Best standing desk!

May 19, 2022 6:22 PM

I'm moving, which means that 1. I no longer can WFH on a beat up old couch all day 2. I don't HAVE to WFH on a beat up old couch all day. Recommend a standing desk!

My new place should have room for a more professional setup, including a standing desk. But I'm overwhelmed by all the options that have sprung up since COVID. What's the best motorized desk for a shortish person (5'4") who uses a laptop and perhaps an extra monitor? Preferably under $500, but can go higher for pretty designs and extra bells and whistles. (And if you have any other home office recs, I'm happy to hear.) Thanks!

posted by kingdead to Home & Garden (19 answers total)

I hate to question the premise right from the get-go, but I've tried and like a different thing better. Rather than a desk that raises and lowers, I like a standing-height desk and a high chair, so I can sit or stand. I don't know where my company got my extra high office chair though.
posted by ctmf at 6:35 PM on May 19, 2022

I went with an updesk a few years ago and it's been great.
posted by jquinby at 6:51 PM on May 19, 2022

I really like my Ikea BEKANT standing desk, easy to crank, comes in two sizes. I've had mine for three years now and it works well.
posted by Arctostaphylos at 6:59 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have this L-shaped desk base from Monoprice, and they have similar ones that aren't L-shaped (and are cheaper). I added my own top but they do sell desktops as well.

I've had it for about a year and it's worked flawlessly. I specifically wanted one that went lower down than an average desk height, and this one goes to 23.6", so I no longer need to use a footrest.
posted by mgar at 7:00 PM on May 19, 2022

In our house we have the fancy uplift desk which I love (and is BIG- I love spreading across it) and also this desk from Amazon when both of use needed to work remotely. (I think the 44x24).

It’s been pretty good, slightly less “finesse” on certain items like crappy adhesive on the cord ties than the uplift provided ones, but still pretty damn good.

I will say that both my husband and I are tall so we had the opposite concern but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for you
posted by raccoon409 at 7:21 PM on May 19, 2022

If you go full time to a standing desk, you'll never need to adjust it so mechanical is fine, set-and-forget.

I very strongly recommend buying monitor arms and a good standing mat.
posted by mhoye at 7:27 PM on May 19, 2022

My IKEA standing/ motorized desk is very good and sturdy. Much better than my wife's that was more expensive from somewhere else.
posted by zeikka at 7:44 PM on May 19, 2022

Another rec for the Uplift - mine was >$500 but I got the big one with a fancier solid wood top and the base with extra reach. (It goes up almost high enough to put my monitors into the ceiling fan!) Build quality is good and all that and it wasn't too hard to put together as a reasonably handy person (but you will want a helper; the stand itself is pretty heavy). I'll single out their customer support, though, because it's pretty great. FedEx, being FedEx, straight up broke the desk top. There's a 2-foot crack that goes through it. Uplift sent a repair kit and a new desk top. So.. I have two desks. (FedEx broke the second one too but much less severely so I'm not worrying about it. The original desk became a workbench and lives on top of a cheap $50 dining room table for now. Uplift also offered a discount on a base for the 2nd top but I didn't take them up on it.)

The one thing that sucked was the cable management tray. It worked but it's pretty minimal. I replaced it with these ones from Scandinavian Hub which are much better. Also, the foot hammock wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but I might not have it set up right.

I adjust mine on a pretty regular basis - the memory keypad is handy for that - and being able to lift it up real high makes it really easy to clean under too.
posted by mrg at 7:44 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

At 5'4", you really have to make sure the desk goes low enough for you to sit in a chair (that also goes low enough) and have your feet firmly planted on the floor. For example, you'd have to specifically get the 3-stage low frame from Fully recommended for your height. So measure your ideal desk height and make sure the desk you buy goes that low when shopping. I have a Fully and other than the fact it doesn't go low enough, I haven't had any problems. I stacked two large monitors on it in addition to my laptop and all my peripherals.

I used a standing-desk only setup for a while, but it tends to give me back issues since my feet dangle or have a incomplete footrest, so i end up leaning forward. Extra-high office chairs are usually categorized as stools.
posted by meowzilla at 7:46 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have a short-width (24”) Fully Jarvis with extended range, a monitor arm, and one of their rocker stools (which I pad with a Purple seat pad), and I adore it. The desk fits at the end of my couch, it raises and lowers silently and smoothly, the rocker can feel like a seat or a lean-stool and lets me wobble throughout the day. Their customer service is also quite human and responsive. Looks like many of the Jarvis models are starting at under $500 at the moment, as well.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 9:19 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have a Costco tresanti adjustable standing desk and I love it. I got it on sale for $300. It’s not huge but it’s durable and works great.
posted by sleeping bear at 11:52 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I got the same Fully Jarvis set-up as rrrrrrrrt (minus the stool) when the pandemic started. It's been great. I added a standing pad that had knobs and ledges so I can move my feet and legs around in quite a few different permutations. When I need a chair, I just lower it to sitting height and use one of the chairs I already have in my living room. The system works so well--I wish I'd tried this sooner.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 1:11 AM on May 20, 2022

I'm the same height as you. My desk setup features two laptops, two external monitors, a keyboard, a mouse, some stationery and a lot of clutter.

I have an Ikea BEKANT motorised sit/stand desk. It has room for all my stuff, it's easy to operate, and I'm happy to recommend it (although it would have been easier putting it together and especially flipping it the right way up at the end if I'd had someone else to help). There are two things that could be better:

- at its lowest height, while it's the lowest desk I've ever had either at home or at work, it's still *very slightly* too high for me to sit with my feet flat on the floor;

- it doesn't have saved positions, so while it's easy for me to know how far to lower it for sitting (all the way down!), I've ended up taping a length of fine chain to it to mark the right height for standing (when the bottom of the chain is just touching the floor, it's gone up far enough).

I have a Topo Mini anti-fatigue mat to go with it (wow, those are so much cheaper in the US *cries in pounds sterling*) and would strongly recommend it. Standing still for a long time is hard on my back; having a comfortable mat to stand on that encourages me to keep moving my feet and legs around is much better. That said, I've realised that when I'm concentrating on work I forget about my body and stand stock still, which is not great, but is possibly a mental quirk most people don't have.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 3:47 AM on May 20, 2022

This is an anti-recommendation, but Humanscale brand on-top-of-conventional-desk ones we have at work have been really disappointing for me. They're wobbly when raised and the cable management is absurd. It's possible the same company also makes good things, but I'd definitely try them first.
posted by eotvos at 8:08 AM on May 20, 2022

forgot to mention (for short-person cred) that I'm 5'1.5"!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 8:53 AM on May 20, 2022

Like ctmf, I love having a stool tall enough to sit without changing the desk height. I stand a ton more now that it’s so easy to switch, even in the middle of a zoom call.

I have this Uplift Saddle.
posted by advicepig at 9:49 AM on May 20, 2022

Nthing the Uplift desk. I splurged on this the first summer of COVID and it was the best investment I made, since I now think I will be permanently WFH. Mine is a smaller desktop size, but I actually had little difficulty assembling it on my own and I am by no means handy or strong. I like the flexibility of the adjustable motorized version, and the cat enjoys the ride up and down. Mine has a bamboo curved front desktop which is very nice and had held up well so far.

Agree with others that a good mat is key - I also have a Topo mat and the "terrain" features are great. I find it easy to hook in and out from underneath the desk when it is time to move position.
posted by Preserver at 9:44 AM on May 21, 2022

Everybody likes the Uplift desks, but if you get one, pay attention to which leg setup you bet. I got the one with the legs closer to the back of the desk, but it turns out that one is wobblier than the one with the legs in the middle of the desk width. With a keyboard tray attached (which extends out in front of the desk), regular typing is enough to make the desk jiggle, especially at standing height.

Also definitely worth the money for the programmable keypad with presets.

The keyboard trays uplift sells aren't very good though. They're by Humanscale, but my other Humanscale tray that I got directly from Humanscale is much better.
posted by bluesky78987 at 8:34 AM on May 23, 2022

When I started WFH (post covid weird enough - my company was late to the party) I managed to pick up a Yo-Yo Desk 2+ height adjustable desk which has been faultless. I'm 6'4" so was on the other end of the scale and had to look at extra height options. After a bit of research, most of the main UK brands like Flexispot and Yo-Yo Desk seemed to have plenty of options to accommodate us lanky folks. A pretty wide range of both straight desks and L-shaped ones.

I was tempted to get one of those desk risers / desk converters but changed my mind purely due to the aesthetics. Coming to think of it, if you are shorter these potentially could be a better option as you can just place it on your pre-existing desk and then still have the sit-stand option?

Each to their own obviously.
posted by alext28 at 12:24 AM on February 17, 2023