Reviews for O'Sullivan 11452 McCormick Lancaster Cherry Digital Dock "L" Computer Workcenter

Best desk design for today's hotter running personal...

Strengths: The personal computer is up off the floor, well-protected, and adequately ventilated. There's lots of workspace, even with a large all-in-one printer on the desktop. Cable management.

Weakness: It is made of press-board (sawdust and glue pressed under immense pressure) covered with wood-grain laminate. Careful and patient assembly is required for things to line up correctly.

I build computers and I always shake my head when I see people lock them up and try to hide them away. Sorry ladies, but computers do NOT belong in armoires—a piece of furniture made primarily as a decoration to hide things women tend to deem unsightly (medieval battle-axes, underwear, televisions, VCRs, stereos, and most recently computers). Electronic devices NEED to breath cool-ambient-room-temperature air in order to keep their critical components cool. Most desks lock the computer up in a cabinet-type arrangement which causes the PC to re-circulate it's own hot-air exhaust (which can approach 70°C / 158°F). When this happens your several-hundred-dollar electronic system will eventually burn up its most heat sensitive components, long before their useful lifespan should end. So if you want to protect your technology investment, keep it cool!

This desk is one of the few designs I've seen that strikes a good balance between form and function. The computer (and its bramble of unsightly wires) is tucked as far out of sight as possible, while allowing very adequate airflow, and great accessibility to media drives and front-panel input/output ports. The monitor shelf is very sturdy and large enough to support two monitors if you have them, or one monitor and several pictures of your loved ones.

There are cable holes in the right places, which can accommodate a PC speaker system and printer while hiding (and managing) all the cables under the desktop surface and out-of-sight.

You cannot tell from the picture, but the table top where the keyboard drawer is located is fairly deep—you could open two college text books between you and the monitor, without getting in the way of the keyboard; this is really nice for people who do serious research (students, home-office professionals, etc.)

On the down side, don't purchase a small monitor for your PC with this desk. A 17-inch monitor is much too small to use with this desk, even if you have 20/20 vision. The leading edge of the table is almost 18 inches away from the leading edge of the monitor stand. The keyboard tray extends toward you about another 12 inches or so when you use the keyboard. Thus, you are 2 to 3 feet away from the monitor. A 19-inch LCD with 1280x1024 resolution works well at this distance if you have good eyes. You might consider larger if you typically have trouble reading small text on-screen.

Block out a day for rearranging your office and assembling this desk (and start early). READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST; there are some parts used which are different from other parts but appear nearly identical. Sort them all out before you assemble anything! The tricky assembly is connecting the left, middle, and right sections; you need two people for this task, and lots of patience and persistence. (The trick is to not completely tighten all the screws until you have the pieces jockeyed flush into position.) Another tricky assembly is the faces of the drawers so they align correctly when they are in the desk. (Again the trick is to not completely tighten all the screws until you have the pieces jockeyed flush into position.)

Unfortunately, the wood is press-board (sawdust and glue pressed together under immense pressure) covered with a laminate. The laminate looks okay, but be sure to purchase some coasters, because I'm not so sure the laminate is water proof. Condensation from a cold beverage might cause the laminate to bubble over time. (This happened to one of my own office desks made of similar construction to this one). The laminate edges on the beveled corners could be a little nicer, but it isn't too bad. If this desk were made of solid wood, even plywood, it would be a full 5 stars.

I've assembled a couple of these now for home-office customers of mine. Both of these people were originally not thrilled when I first recommended they purchase this desk. But after it was set up and they actually start working at it, they like it. This desk is form-following-function, not function being sacrificed for the sake of form. The one my first customer purchased (a couple of years ago now) had drawers on the right, but the one my second customer purchased recently is reversible, which is nice.

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