Home Sweet Home Office

While organizing a home office you should take the placement of a desktop computer into consideration. Can you easily get to the back and sides of your CPU if need be?

This morning I had an experience with Dell tech support. The call went great but that was only part of the story. My desk has a CPU tray that dangles from underneath the glass desktop. The Dell XPS (monster) CPU barely fits. Only a problem when it needs to be removed.

My mother has a large computer cabinet. All of those shelves and compartments are great for her but not so much for anyone needing to access the CPU. There is no way to plug in cables while seeing what you are doing. It is dark under the desk and there are walls in all of the wrong places. I think that the designer took for granted that whoever would buy such a cabinet would know computer cables by touch.

My mother-in-law has a smaller cabinet but the design is much the same. In both cases the cabinet is placed against a wall. In both cases I have to crawl under the desk or around the desk to reach the CPU.

The moral of this story is that someday you will need to access the back of your CPU. If a component needs to be replaced you will need to remove part of the case. Unless you are a contortionist you will not enjoy the positions necessary to lift a heavy CPU out of a computer desk.

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