Computer Desk

I've been playing with PCs since 1981, and as a furniture designer have created several desks to hold them over the years. The one on the left was a quickie for my college department to provide a common access PC in a freshman studio. I had a 2x12 shelf I'd ripped out of my basement storeroom that I used for the vertical sides. 2x4s with a little taper for the feet. Baltic Birch plywood for the shelves, with black laminate. The CPU has a dedicated shelf on the left. Printer can use the lower shelf. Shelves dado into the sides and are held with screws. Largest flaw is that when I made it DOS was the operating system and no one needed a mouse. The students still use this stand, and simply made room for the mouse on the top next to the monitor. It's a tall stand. The students all have drafting stools to sit so it seems like a good height. They also use it standing. Some day I'll remake the keyboard shelf and add mouse space on the right. New LCD monitors don't need so much space, so a modern version for this application might look considerably different.

Some day you'll be able to buy a desk that IS the computer. I've already put a motherboard and drives in an end table. Microsoft is threatening to release their Surface , a pretty cool coffee table. To get real work done you need some desk space, so my vision of a practical desk PC would not tie up the entire surface with the screen. Would you buy a PC that was simply a nice contemporary desk with ports to plug in a monitor/keyboard/mouse, and hidden access to drive slots and USB connections?