It can't just be me....Do you need the "letters" part of your KB centered in front of you to type?

[MichaelD]

Argh. ALL computer furniture is designed WRONG. :| If you think about how a KB typically sits "centered" in front of you, it's NOT really centered at all! The part you use 99.9% of the time, the letters are off to the left. Way off! As a matter of fact, as I look down right now *me\<--looks down at KB* my hands are almost at the left-hand edge of my monitor, visually.

I like/need the "letter" part of the KB centered on the screen. I can type 90+ WPM this way. But with it "normally", I make all kinds of errors. Now, here's what really pisses me off; in order to compensate, I move the KB to the right, so the letters are centered on the screen. This pushes my mouse pad off the KB shelf! Oh yeah; I also need my KB and mouse on the same vertical plane; i.e. right next to each other. This sucks! I have about 12 inches of unused space on my KB shelf to the left of my KB, and the mouse pad is hanging off the right side....too bad I'm not lefty, huh? Just thought I'd share one of my many rants w/you guys.

 

[Aenygma]

HELLLLLLLLLLLLLL YES!!! WHo the fick makes these damn desks??? I am on my 2nd desk in the last month.. and this one totally sucks too.. so it will be going back too ( Shame in a way cause I like conrner desks. But damn.. #1 gripe, is that the monitor is not usually centered on the desk, which I need not only for typing but for my surround sound system to be balanced.

Gripe #2 is make the damn KB shelf W I D E R ( so my mouse has lots of room, and Deeper too, for those times I angle KB to play Q3A.


Preach on brother.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Yes, my alphabet is a bit to the left, meaning my entire keyboard is centered with my monitor. This doesn't bother me at all. Maybe you should find a keyboard that doesn't have a number pad? I don't know if you can get a good one like that, though...(like a lot of Mac keyboards don't have a number pad)

 

[Sugadaddy]

Sugadaddy genius idea:


There should be keyboards with the whole "numpad" part on the left of the letters... This way the letters part would be centered, and you could use the numpad with one hand and the mouse with the other...


BTW, this post is copyrighted, and patent pending. Try to steal this idea, and I'll see you in court.

 

[MichaelD]

LOL! That's my OTHER main gripe about the average PC desk; they either place the monitor A_L_L the way to the right or left OR they leave no room for speakers to the left/right of the monitor. My little desk is about as perfect as it gets for me. I wish the main surface was about a foot wider and a foot deeper AND the KB was about a foot wider.

 

[gopunk]

um, well i move my chair so that the keys are aligned with me.

 

[MichaelD]

Gopunk,
But then you're not centered on the monitor. Centered! Centered! Everything MUST be CENTERED! Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

[Aenygma]

Oh I have one more thing to add....
Actual ususable space for what real PC ppl have would be nice. I have a monitor, the box, a fax/phone, a scanner , router, and a printer. Not to mention the aforementioned surround speakers.

Give us places for these things????? ( Oh and if the PC HASSSS to go in one of those cubbys.. make the damn cubby tall!! All you can ever fit in them are half height box's!! While mine is not a server case.. it is full size!! I need room!!!!!!! ahhhhhhhhh

( you hit a nerve ) Especially so toite.. since tonite is when we put together pos #2. And we have looooooooooooked everywhere for a nice desk. We have a small home office room so its not easy for us to find the perfect balance. We have looked in Office Depot, Max, Lowes, Home Depot etc... so far we sol.

 

[Lars]

I put 3 little desks together. Works great.

 

[MichaelD]

Wyst,
With my current desk (Sauder makes it, it's the "Pacifica" model) I had to drill new holes for the mounting pegs that hold the little shelf that sits above the box in the cubby. The shelf holds my router.

Standard PC Desk\<--Is Suck.

 

[Aenygma]

Thats it.. let's start a REAL PC DESK business. lol. We know what the people need and want.

 

[gopunk]

<< Gopunk,
But then you're not centered on the monitor. Centered! Centered! Everything MUST be CENTERED! Arghhhhhhhhhhhh! >>



ah but that's where you're wrong... i move the monitor so i am centered.

 

[MichaelD]

Gopunk\<----with the Geometrically-centered, gyroscopically balanced, Neutron-splitter enhanced, PC desk! Go Gopunk!

 

[gopunk]

w00t! don't get too jealous, i'm not centered with the desk i guess. don't really care though, i was never really a symmetric type guy.

am i missing something though? is there something that prevents my type of alteration? i put my mouse on the desk (apart from the keyboard tray thing) btw, i dunno if that helps. and my desk is pretty deep (it's like a square that goes in the corner, and the edge towards me is cut off.

 

[Aenygma]

But see Gopunk, you are totally upsetting the entire balance of the Universe. The mouse is meant to be on the same plane as the KB. and You are not supposed to adjust to the enviorment, but the evironment to you, and your needs.

 

[MichaelD]

No, you're not missing anything. If you are comfortable and happy then that is all that matters. See, I'm very anal. So anal, that when I set up my HT, I break out a tape measure. My listening/viewing positon is exactly equilateral (triangular) from the three front speakers, and almost (off by 24 inches) equilateral from the surrounds.

My PC needs to be centered on the desk in front of me, with the speakers equidistant from the monitor. I'm kinda OCD, I know.

 

[Aenygma]

Thats how I am as well... and they don't work.. tho the ONE thing about this new desk I just got... is my surround speakers are all equal distance to me fronts, just a hair closer. so the sound is really nice. But still we will be taking this one apart and returning it as well, it just does not hold or work well for all my stuff.

 

[gopunk]

tape measure? yea, i think you care a little more than i do

 

[Elledan]

Why not simply get a big desk so that you can place the KB, mouse and stuff everywhere you want and be done with it?

It always eludes me why anyone would ever consider buying one of those cramped, good-for-nothing, miniature desks, which supposedly should be able to hold a monitor, mouse, KB, a printer (always beneath the monitor, so there's no place for your legs) and a sh!tload of books.

Does it fit? Yes, it does.
Is it comfortable? No way in hell.

The desk I'm currently using (and which I build myself ) is about 240 cm in length, 60-110 cm deep (wall to the frontside; the 110 cm part holds the monitor and scanner).

I like lots of space

 

[theknight571]

I too had problems with desks until I broke down and shelled out a few bucks and got this one.

Retails at OfficeMax for $399. (I paid closer to $299 during a sale and using a coupon)

I don't use the keyboard tray though...just put keyboard and mouse on desktop.

And mine's a different color: "Satin cherry"

- TK

 

[veryape]

MichaelD,I tend to have a bit of OCD myself and cannot stand the amount of crap I need and can't find proper placement for computerwise. It drives me insane. I have to just let it be because otherwise I get nothing done it bothers me so much. Everything has always had to be simetrical and even for me,no odd numbers or off measurements. I guess i'm more extreme then most,call me crazy. OCD blows.

 

[Aenygma]

That desk would not get it doen for me... Where would I put my router, scanner, printer? and then have room for my surrouns speakers. Like I said before they only build them for bare minimum of equipment. It's a very nice looking desk, and very much like the one we just bought, but again ours too just does not have the room.

Elledan: Like I said we have a very SMALL room and wall surface area to work with. So a Huge desk, while nice, can't get the job done in here. We had a desk once that did the job, it got old and we decided to dith it and sold it which is how we have come to start on this arduous endeavour.

 

[Elledan]

wyst,

Maybe it's time for a bigger room?

 

[Aenygma]

Well, we don't have many choices in our home. I originally thought I was going to use the spare bedroom as an office, but that got doled out to the tot, and HER PC sits in there lol.. Along with all her toys and what not.. Man she has it soooo made.

 

[flot]

I think the real problem here are those garbage "computer desks" or "computer workstations" everyone buys. They're crap. I went out and bought myself a nice, flat, no-drawers, no-shelves very asthetically pleasing desk for $200, which was big enough to hold a 20" monitor, keyboard, mouse, lava lamp, pad of paper, telephone, two pretty big speakers, and still have room to throw random crap around as needed. I'd guess it's about 5' long and 30" deep. The system itself sits on the floor.

The ONLY complaint I have about the setup is that I do have a nightmare of a wiring problem, because they scatter all over the place. But in terms of usable desk, I haven't seen anything that can beat the "big and flat" approach.