30-Minute Desktop Decluttering Solution
June 16, 2009 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Desktops
Despite what Apple wants you to believe, cable management is a fact of life for any PC user. Turns out you don’t have to follow the hallowed advice of decluttered.com, at least at first. If you’ve got a display with built-in cable management, a relatively simple desk, and some scotch tape (the high-quality 3M kind), making your desktop neater is easier than you think.
As you can see from the pictures below (click on the thumbnails for larger-size versions), I consolidated the cables towards the back of the display through its cable management system, and snaked it along the desk frame towards the PC below. This was done more out of necessity than aesthetics; With my workstation so close to my bedroom door even before the pre-neat days, I almost pulled the HP w2228h off the desk when I tripped on the monitor power cable.
I do something similar but use plastic wire ties instead. They “hide” a little better than the scotch tape and also don’t leave any residue on your cables. Great tip though.
I had my desk looking like that once, I didn’t last long, its not to bad atm, but with my laptop + a secondary screen, keyboard mouse, tablet, and external drive its getting a bit hard. By the way, when I clicked this link I thought i was going to be how to keep the virtual desktop decluttered. Always time for another post
Thanks
You know what I hate? adhesive residue. You know what I love? Zip ties. =)
Haha, hear you both about residue Michael and bnpositive! Forgot to mention that I’m planning to “upgrade” to black cable ties… still figuring out how to secure the mass to the frame though. Any suggestions?
Sorry about that twe4ked, and yes, as things get complicated I’ll have to rethink the setup. If you’ve got your own suggestions, I’d be happy to feature ‘em here
what I do is actually purchase a garden hose (1.5″ diam)
and cut it open …. the rest is to your imagination only.
You can close it with zip ties, you can scotch tape it, hell you can do everything that comes to mind and it stays on the cheap side.
Itay
That sounds great! I’ll try looking for a black garden hose soon.