&T.
Wires are a thing. I see so many ads for desks like this that look like they’re AI generated. They’ve always got an Apple computer on them, turned on even though there’s no evidence of even a power cable. Granted, wireless mice and keyboards are a thing, but not so much with the desk lamps, printers, computers, monitors and mismatched speakers. A lot of desks feature upper shelves or hutches, often marketed as somewhere to put a printer or speakers, I’ve NEVER seen one that offers any kind of cable routing or management so you get random dangly cables visible down the wall. A trend in modern PC cases is to widen the case to allow a compartment behind the motherboard tray for cable management, computer desks kind of need that.
Wires are bastards. It needs to not only make sense when assembled, but it needs to be maintainable. Sometimes you need to plug something into the back of the computer, or to unplug something. Maybe you need to pull the computer forward a bit to get to it, and then you hear a pop crackle louder than god because the speaker wire was the shortest and you just pulled it free. I had a goddamn video cable with a bigass ferrite on it. There needs to be provisions for cable retention so that, if you need to temporarily unplug the computer, the mouse cable doesn’t slide off the shelf back behind the desk where no mortal hand can reach.
The foot well is for feet. I’ve had to do it myself, put some big box like the tower itself or a subwoofer in the footwell. A lot of desks have this shelf at the back of the footwell? My current desk has one that the assembly instructions referred to as a “bookshelf.” Which, if you ever need to read those books, it’s a pain in the ass to get to them there.
A lot of manufacturers seem to approach computer desks as “office furniture.” As if every single computer user is going to sit in front of it bolt upright and cross ankled like a secretary in a pencil skirt typing memos like it’s 1974. For a lot of people, their computer desk is living room or bedroom furniture. It’s a recreational and/or social space. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a computer desk that tried to be cozy.
Don’t try to pretend a computer desk is some other piece of furniture. An executive pillar desk? I mean, okay. A cross between a pillar desk and a dining room cupboard, with the upper hutch? Well, maybe. An armoire? Why? There was a big trend of "It looks like an armoire, but if you swing open these doors and pull out the keyboard tray, it’s a computer desk! That doesn’t really give you much room to move your legs around wtihout banging into the lower shelves/printer. What do you do with your office chair when you close it up? Yeah, it is a pain that the floor isn’t quite level and it leans such that the left-hand door keeps trying to close on you. Of course they didn’t provide any means of latching it open. Yes it is only 40 inches wide, so there’s not a lot of space for accessories, documents, decorations, tools or toys. Yeah, being entirely enclosed means cable management is an even bigger bitch than normal. Oh this one has a work surface that folds out for more space. What are the odds that that’s going to get permanently cluttered and this thing is never going to get closed up, so you’ve got this permanently messy cabinet looking thing with doors that are constantly flapping around in the walkway? Nobody folds up their computer desks every time they log off. Stop trying to make computer desks look like shitty armoires and make them look like great computer desks.
I’d love to see the results you come up with. What you are saying makes a ton of sense, but I don’t see an obvious solution for these problems.
The worst one for me is cable management. My PCs are laptops (one for work, one private one), and while I have them mostly on my desk (where I want the cables to be out of the way), I also frequently have to take them with me and I don’t want to disassemble my cable management system to get to the laptop charger. I also don’t want to have to buy a second charger for my laptop that doesn’t do USBC charging.
I think I can give a list of things to think about. I’m a mod over at !woodworking@lemmy.ca, I might start a thread over there to gather more if there’s interest. But here are some things I’ve noticed over the years of computering at a desk:
Avoid particle board. Particle board is almost synonymous with flat packed furniture like most computer desks are, but…it sags. I had an entire desk that bowed under the weight of a CRT monitor. The desk was on castering wheels, so the weight of the monitor wasn’t directly supported. Plus, on any surface that is touched a lot, the veneer will chip, peel, bubble, and then it looks and feels like crap. Plywood might be acceptable for internal framing but anywhere that hands frequent I would go with solid lumber.
Computer components are larger and more numerous than the manufacturers seem to think. I’ve never seen a computer desk that was designed with power strips let alone UPSes, subwoofers, or network gear. I’ve found so many marketing photos like this with a single 4:3 monitor, a nook for the PC tower that a relatively small mid-tower barely fits in; four books, an old kettle, and a Venus Fly Trap of the Year award. This desk, which looks like it was designed with 2004 era PCs in mind, is for sale right now in the space year 2025 for $3,078, discounted from $4,189. Meanwhile, a computer desk would end up looking like this Cluttered with crap, there’s multiple monitors, multiple computers, two sets of speakers, stuff on the floor, stuff on an upper shelf, more cables than AT&T.
Wires are a thing. I see so many ads for desks like this that look like they’re AI generated. They’ve always got an Apple computer on them, turned on even though there’s no evidence of even a power cable. Granted, wireless mice and keyboards are a thing, but not so much with the desk lamps, printers, computers, monitors and mismatched speakers. A lot of desks feature upper shelves or hutches, often marketed as somewhere to put a printer or speakers, I’ve NEVER seen one that offers any kind of cable routing or management so you get random dangly cables visible down the wall. A trend in modern PC cases is to widen the case to allow a compartment behind the motherboard tray for cable management, computer desks kind of need that.
Wires are bastards. It needs to not only make sense when assembled, but it needs to be maintainable. Sometimes you need to plug something into the back of the computer, or to unplug something. Maybe you need to pull the computer forward a bit to get to it, and then you hear a pop crackle louder than god because the speaker wire was the shortest and you just pulled it free. I had a goddamn video cable with a bigass ferrite on it. There needs to be provisions for cable retention so that, if you need to temporarily unplug the computer, the mouse cable doesn’t slide off the shelf back behind the desk where no mortal hand can reach.
The foot well is for feet. I’ve had to do it myself, put some big box like the tower itself or a subwoofer in the footwell. A lot of desks have this shelf at the back of the footwell? My current desk has one that the assembly instructions referred to as a “bookshelf.” Which, if you ever need to read those books, it’s a pain in the ass to get to them there.
A lot of manufacturers seem to approach computer desks as “office furniture.” As if every single computer user is going to sit in front of it bolt upright and cross ankled like a secretary in a pencil skirt typing memos like it’s 1974. For a lot of people, their computer desk is living room or bedroom furniture. It’s a recreational and/or social space. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a computer desk that tried to be cozy.
Don’t try to pretend a computer desk is some other piece of furniture. An executive pillar desk? I mean, okay. A cross between a pillar desk and a dining room cupboard, with the upper hutch? Well, maybe. An armoire? Why? There was a big trend of "It looks like an armoire, but if you swing open these doors and pull out the keyboard tray, it’s a computer desk! That doesn’t really give you much room to move your legs around wtihout banging into the lower shelves/printer. What do you do with your office chair when you close it up? Yeah, it is a pain that the floor isn’t quite level and it leans such that the left-hand door keeps trying to close on you. Of course they didn’t provide any means of latching it open. Yes it is only 40 inches wide, so there’s not a lot of space for accessories, documents, decorations, tools or toys. Yeah, being entirely enclosed means cable management is an even bigger bitch than normal. Oh this one has a work surface that folds out for more space. What are the odds that that’s going to get permanently cluttered and this thing is never going to get closed up, so you’ve got this permanently messy cabinet looking thing with doors that are constantly flapping around in the walkway? Nobody folds up their computer desks every time they log off. Stop trying to make computer desks look like shitty armoires and make them look like great computer desks.
I’d love to see the results you come up with. What you are saying makes a ton of sense, but I don’t see an obvious solution for these problems.
The worst one for me is cable management. My PCs are laptops (one for work, one private one), and while I have them mostly on my desk (where I want the cables to be out of the way), I also frequently have to take them with me and I don’t want to disassemble my cable management system to get to the laptop charger. I also don’t want to have to buy a second charger for my laptop that doesn’t do USBC charging.