It's usually a last-resort spot that's result of a too-small bedroom or an awkward floor plan. But are there any advantages to keeping the desk next to your bed?
In college, due to the unfortunate constraints of a too-small dorm room, I was forced to leave my horribly ugly dorm-issued computer desk right next to the head of my equally ugly dorm-issued bed.
The flickering ambient light from the different switches and indicators on my always-on-standby computer really annoyed me. I'm not a total-darkness-or-nothing kinda girl, but when they're glittering right next to your face the lights tend to become bothersome.
But in this era of streaming movies on Netflix and watching TV on Hulu.com, we see there might be an advantage to keeping a monitor close by. What do you think, Unplggd?
(Image: Flickr member Very Daily Photos Album licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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My wife and I have a computer in our bedroom at the foot of the bed that we setup on an unused coffee table. We use it to watch Hulu together, as well as the occasional VOD from Amazon.com, and quite a few streaming Netflix movies/TV shows. Plus we can surf the web together if we're looking to buy something for the family or the house, without having to peer over someone's shoulder or awkwardly deal with a laptop. It's one of the best ideas we've ever had.
I keep my laptop next to my bed, as I tend to talk to my boyfriend at nighttime [he's in another state].
It is the king of obnoxious lights. I solve the problem by putting all the decorative pillows that are on my bed on it... which hides it nicely.
My computer desk isn't *immediately* adjacent to my bed but it's on the wall to the side of my bed (about three feet of chair space between them).
It's really convenient positioning, as it's my primary audio player, it's right there in the morning when I'm checking my e-mail/rss feeds while getting ready for work, etc.
And I can always throw in a movie and watch from bed rather than risk falling asleep on the living room couch (the couch is comfortable, but not for an 8-hour sleep shift).
I got so used to the white noise from a PC fan, that I find it hard to sleep without it now. My ex-boyfriend would fire up an enterprise router when i'd stay over, just so I could sleep :)
That said, my bedroom is now my zen place... no electronics allowed. I use a regular window fan as my white noise.
Laptop in the bedroom as well. I slip it under the nightstand when I go to sleep.
Rosey G. - do you actually put your pillows on the computer? Not good if you aren't actually powering down. That could be a fire hazard, not to mention you could be blocking the air intake for the fan and overheat the laptop.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, dcaries. Hopefully she is just piling the pillows up so it blocks her line of vision to the lights.
I'm even concerned sometimes with my laptop just sitting on my bed since it sinks in ever so slightly and starts obstructing airflow.
My desktop is on the other side of the room, but still close enough to watch stuff on it from my bed. As indicated above, I sometimes use my laptop in bed. Fortunately, I have it set to automatically power down after a while...so there's less chance of overheating if I fall asleep without moving it to the floor or something.
I live in a bachelor so I have one room that is my everything. My desk isn't directly next to the bed but it's close enough. I power it down and use an Umbra floor divider between my bed and the desk at night so I don't see it.
Sometimes I have a hard time sleeping when I see the laptop cos I think of all the things I should be doing when I really should be sleeping lol. This solves the problem nicely...that is until I can get a one bedroom and keep my laptop hooked up to my tv in the living room. :P