Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What cool desk ideas do you have for a home office?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 82 posts

Re: Ask HN: What cool desk ideas do you have for a home office?

#31

Post by csours »

meter wrote: post #18

I think it’d be neat to embed USB ports within the wood. The cables could be embedded in the wood using a router, completely out of sight. Imagine plugging your phone, keyboard, or mouse, directly into the wood. There might be some downsides, but it’d be unique. I prefer wired keyboards/mice for their reliability. But aesthetically, I don’t like having a bunch of cables spread across my desk.

I don't know if you've heard of DIY Perks, but it sounds like you'd love their style: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Perqf0dOGLk

Re: Ask HN: What cool desk ideas do you have for a home office?

#32

Post by tpmx »

I tend to mostly focus on the displays. The desk(s) follow from that...

I currently have two 43" 4k displays (Philips BDM4350UC) next to each other. One directly in front of me, the other angled to the side. It's not working great - too much strain to use the right half of the side screen.

What I'm curious to test: one 43" 4k screen in the the middle with an LG DualUp 18:16 screen to each side.

Maybe I should just get two pivotable regular cheap 24-27" 16:9 displays and be done with it, a bit like this:

https://old.reddit.com/r/battlestations/comments/aogog4/my_p...

Re: Ask HN: What cool desk ideas do you have for a home office?

#33

Post by blamazon »

I was at Home Depot to get a 6 foot butcher block countertop for this purpose, but then a 12 foot butcher block countertop caught my eye... and that's how I ended up with a 12 foot desk. Huge pain to transport. Takes up too much room. I have no regrets.

If you get a butcher block countertop from a big box home improvement store, make sure to finish[1] it right away, since they are moisture sensitive and the plastic wrap job is usually somewhat damaged by the time you get it, due to the vagaries of transport.

[1]: (finish == woodworking term meaning to apply a protective coating)

Re: Ask HN: What cool desk ideas do you have for a home office?

#34

Post by swozey »

Do you move much? I had two of those solid wood Ikea desks in an L shape and I eventually got rid of them because they were absolutely miserable to move. I don't remember the exact weight but I think they were something like 80lbs each and I'd have to drag them up stairs on their sides alone. I miss that desk set up but I move every year or two since I rent and I just couldn't deal with them anymore.

Now I've got a fully jarvis frame with some amazon wood top just sitting on it.

Re: Ask HN: What cool desk ideas do you have for a home office?

#35

Post by coffeebeqn »

eropple wrote: post #21
meter wrote: post #18

I think it’d be neat to embed USB ports within the wood. The cables could be embedded in the wood using a router, completely out of sight. Imagine plugging your phone, keyboard, or mouse, directly into the wood. There might be some downsides, but it’d be unique. I prefer wired keyboards/mice for their reliability. But aesthetically, I don’t like having a bunch of cables spread across my desk.

The downsides are pretty large: you're betting on using those plugs forever. With USB-C that is a better bet than USB-A, but...yeah. Better is the modular/drop-in approach and using through-panel connectors. Cable hiding is cool, but even with a full wood shop I just attach raceways to things or at most route out a channel that I can attach silicone catches over top of, because the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

Also most USB cables I buy these days seem to have a lifespan of 1-2 years before something disconnects somewhere and it needs to be replaced or soldered if you’re patient enough

Re: Ask HN: What cool desk ideas do you have for a home office?

#38

Post by coffeebeqn »

michaelbuckbee wrote: post #3

So I have a big 4k TV that I use as a monitor. The distance from the bottom of the TV to the desk should really change when I switch from sitting to standing. It would be cool if the screen mount also lifted when going from sitting -> standing.

Any downsides to using a TV? Anything specific you have to look for or are they basically the same as monitors these days?

Re: Ask HN: What cool desk ideas do you have for a home office?

#39

Post by ijustlovemath »

I've got a big partner desk, picture 1940s law office [1]. I've always wanted to make it a standing desk, but haven't yet found a good candidate which would require no modification to the original desk, save mounting hardware underneath the desk surface. It would need to be slim on the feet (about 2 inches of clearance underneath the file cabinet drawers), and able to support about 200lbs of gear to adjustable heights

If y'all have suggestions, please let me know! Following this thread closely

[1] - https://i.pinimg.com/736x/2e/7f/ec/2e7fecdc12ec89d510e11033e... Kinda like this, but the top is totally separate from the cabinets, and is slightly wider

Re: Ask HN: What cool desk ideas do you have for a home office?

#40

Post by ghaff »

eropple wrote: post #21
meter wrote: post #18

I think it’d be neat to embed USB ports within the wood. The cables could be embedded in the wood using a router, completely out of sight. Imagine plugging your phone, keyboard, or mouse, directly into the wood. There might be some downsides, but it’d be unique. I prefer wired keyboards/mice for their reliability. But aesthetically, I don’t like having a bunch of cables spread across my desk.

The downsides are pretty large: you're betting on using those plugs forever. With USB-C that is a better bet than USB-A, but...yeah. Better is the modular/drop-in approach and using through-panel connectors. Cable hiding is cool, but even with a full wood shop I just attach raceways to things or at most route out a channel that I can attach silicone catches over top of, because the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

Periodically I clean up my cabling including pulling out all the "cables to nowhere" that seem to accumulate over time.

My stereo system is worse. I periodically look at the rats nest of wiring and cables in the back--at least some of it to components that aren't in the rack any more--thinking to do something about it. But I then lie down until the feeling goes away. I know I would break stuff and it will end up being a tedious multiday project to get everything working again without much real benefit.

Post reply on HN