Name: Stephen
Location: Leixlip, Kildare, Ireland
A/V or Home Office: Office/Entertainment area/Bedroom
Favorite Source: My favourite source would definitley have to be recycling facilities. Most of the equipment in recycling centres is put there by people who at least care a little. So most of its in good condition. I like getting old computers and parts from recycling centres because your cutting down on the cost and doing the enviroment a favour as well as saving yourself money. The smallest thing can save you a lot.
What inspired you? I started when I was about 10 with an Apple Macintosh SE computer that someone was getting rid of, since then I've loved computers.
My office space is a layout which was inspired by necessity. After
completing school at 17, I set up my own business repairing computers, cellular phones and office machines from my room. I'm now 18, and as you can see from the photos, less than a year on and the money is good. I have managed to buy myself a new laptop (Apple Macbook) and a new desktop (iMac 20" Core 2 Duo) as-well as maintaining my old iMac G3 on my desk. My room is not the tidiest of rooms but that comes with my job.
Great Tip: Organize power: Power can be a tricky thing, make sure to label plugs or cables to make sure that if something goes wrong or needs to be moved you dont plug out your computer or something and lose data. I have 18 plugs in my system and all of them are labeled to make sure I don't accidently take out my external hard disk when i want to change my now aging rotel amp. It's a small tip, but a worthwhile one.
Seriously, this is the antithesis of smallest coolest.
view Julian's profile
What is the solution here? I see a pile of gear with little organization. Break it down for us, what is used for what? What are the problems and what is being solved?
Right off the bat I'd say the desk is a disaster area. Find a way to make those machines live well together. Use the under-desk peg-board trick to get those peripherals organized and out of site. Don't just label your plugs, build a cord management system.
What would have been really cool here is if you showed us how to fit three computers, an extra monitor, a bunch of peripherals and some audio gear into this room without making it look like a Best Buy post-tornado hit. That would definitely have worked as both cool and small.
view Max's profile
The top of your Rotel is very dusty :(
That'd be fine normally, but at least clean it for a picture for a contest...
view Mat's profile
This doesn't even get the job done, let alone show any semblance of coolness.
I feel for the poor Macs that are subjected to this mess.
view phaedrus's profile
I can't even vote for this one. It's got to be a joke.
view ebrown's profile
i hate the set-up we have at our house - wires seemingly abound and just not ever seeming "done," but this set-up makes me think we could take the cake!
view mrs's profile
HAHAHA
Stephen - you remind me of when I was 18.
I had a 51cm philips television, a 2.1 "surround" sound system (which also hooked up to my pc!) and a dvd player.
Oh I was proud. My friends even thought it was cool!
Honestly - good on you. You are working hard to buy what you want and are so proud you are showing the world.
The only problem is this sites focus is significantly around design. Didn't you notice that? Making your bed is a start!
Anyway good luck with the future - we all have to start somewhere.
view thisbmine's profile
I don't get this entry at all. Dust, stacks of CDs and a desk with 5 too many computers on it..which looks like a nightmare to work at. I has to be a joke...but a sorta lame one.
view jon's profile
IMHO...this is precisely the type of entry that shows it NEEDS a prize. I keep wondering why the best of the best win prizes that they probably don't need. I've said it before...how about a contest for the smallest UNcoolest so that the prize really helps the winner. Sure, rewards are great - just looking for help with my own small uncool place!
view One Eyed Daruma's profile
One of my best friends does tech. His space is meticulous. Every cord organized. Desk clean and orderly. Multiple macs dust free. He loves music, books, art but it supports not overwhelms him.
However, Stephen is young. He's just left Mum. I'll cut him some slack.
view ebrown's profile
I think this workstation is more than a bit of a mess, but of the three tech setups posted so far, this is by far the only one I'd feel comfortable sitting at for more than 10 minutes at a time. I'm a techie with an appreciation of design, not a designer (or creative type) with an interest in tech, so I need a powerful, ergonomic and functional workstation to work and play at. The Mac-in-a-cabinet thing isn't going to do it for me.
I half thought of entering the contest, but my workstation is the very opposite of "Smallest, Coolest". I think it's cool and it does a pretty decent job of hiding cables, but it's big, bold and very up-front about what it is. Plus the main rig is a dual-head PC. Running XP. That's got no chance with this crowd. :p
view Ondrej's profile
Ondrej - Its clearly a dual head iMac running OS X , windows has no place in my life.
ebrown, One eyed Daruma, thisbmine - thank you,
im very proud of my setup, and my friends do think its cool, its the biggest room i can afford and every inch of space i can use is being used, also its quite ergonomic to sit at, you can get to all the tools, cables and everything else by just rotating the chair
view Stephen C's profile
also it does qualify :
Small - all in one computers, everything shoved into a small space
cool - me and my friends think its cool,
view Stephen C's profile
also whats its function :
iMac 20" - Main machine, tv (eyetv usb stick : small and cool), dvd player, media centre,
iMac G3 - accounts backup, os9 legacy boot machine.
rotel - my stereo
external floppy disk - for classic machines
soldering iron - repairing things
rack of cd's - restore disks, os disks, utilities
boxes of cables etc... - parts for testing, repairing machines
view Stephen C's profile