This is more of a gripe rather than a question...or useful.

I work at a public library and twice a year I build a computer with a group of tweens, teen and an occasional adult who want to sneak in. Its fun! I have a lot of used parts that people can handle during the class and I give everyone and introduction about how to plan a PC.

In the past I have mostly build mAXT systems because the parts are easier to handle and the cases it on a typical work table. But, this year I wanted to do more builds and do them on a test bench. I beleiev that will give everyone a better view from all sides of teh PC and what is connected where, However, I see that open test benches cost $140+ and even the least expensive ones that are of some quality are $50.

Sure, I could just lay the parts on the table, but I believe fitting parts withing a "defined" measured space is part of PC building - so I really need a bench. As I said at the top, there no real solution except to buy a bench - suck it up.

This is the one I bought I liked the 'rail system' that could accommodate different mother boards. It might be the wrong thing to get but it was $50.

Test benches aren't built in such quantities as regular cases, so that will drive up the price. They're also geared towards professionals, who are comfortable investing in their tools that make their lives easier.

I'm digging the idea though, since there's a lot less to worry about. Do you think they'll lose anything by not learning that yes, front-panel connectors are a bitch, and stuff like audio / USB headers?

@mikewhy: Well, I have some LED lights and a piezo speaker for the headers. But, NOW I see that for $9 you can buy a little puck that has HDD LED, power-on LED, USB 2.0 , power and reset buttons. That means as a group we can all still wire up those headers to test that everything works...even the USBs...and no need for a screwdriver to short-the-pins to start they system. Its cheating a bit, but for $9 I think its a worthwhile cheat.

I'm not sure if the kids will like it. But, I do see some value when teaching of making everything visible. It might even reinforce that building on a clan table first to test that ist posts is not so scary...seeing all the parts laid bare...might show that I suppose.

That downs side will obviously be the ability to show cable management. But, every case is so different so me showing them good practices often just applies to one case. I will admit that 50% of my class is why they SHOULDN'T just jump into building their own systems.

Maybe, at the end of the class, I can describe how someone would go from on the table to into the case. Talk about how 'the case' they plan to purchase can make 'building' a computer easy or very hard. So, much of what I stress to the students is watching people building on YouTube - Kyle Bitwit, Paul's Hardware, OzTalksHW, and Kingston Technology w/ Trisha Hershberger.