Obutto touts it as an option to a regular desk. The way I currently have it setup would be a bit more difficult with the ingress/egress than a conventional desk just because of the mounts and because it sits so much lower. It could be setup using only the tabletop and keyboard/mouse tray and I think it would work fine as a regular desk. The wonderful seat works for any configuration. I can see me watching a movie in it. The seat is more comfortable than my desk chair on my workstation. Matter-of-fact, I can hardly sit in my office chair now after sitting in the cockpit seat. Generally I would suggest keeping the cockpit for gaming and using a small office desk separately.



Any HOTAS will require some thought to attach to either the outboard or center mount stick. I'm currently using velcro, but that's temporary for me.



No, it does not swing away. It can be unbolted from the two carriage bolt mounts, but it would be a hassle to do that IMO. The center stick mount works fine though based on how much I've used it. The velcro is temporary in this situation too. Permanent mounting of the stick on the mounting plate is planned.



I haven't done anything with my wires yet since I'm switching between the cockpit, race sims, and ArmA2. For now they're just draped out of the way. Still an evolving WIP.



I would suggest using it as a gaming cockpit and not with the additional task as an office desk. Not that the Obutto couldn't do fine as an office config, but switching could get to be a bit of a hassle. If velcro isn't acceptable, all HOTAS will need a more permanent mounting solution. Velcro may be fine for most people.