Dual purpose computer desks

[genesis]

Hi

 

I have been asked by the management to convert a IT suite into a classroom as well.

 

Therefore I am looking for a dual purpose computer desks , where the computers can be put down when the IT suite as a classroom.

 

Please post me if you know any vendors that supply dual purpose computer desks.

 

Thanks in advance...

[6Foot2]

We had a suite of "smart desks" installed a long time ago (so long ago, I forget the supplier)

 

They claimed that they were "ruggedized" and that "extended use by squaddies showed no damage"

 

We saw the first damage in less than a week. (could even have been the first day of student use, and I wasn't told!)

 

As time went by, all parts of the installation saw damage: The desk, "secure" cages for the PCs, the mouses, keyboards, and monitors.

 

The desks were removed before they were two years old.

 

My experience says that they were not a good investment. That said, I was dealing with a very uncooperative client/user base. Perhaps yours are less heavy-handed/destructive. I hope so.

[TechMonkey]

We kitted out 2 classrooms with them. Never really saw them used as classrooms and they were just a pain with cable routing, cables getting caught in mechanisms and the kids not being able to open and close them. I'm sure in some places they do work but I'd rather a decent space with wide benches where keyboards can be moved out the way.

[bigal06]

We had a suite of "smart desks" installed a long time ago (so long ago, I forget the supplier)

 

They claimed that they were "ruggedized" and that "extended use by squaddies showed no damage"

 

We saw the first damage in less than a week. (could even have been the first day of student use, and I wasn't told!)

 

As time went by, all parts of the installation saw damage: The desk, "secure" cages for the PCs, the mouses, keyboards, and monitors.

 

The desks were removed before they were two years old.

 

My experience says that they were not a good investment. That said, I was dealing with a very uncooperative client/user base. Perhaps yours are less heavy-handed/destructive. I hope so.

 

Our experience is the same...

 

They get damaged too easily and are prone to abuse and vandalism. Don't do it I was told by another college when we put them in but I had no choice and have suffered ever since.

 

We just removed them this summer to my delight

Edited November 4, 2022 by bigal06

[bigal06]

Our experience is the same...

 

They get damaged too easily and are prone to abuse and vandalism. Don't do it I was told by another college when we put them in but I had no choice and have suffered ever since.

 

We just removed them this summer to my delight

 

Fill them with rubbish

 

Keyboards/Mice disappear

 

Wires become dangly and then 'just fall out' or are snapped so you constantly have to replace mice/keyboards.

Edited November 4, 2022 by bigal06

[FN-GM]

We kitted out 2 classrooms with them. Never really saw them used as classrooms and they were just a pain with cable routing, cables getting caught in mechanisms and the kids not being able to open and close them. I'm sure in some places they do work but I'd rather a decent space with wide benches where keyboards can be moved out the way.

 

Exact story in my school around 10 years ago.

 

I would kit the room out as a normal classroom and get laptops. Much easier in the long run.

[Norphy]

The sixth form college I used to work for tried them out and found much the same as @bigal06. The desks we had were also too fragile, the mechanisms for flipping the monitor often broke and the monitor was either stuck up or down. I seem to recall a couple of students being stupid and letting themselves get hit by the mechanism too and some trapped fingers too, but I'm not sure if that's right or not; it's been a long time since that job now!

 

In the end, the college decided to try putting in laptops and securing the laptops to the desk with Kensington lock cables. The desks had a duct at the back where the laptops could be stashed while they weren't in use. This seemed to work pretty well and was still in use when I left and when I 0re-visited the college about 18 months later.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Norphy

[DrCheese]

Our experience of dual use desks is exactly the same as the above posters. Within 2 years we ripped out all the bits that made them go/up down & bolted them shut. Ran new holes for the computer cables and screwed the cupboards shut

Now we get little damage of the but in their previous dual use setup they were an utter nightmare & caused me lots of stress (I wasn't the NM then so wasn't my decision to buy)

 

The only dual desking that we have & works well is our fancy Post 16 room made by a company called i-deskthat have the computers integrated into the units(DDE desk I think they are now?) - Those work well but only because the popup nature of them is controlled from the front console via motors & in either state there's no entry points for rubbish. But they are very expensive & we only have them due to a grant when we obtained business and enterprise status years ago

[Rob_D]

Some years ago. I had a not entirely bad experience with flip-up i-desks in a village primary school. And they even made good use of the dual functionality. So it is possible to to make it work.

Although in a secondary environment it was pretty much the same experience as everyone else and add students (or sometimes distracted teachers) closing the lid without putting the mouse away and the lit chopping through the mouse cable

[nicholab]

To make it work don’t have folding desk for keyboard cables get trapped. Have screens on arms from desk and PC mounted under desk.

 

In general an occasional IT room is a waste of space. They work in subjects like CDT where staff have are used to looking after kit.

[Rob_D]

To make it work don’t have folding desk for keyboard cables get trapped. Have screens on arms from desk and PC mounted under desk.

Until the arms break and all the screens fall off. Although TBF they were very old and probably not rated for modern 24" displays.

[DrCheese]

https://www.ddbltd.co.uk/ for the company I said above - These are the only ones I'd ever buy again (Used to be called i-desk)

[KevinB]

Just adding another voice to the "Don't do it!" chorus. We had some of this sort of desk 10 years or so ago and experienced nothing but trouble. Vandalism was too easy (yank on a cable and you can't work now because it'll take IT an hour to get there, disassemble the thing to fit a new $damaged_item anf put it all back together again), build quality wasn't great, so things became damaged easily through wear and tear, and they became rubbish bins every day.

 

Standard classroom with laptops/Chromebooks is the way if they want dual use. We have that in several rooms and it's far less hassle.

[ITGuyNW]

Yep another one here... dual purpose desks are a disaster waiting to happen. Smashed screens, litter etc. I was so glad when that room was converted into a standard computer room.

[Rizzo]

Just share what we do. Might not suit your needs.

 

We use breakfast worktop in most of our computer rooms (900mm/800mm deep) so the students have space to write as well. Then you could use all-in-ones for a small footprint on the desk or mount the computer under the desk. In our language labs we've installed shelves above the monitors to place the keyboards on, which gives the student more space on the desk for written lessons. Simple and it seems to work for us.

 

We get about 20 computers all facing into the room so staff can see all the screens. A few standard classroom tables in the middle as a block. Then the room can be used for an IT lesson, just lecturing to the students or both.