completely rewired

this weekend i tackled the daunting task of rewiring my desk. most people i know own laptops, the only wire on their desk is the power plug. i have a few more items, their desk rewire would have taken 5 minutes, mine took 5 hours.

this is how the desk looked before i started my attack

notice the left speaker is hidden behind a screen, also the speakers aren't equidistant from the sweet spot (where i sit). this was one of the many driving forces behind spending my sunny saturday indoors.



the bird's nest of wires filled me with anxiety, not to mention, i'd accidentally kick the components sitting atop the small chest of drawers under the desk.

with everything taken off the desk and unplugged i started my rewire.

first i placed all of the components in a location where i wanted them. this is when i made the decision to not use one of my 19" screens. the previous setup included my work-issued dell computer connected to a dell 19" monitor along with a mac mini desktop computer with an apple 30" cinema display and a dell 19" monitor. in total two computers each with two screens. i decided to simplify this a bit, especially since my apple cinema display is huge. my new setup would be work computer (laptop) two screens, home computer just one bit one.


now it's time to line up the components that used to sit on the ground. these are going to be hidden under the desk in my new arrangement. the wires are getting a bit hairy here, and i could feel the anxiety coming back, but i held strong and pressed forward.


some 24" zip ties secured the modem, router, external hdd, and plenty of power bricks to the back of the desk crossbeam support.



this is all the cables/wires/cords that need to be plugged in and organized. the big brick on the ground is my u.p.s. - uninterrupted power supply. it weighs in close to 25 lbs, leaving it on the ground was the best option.


here we are, bundled, zip tied, and even incorporated the conduit for aesthetics.

i even bundled the laptop connect wires in leftover white conduit to minimize cables to/from the laptop.


and here we have the before and after pic. the before pic is on the screen of the big monitor.

i feel more at peace now that the wires are hidden from view. i also enjoy more desk space due to one less monitor, though i do have less desktop space (virtual not physical) but it hasn't been a big issue for me. in all this rewire took 5-6 hours and spanned two days. i couldn't have done it without the help and guidance of my a-class project management team.