I hate them so much! Does anyone actually like them, or is it one of those things manufacturer’s just foist upon us because they assume we all want them?
They are never sturdy enough, so the keyboard wobbles…I have to pull it in and out all the damn time, so eventually the bearings/track will get messed up and stop working, and most of all, I don’t like that position for my hands when I’m typing!
Now, the obvious solution is just buy the damn desk anyway and simply not use or even install the keyboard tray, and I agree…except that all the desks I’ve been looking at that I like tend to use keyboard tray as an excuse to make the desk less “deep,” if you catch my meaning. So if I forgo the tray, I have very little room for my monitor and keyboard on top of the desk…yes, even a slim LCD monitor. I like having my monitor and keyboard a little further back from me than I guess is “average,” or whatever.
And to top it all off, it seems that most modern desks (which I do tend to enjoy the aesthetics of,) seem to be lacking in the drawers department. Why is it so hard to out drawers? Without drawers, it’s not a desk, it’s just a shitty table!
I bought a desk from these guys, and I find it is completely un-flimsy. All the shelves are a full inch of HDF - none of the weak chipboard crap. The keyboard area is large enough and sturdy enough to use for non-computing activities and does not feel weak or wobbly in the slightest although it is instantly adjustable for height. The area where the displays live is far enough away that I don’t feel crowded at all. I’ve been using it for years and it still shows only very minor signs of wear.
There are a ton of options and you can essentially build whatever you want from their components. There are even drawers available, although I don’t have any of them - I have a 2-drawer file cabinet to one side, with a wooden desk box (don’t really know what to call it) that my dad made for me on top.
I hate that the tray is never wide enough, or centered correctly. If I can even manage to square the letter keys up in front of me so the number pad is off to the right, there’s never room for a mouse.
I guess it’s cop-out, but I went with a solid wood table from IKEA and a rolling set of drawers for underneath. Of course, I’m also on a student budget. On my old desk, not only was the keyboard tray a POS, it didn’t stay secured properly and would roll out and hit me while I was sitting there.
I’m sure IKEA has something I’d find suitable, but the closest one is ~4 hours from me.
I looked at the ones linked by inkling and none of them suit me.
I tried to go to a couple furniture stores last night, but I guess they all universally close at 6 PM. There was one that I liked at Staples, but 1) I felt I would be paying too much for a desk from Staples for the quality, and 2) They were out of stock of them anyway.
Planned obsolescence. Because these desks tend to be inexpensive, they want you to re-buy them often. Real-life example of planned obsolescence: my cousin (who is very auto-savvy) fixed my car’s brakes last weekend, and he told me he got a lifetime warranty on the pads. Cool beans! But unfortunately, they come with a little tab on them so they wear out your rotors faster. And as rotors are 10 times more expensive than the pads… and you have the warranty to buy the pads there… you’ll probably be buying the rotors there… connect the dots dots dots…
Anyway he ripped off the tab and I still have the lifetime warranty. Planned obsolescence sucks.
I spent some time today looking at computer desks online after I read this thread (because mine is really old and crappy and has been through 8 moves). Almost all of them have keyboard trays. I will simply choose not to install the tray on the new desk I buy. The ones that don’t come with apparent trays actually do have trays, and they’re disguised as desk drawers. Though at least you can push them in and pretend they don’t exist… still, it looks like trays are here to stay.
I can attest to the quality and excellent design of anything by Anthro. A friend of mine has a bunch of the stuff, and I’ve assembled and disassembled and moved it all several times. All the important bits are steel and aluminum tubing, with the desks of 1.5" MDF covered with thick Formica, not thin paper like most knock-down stuff. I can literally tear apart most cheap knock-down stuff with my bare hands, and have done so on occasion.
More importantly, it is designed by people who actually use computers. No, it is definitely not cheap, but if you are tired of buying shitty desks that don’t last, and want to buy a system that will last and actually have some resale value if you should choose to sell it, if you want something that can be adjusted so it is comfortable and can be easily reconfigured as your equipment changes, check it out.
My friend has had some of this stuff for more than 20 years.
They have a number of keyboard tray options, but most of the time people choose one of their designs that has a whole adjustable desk section that raises, lowers and tilts. My friend has a large Wacom Cintiq system on his, along with the keyboard, mouse and jog/shuttle device.
I have no connection with this company. As I said, I have assembled and - more importantly - disassembled, moved and re-assembled their stuff many times. Most shitty knock downs wouldn’t survive being moved whole, let along being disassembled.
My solution is to buy a niceish table that is desk height and add those storage containers on wheels like this. IKEA has nice stuff too, you just have to look for it.
Search “L-shaped desk” on various sites including Staples, Office Depot and Amazon. This may not be big enough for you though.
The size is fine, though I can’t fit a corner desk in my room. I’m not opposed to the idea of getting a “table-desk”, but I would prefer it to all be one unit.
And I did find one on the IKEA website that looks like it could work (and it’;s one of the few items that IKEA seems to let you buy online, to boot!)…only two drawers, though (seriously, WTF? Even when desks have drawers it’s only two, maybe three…my current desk I need to get rid of has SEVEN! Three on each side (and the bottom one on each side being a “deep” one,) plus one under the ‘main’ area of the desk, where a keyboard tray would be put if it sucked and had a keyboard tray!)
I honestly wouldn’t mind keeping the desk if not for a few issues:
It would barely fit in the place I just moved into
But that’s assuming it could be carried up the stairs and into my room (small condo with not a lot of “hallway” upstairs to move furniture around in.)
And that’s also assuming it would ‘survive’ another move…it’s old and falling apart.
Edit: I actually have seen some desks that aren’t drawer-deficient, but they are also too large, too heavy, and too expensive…they are more like corporate CEO desks, or something. If I could get one with like three drawers along one side, and then also that drawer underneath the top of the desk, I’d be happy…I suppose I could just use the keyboard tray as that drawer, but stuff would probably fall out every time I ‘opened’ and ‘closed’ it.
Hmm. I think your best bet might be the table-desk concoction followed by plastic storage on wheels.
PS what do you need all the storage for exactly? If for books, why not get a bookshelf?
Any luck on Craigslist? Are there universities in your town, you might find stuff starts being thrown up when they’re close to finals. Also, local office supply stores can be good. Not big box stores, but local ones might be useful. Also probably pricier than IKEA but some of the office supply stores do carry used stuff so that might work.
I won’t buy a desk WITHOUT a keyboard tray. How can you not like the tray. it is so much easier to type with a tray and so much more comfortable. i type 8 hrs a day at my job and couldn’t live without one.
For you maybe. Exact opposite for me. The keyboard tray is way too low and I have to sit too far back to use one. And you have to move your hand to far to use your mouse.
My mom uses a keyboard tray, and it drives me nuts when I have to use (fix) her computer.
Used office supply stores can be great: if you don’t care about aesthetics, you can find old desks for practically nothing. My husband and I both have solid steel desks DOD desks that are probably forty years old, but they are fabulous: three feet deep, six drawers, including a file drawer, and no keyboard tray because who had heard of such a thing during the Nixon administration? I think I paid $35 for mine fifteen years ago.
The downside is that they weigh about 600 lbs each.
I have a lot of things I like to have on-hand at my desk. General office supplies like paper-clips, stapler+staples, rubber-bands, envelopes+stamps, etc…, small electronic/computer supplies like spare cables, thumb drives, paper, and other what nots and odds and ends.
Like others said, I too like my mouse and keyboard at the same height, which I also like at the same height as my monitor. I also am constantly hitting my hand on the desk when reaching for something, banging my knees into it, etc…it’s just more comfortable for me to not use one.
Thanks for the suggestions, all. I have checked craigslist and that was a no go, too…I’ll keep looking, but so far this IKEA desk is winning. (Actually I like this one a lot more, but not enough to spend over $300 on it.)
You’re cousin’s wrong…and just made you’re brakes really unsafe. That little tab (called a wear indicator) is NOT designed to wear out your rotor, in fact, it really won’t do much damage to your rotor at all. What it does is makes a god awful squeal when you’re brakes need to be replaced. On top of that, it let’s you know when the pads need to be replaced loooong before any damage is done to your rotors. That’s it, that’s it’s only job. With that broken off, you’ll have no idea how much brake pad is left until it’s to late. Now, you’ll know there’s a problem when you hear grinding. That grinding is metal grinding against the rotor and doing a lot of damage. If the entire pad grinds itself away, it starts eating at the caliper, and you’re braking ability goes to zero.
Also, FTR, rotors are cheap. Randomly picked 2005 Cavalier.
4 Pads - $17-$55
2 Rotors - $38-$82
Hardly 10 times more expensive.
Look at this way. How did you know the brakes needed to be replaced? You heard them squealing, right? That little tab he broke off was making that noise. Now, you won’t have that. Honestly, someone who thinks that a car has parts in it specifically designed to ruin other parts probably shouldn’t be working on cars.
BTW, if you don’t believe me, start a new thread or IM Rick or Gary.
