If you could design any type of desk, what would it be?

[Xist]

My latest distraction from the million and ten things I must do (including the progress reports now two days late) is watching Emily the Engineer.

I can name several engineers I follow, but this is the first time I have watched one of those videos and wanted a serious discussion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pceOgrGHbkY

She showed a search for "pc built into desk" and I worry every video she showed was better than hers, if less entertaining.

I would rather watch Emily than Linus, for example.

She shows a search for "pc built into desk" which looks quite different from my results two months later.
I don't see anything resembling this:

I wish more channels would film in 4k so I can find details like better videos they show and John Malecki's employee's credit card number.
Of course, the least important option I have is obsessing over whatever that first video is, so obviously I am perseverating on it.
The second one doesn't show up in my results:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih_4Uz1mMF8

This didn't show up, either:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLFNNi-gnQQ

Then these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS3z...QgaW50byBkZXNr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Am...QgaW50byBkZXNr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HgA...Vlbi1VUw%3D%3D

Then it skips to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyre...QgaW50byBkZXNr

and then this one, which I had difficulty finding:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F17RdkcWOrU

I can read the title, but not channel name (NerdWithCars), and searching for it didn't work.
Google claimed zero results when I put it in quotes.
Lest you think I made a mistake, I highlighted and right-clicked on the title once I found it, and it still didn't work.
I find it odd it showed up when it only had 341 views.
It now has 378, but I don't believe it deserves 379.
Then I guess this playlist, but it showed what it currently the third video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Am...K0nCWOYeQ9gcRe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic95...QgaW50byBkZXNr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUM7...QgaW50byBkZXNr

Then she switched to an image search, but this time for "PC in desk," and never showed the only result I believe matters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ6u...QgaW50byBkZXNr

It looks like a big table, but a 37" (94cm) ultrawide monitor is hidden in it, and when you fold out the monitor, a platform below raises up flush with the desktop.
Emily has a 27" (69cm) monitor which raises up behind the desk.
They joke about how slow it is.
I think it is too far away.
Matt ended up with 12 full-sized PC cooling fans and dozens of large heatsinks.
This is on Flexispot desk legs, which adjust from sitting to standing height.

I watched around 10 more videos and none appeared to be the first Emily kind of saw.

Do you think she made a functional PC desk which will keep the components clean in the garage?

[Isaac Zachary]

I've been wanting a much bigger desk. My current desk doesn't fit my desktop. And by desktop. I mean desktop, the kind that goes under the VGA CRT monitor. I have to have a keyboard in front of that, you know. So a deeper desk would be great. Right now I have half the desktop attached to the wall hanging out over the rear of the desk.

Then, to the sides, there's not a lot of room. I've been wanting to add a device charging station. Also more room for some amateur radios and a GMRS base station/repeater that is currently on the top of a book case.

[redpoint5]

I've got pretty close to what I'd want in a desk. Big, electrically adjustable height (standing), USB charging ports, glass top for easy cleaning.

I glued a hard drive magnet on the underside of the desk, and on a power strip. Now the power strip mounts under the desk but is removable (important if a cord gets caught as the desk is raising). This way all power cords to monitors, etc can be fixed length to the power strip, and the power strip cord is the only thing needing to lengthen as the desk raises up.

Would be nice to have a drawer that slides the PC out for easy access, but I don't fiddle often enough to care that much. Maybe a hidden drawer to conceal important items that might need to be accessed quickly.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I glued a hard drive magnet on the underside of the desk,

What do you use the hard drive magnet for? Erasing hard drives?

[freebeard]

Hard drives contain magnets.

My 'desk' is similar to this one:

https://www.computerdesksdepot.com/c...g?v=1658349471

With a subwoofer in the PC bracket and one shelf with the Roku TV, Raspberry PI 5,keyboard and answering machine on it. A DSL modem/router is lashed to the pole.

Mouse on a stool next to the chair.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Hard drives contain magnets.

Yes, the data is stored on magnetized disks. I distinctly remember reading computer manuals (back when they were a couple inches thick) that warned about putting any sort of magnet near a hard drive since it could erase the data off the hard drive. You weren't even supposed to put your telephone (the kind that connected to the wall) near a computer because the magnets in the speaker and microphone could ruin the data on the hard drive. Some computer manuals said that there was a side of the computer you could put the phone since the hard and floppy drives were on the other side of the computer.

[freebeard]

Internal magnets control the read/write head[s].

Originally Posted by DDG Search Assist

Hard drive magnets, typically made of neodymium, are very strong and are used in hard disk drives to control the positioning of the read/write heads. They can have a magnetic field strength of 3000 to 5000 gauss and are effective for various DIY projects after being salvaged from old drives.
couragemagnet.com instructables.com

The read/write heads themselves are copper coils.

[redpoint5]

I haven't been able to intentionally corrupt data using magnets, so it's not likely to do so unintentionally.

[freebeard]

Try thermite.

[Ecky]

PC part prices are becoming silly lately. Not a great time to be shopping.

I sortakinda integrated my PC into my desk. My PC case is 7.2L, and takes a full size GPU (currently 7800XT). 12th gen i7. I installed some brackets and cable management on the underside of the desk to hang the PC case from, and at normal standing height you can see neither PC nor cables. It isn't a large desk.

https://www.dan-cases.com/dana4.php

Looks like there are abundant Chinese options which are nearly as nice, for about 1/4 the price, including some "bench cases" which are really just frames to install the components into.