The Emperor’s New Computer [Hackaday]

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You walk into a home office and see an attractive standing desk that appears bare. Where’s the computer? Well, if it is [DIY Perk]’s office, the desk is the computer. Like a transformer robot, the desk transforms into a good-looking PC.

He starts with a commercial desk and creates a replacement desktop out of some aluminum sheets and extrusions. The motion uses some V-slot profiles and linear rails. The monitor and keyboard shelf pop up on invisible hinges. When closed, there’s no trace of a computer.

The mechanics of the pop-out hatch are complex, but they worked the first time. At least, we think it was the first time. Video editing is a possibility! He did have to add some springs and pneumatics to keep it from slamming down. A magnet gives a positive lock feeling when you open the hatch.

The monitor is an ultra-wide OLED that can be curved or flat. He removed the electronics from the panel and mounted the screen on the inner part of the hatch. Half of the electronics went back into the desk. A small but powerful PC with an Intel I9 and a graphics card fit in the desk. A conventional power supply would be too large, but a pair of very thin GaN power supplies come to the rescue.

Thermal management is also something that could easily be too thick. The solution was a custom brass heat spreader that runs the length of the desk, onto which he mounted 40 surplus server heatsinks paired with laptop fans. But when they failed to get the job done, larger heatsinks and fans were brought in. These stick out below the bottom of the desk, but you wouldn’t notice unless you were laying on the floor.

Honestly, the build is amazing. If you are on the fence, watch the first few seconds of the video where the desk transforms, and you’ll be hooked. The final step was to make the aluminum desktop look like wood with oak planks and some optical illusions.

We doubt our woodworking and machining skills are up to duplicating this, but we wish he’d take our money. Desk computers aren’t really a new idea, of course. Be glad you don’t have to build a 1965 “desktop” computer into a desk.