What is coffe table height?

Aug 10, 2004 34 Replies

Im not a wood worker at all but thought maybe you guys could give me some help.



I spend LONG hours in front of a PC at home.



Im trying an experiment. Instead of setting at a traditional desk where I get EXTREMLY tired... butt sore, etc. I have moved a full Lazy Boy recliner into computer room and setting in that with feet in the air.



So far so good



But what I need on either side of the Lazy Boy is some longish low tables....somethng like coffee tables... such that I can set my monitor on one on left side of me...and rest of PC equip on right side of me.



What I need to know is the typical dimensions of a coffee table....esepcialy the height.



This setup has worked VERY well so far for LONG hrs in front of a PC. Its almost like setting in the cockpit of an airplane.... with controls (PC monitor and CPU case) on either side of me.


Coffee tables for my own consumption I generally make about 17" tall. End tables about 22-23" tall.

ymmv.

If you can afford it just get a projection monitor and a wireless keyboard.

Ouch! Id love a digital projection monitor...... but last time I checked they were still PRICEY!

Has that price fallen lately tho?

Still tho you have a good idea!

You did give me a thought tho.... I could buy a combo keyboard with built in mouse, couldn't I?

Height: 15-18 Length: 30-50 Width: 22-30

...inches, of course. :)

David

snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net wrote:

Entry level for XGA is about $1200--you don't want to go below XGA. Catch is that there's a $400 light bulb that gets changed every 1000-4000 hours depending on model. Going above XGA is still approaching "new car" money, but sometimes you find good discounts if you look hard.

They exist, but quite honestly the cordless keyboards with built-in mouse don't work very well, at least not the ones I've tried--if anybody knows of one that works really well I'd be happy to hear about it.

You might want to take a look at

--they have several corded keyboards based on the old IBM designs that implement a mouse in various ways--their cordless keyboard is not very good though.

Personally I've been using a Logitech bluetooth keyboard and mouse on the entertainment machine of late and they've been pretty satisfactory--only real problem I notice is that if I haven't used the keyboard in an hour or so then it takes it a few seconds to "start"--not sure exactly what's going on though.

There is a nifty device that does what you need. It is a floor-mounted articulating arm with mounts on the end for keyboard/mouse tray and an LCD monitor. Found it in a magazine once and filed in grey cells for future retrieval.

I would caution against having your monitor so low you have to peer around to look at it. Sounds like a neck injury waiting to happen.

Here are a few links:

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more, type "keyboard monitor stand recliner" into google and see what turns up.

Coffee (or occasional) table heights are from 1 to 2 feet high. The ones closer to 2 feet are more practical. Experiment with various heights (a board stacked on books, etc) and see what's right for you.

What about something like this?

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Yup, that's about the size of my morning Coffee... And I take a second to work with me too.

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 10:27:34 -0500, snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net calmly ranted:

Grok that.

I bought a $159 chair from Office Depot. It's thickly padded, adjustable for height, depth, and seat/back angles. It made a definite difference in my ergonomic happiness, lemme tell ya. I also swapped a mouse for a portable trackball. No more carpal tunnel noises from my wrists!

You don't want that. Keep everything in line with your torso. I tried an offset monitor once and was sore for a week after a single day at it.

From a dimensional glossary in some furniture design book I read (a Taunton IIRC) coffee tables average 15-16" tall with a width range of 22-26" and length 36-60". End tables average 20", with an 18-24" range, plus width 18-20 and depth 24-28".

Just a comment--I went through several of those--bases busted where the post attached to the seat--one of 'em dang near impaled me. Just weren't up to my weight and I'm not all _that_ heavy. I finally figured out that if I'd bought an Aeron to begin with I'd have saved money, said "to Hell with it" and called Herman Miller.

Interesting!

Autocad is what I do for a living as well... tho not at home

The reason Im on the PC so much at home is surfing newsgroups. Im a HEAVY Usenet user

So does he have all his PC equip in the front room? The cpu and everything is on the floor next to the 21" monitor hung from wall?

BTW.... is that monitor a TUBE monitor.... or a flat LCD model?

Also is his keyboard and mouse both wireless?

Maybe I will just go buy some cheap used coffee table at second hand store just for this experiment

So even having the monitor off to the side even just a BIT is not recommended?

You feel it must be directly in line with my body, huh?

Still tho.....Id have to use an Aeron with a traditional desk, right?

I mean can the Aeron actually fully "recline" say like a dentist chair?

I agree with Larry; unless you are a limber contortionist, you won't be comfortable with your monitor off to one side, esp. if you spend a fair amount of time with it.

David

snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net wrote:

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