The previous two posts discussed the design reasoning behind the positioning for the power supply unit and the motherboard. Now we get to the most interesting problem: Where do we want to position the screen?

The easiest approach is to line the screen up with the existing components, so I tried that first. A 17″ screen is almost the same length and width as the ATX motherboard plus PSU. But that means the screen would be at a vertical (portrait) orientation. While common for phones and tablets, it is not a typical layout for a desktop PC. (Historical trivia: The Alto by XEROX PARC, recognized to be one of the first computers with a graphical user interface, uses a portrait orientation.)

The easiest solution to that problem is to rotate the whole works 90 degrees. I tried it for a while and the upright screen sitting at table height level was ergonomically poor.

Laptops also have their screens at table height (one of my peeves against laptops) but at least their screens can tilt. I wanted to do even better than merely tilting: I aim for the OSHA ergonomic recommendation raising the top of the screen to eye height.

The wasted volume between the screen and the motherboard was another problem exposed by this prototype. The space looked small in CAD because the CAD model blocked out all the volume allocated by ATX spec. Since the actual motherboard consumed only a fraction of the allocated volume, the real world example had far more wasted space.

I had the idea to solve both issues by raising the screen high to eye level, oriented horizontally, and tilt it into the empty volume. I never got as far as building it. Looking at the CAD layout, it is quite clear that the horizontally-oriented screen sticks out on either side of the case. This makes for a shape awkward to transport and also leaves the screen extremely vulnerable to damage. The screen height was good, but everything else was bad.

Plus, there was one more problem not addressed by any of these ideas: The screen glass surface is exposed while in transit. Laptops fold closed to protect the glass while travelling, but all these designs leave the glass exposed.

It became clear that no single static arrangement will have all of the desired qualities. Similar to a laptop, we will need some kind of mechanism to switch between two states.

• Closed: A compact configuration for easy transport while protecting the screen from damage.
• Open: An ergonomically desirable screen position.

Next post: The mechanism to address these challenges.