7 Things Every Early 2000s Computer Room Had

By the 2000s, the age of the home computer had truly dawned. The internet was firmly established, home gaming was a rapidly expanding industry, and technological advancements came thick and fast. It may have only been a couple of decades ago, but the 2000s computer room was still noticeably different from a typical modern setup. Here are some key features you would have seen in them.

1. Magazines
2. Bulky Monitor
3. Wired Mouse
4. Modem
5. Office Chair
6. Shelving
7. Disc storage

Magazines

Before rising paper prices, increasing environmental awareness, and advanced internet speeds, physical magazines were your go-to resource for researching computers, reading about new games, or learning code. Weekly and monthly publications such as Computer Shopper and PC Magazine would have graced every enthusiast's room. In the early 2000s, many of these came with floppy discs full of game demos or useful software. There are still some in circulation today, but by the end of that decade, the shift to online reading had largely been completed.

Bulky Monitor

Does anyone remember having to painstakingly tweak games and software to run perfectly on a particular monitor? These days, it's all pretty standardized, but the 2000s were a time of change. The old cathode ray tube display systems were departing, and LCDs were just coming in. Early LCD models were still fairly bulky, and it wasn't until the end of the decade that ones similar to today's slimline units became prevalent. 

Wired Mouse

Not so long ago (though an age in home computer terms), every computer mouse had a tail. The now-standard wireless mouse first appeared in 1991. Back then they used infrared, but their popularity didn't really increase until the 2000s, with the introduction of radio frequency (RF) devices and Bluetooth. Chances are, your 2000s computer mouse was connected to your PC or Mac via a cable, and that was never really a problem. Wireless mice are arguably more elegant, and one less cable to worry about can only be a good thing, although one great advantage of the wired version is that there is no need to concern yourself with battery life.

Modem

Without getting too technical, modems allowed one computer to speak to another via existing analog telephone systems. They were first invented by the military in the 1950s, and the first home models didn't enter the market until the 1980s. Their popularity (and usefulness) exploded across the 1990s, and modems became both faster and cheaper to purchase.

Modems in the early 2000s did not come as standard with all computers and would often have to be bought as separate units. These still had to be hard-wired to a phone system and were relatively slow, but by the end of the 2000s, ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) modems were widespread, offering much faster access.

Office Chair

Although gaming has always been popular, the 2000s marked a turning point in terms of ease of access and saw a boom in multiplayer online gaming, with the supremely popular internet gaming store, Steam, launching in 2003. Personal computers, up until relatively recently in history, were seen as “serious” items that were primarily for word processing, spreadsheets, and work.

That attitude has shifted completely across the last 30 years, and these days, all manner of gaming accessories are available, including the special-purpose gaming chair. Back in the 2000s, however, your seat of choice would most likely have been a humble office chair—probably a pedestal-based swivel model, only available in black.

Shelving

Laptops were booming during the 2000s, but they were not as ubiquitous as they are today. Units were still relatively expensive, with limited battery life and lesser performance-per-dollar compared to their bulky desktop cousins. Today's laptops offer better value and can rival mid-range desktops in terms of bells and whistles, but especially when it comes to gaming, desktops still rule the roost.

This was even more true back in the 2000s, when any good home computer needed a fair bit of space. Monitors were bulkier, components were larger, discs were still needed (much less so by 2010), and instruction manuals still came in physical formats. For a 2000s computer desk, shelving was essential, and the more the better. 

Disc storage

If you owned a computer in the early 2000s, then you owned computer discs. Lots and lots of them. Most programs and games needed at least one disc to run, sometimes multiple. The first floppy disc was developed during the 1960s and came in at a whopping eight inches, which was reduced over time to 5 ¼ and then 3 ½.

With the rise of the internet across the 1990s, the reliance on discs reduced, and by the end of the 2000s, most of those discs found their ways into either the bin or the thrift shop. Their last major manufacturer, Sony, ceased production in 2011. Still, for early 2000s enthusiasts, the humble floppy disc retains an air of magic.

Read More: