As somebody who works at a pc roughly all day every single day and has power again issues, a standing desk is a vital a part of my workplace setup. I’ve been utilizing one for over ten years and again then it was one thing of a luxurious. However currently I’ve been seeing motorized standing desks, not dissimilar in design to the one I purchased all these years in the past, popping up for shockingly low costs. Are these super-cheap desks price your cash? 

I’ve used three completely different desks within the final decade of working from house and writing about expertise — possibly 4, relying on the way you rely all the assorted components and parts. And I reviewed one other mannequin for considered one of my earlier employers, all from completely different suppliers, so I really feel like I do know what I’m speaking about right here. My newest one is one thing of a behemoth, to take care of my big desktop and triple-monitor show. (Hey, I write for PCWorld, I come by it truthfully.) 

Between the heavy-duty, four-legged, quadruple-motor Uplift body and the custom-made six-foot desktop I ordered from a Dallas carpenter, the entire bundle price me over $1,500. And I’m sorry if that feels like flexing, however I actually spend extra time at this desk than in my mattress some weeks. It’s price making it an excellent one. For the sake of comparability, the earlier desks I’ve used after which handed on to associates or members of the family once I upgraded have been all $600 or extra. 

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The place are all these low cost standing desks coming from? 

However you don’t should spend 4 figures on a standing desk, even a “fancy” one with a motorized elevating and decreasing motion. In truth, I purchased (or moderately expensed for this very article) a motorized standing desk off Amazon for exactly $100. (The identical mannequin is $200 on the time of writing, however it’s simple to search out options.) Delivery was free, tax an extra $6. It was solely the most recent entry I’d seen on SlickDeals for super-low-priced standing desks, which obtained me questioning in the event that they have been really definitely worth the value, or in any method corresponding to the extra premium desks to which I’m accustomed. 

100 bucks is a fairly good value for a 55-inch bamboo desk all by itself. You would possibly be capable to discover a particle board model of 1 at Walmart or Goal, for instance, to say nothing of a standing model. Or at the very least that’s what I assumed — in truth I discovered an almost an identical desk, solely barely smaller and missing the keyboard tray, for exactly $100. Even cheaper ones can be found for those who go searching.

So, clearly there’s been one thing of a race to the underside on this market, with a hoard of abroad suppliers making desks as cheaply and shortly as doable. I believe a spike in demand through the pandemic has created an enormous surplus of those desks. However “low cost” doesn’t mechanically imply “unhealthy,” as my hard-working Kia Soul can testify.

The query I purpose to reply is whether or not or not it is best to avoid wasting cash in your setup by going with considered one of these ultra-cheap motorized standing desks or for those who’re higher off saving up for a extra deluxe choice from a dependable provider. 

Placing it collectively 

The INNOVAR (ALL CAPS) desk arrived from Amazon in a surprising someday, and because it occurred to be Saturday, I set to assembling it instantly. I’m no stranger to flat-pack furnishings within the Scandinavian fashion, and I’ve assembled and brought aside related desks a couple of dozen occasions, so it solely took me about 45 minutes to place every part collectively. Whereas there are commonalities in all of those desk designs, I noticed a number of necessary variations. 

Michael Crider/Foundry

The very first thing I observed was that it was shockingly mild. At 46.2 kilos (just below 21 kilograms) within the field, I used to be capable of transfer it into my workplace in a single journey, even with my again issues. Frankly this didn’t bode effectively: If there’s one factor I like in a desk, it’s some heft, particularly when the necessary bits are metal. Upon opening the field, my suspicions have been confirmed.

Whereas the bamboo high is fairly typical and seems to be nice, all the metal components are constituted of ⅛” or 2mm panels. They’re all mild sufficient to toss round…not that it is best to attempt it. For the sake of comparability, the body of my outdated Totally Jarvis desk with the same dimension weighed at the very least twice as a lot.  

Michael Crider/IDG

Talking of metal, I instantly observed that there’s no high body to the Innovar. All three of the earlier desks I’ve used, plus one evaluation unit, had metal crossbars which might be affixed to the underside of the desktop. The highest is laid the wrong way up on the ground, then the legs are bolted in place. Not so right here: the directions had me assemble the legs first, full with the motor and the T-bars, then screw the complete meeting onto the underside of the desktop, together with the included keyboard tray and plastic accent hooks. 

Michael Crider/IDG

Uncovered innards

Being conversant in these desk designs, I did a double-take wanting on the precise motor mechanism. It’s housed in a semi-exposed barrel on one facet of the body, whereas the opposite standing desks I’ve used had motors hidden contained in the leg pillars. Notice the plural there: this desk has only one moderately weak motor driving each legs directly. It does this via an extended hexagonal metal bolt, primarily a large Allen wrench spanning between the 2 legs. 

Michael Crider/Foundry

The truth that this driver bolt was uncovered to the underside of the desk threw me for a loop. Not solely is it uncovered, simply begging to get caught on cables or wires, it’s positioned on the entrance facet of its crossbeam, dealing with the person. The percentages of truly rubbing towards your knees are fairly low except you moonlight as an NBA participant, however as somebody who typically runs wires all throughout the underside of a desk to maintain the highest good and clear, it makes me nervous to see transferring components anyplace in there. 

Michael Crider/Foundry

Additionally, having an uncovered mechanism like because of this the legs aren’t mechanically stage out of the field. I needed to manually alter the preliminary peak of 1 facet of the body to match the opposite. And to get them matched on a separate hexagonal bar that I needed to set up myself, I had a restricted alternative of roughly six positions to put the “grasp” leg at to match it to the opposite facet. I believe I used to be capable of eyeball it moderately effectively, however it is a downside I haven’t encountered on desks with mechanisms which might be much less threadbare. 

Michael Crider/Foundry

There are a few further factors on this particular desk bundle price highlighting. First, it comes with a slide-out keyboard tray, one thing you don’t typically see at any value. I favor to lift my displays up with VESA arms moderately than decrease the keyboard and mouse space, however it all achieves the identical impact, so having the choice with out spending any extra cash is some extent in its favor. A budget plastic hooks, presumably for hanging luggage or headsets, I may do with out solely. I wouldn’t belief any form of heavy bag to it (definitely nothing with textbooks inside), and second I’d moderately see some extra helpful cable routing, like a tray for an influence strip on the rear of the desk. 

Highs and lows

There’s one level on this desk’s favor: it comes with a four-setting, programmable peak controller, full with an LED readout. That shocked me — it was an expensive little improve once I purchased a Totally desk. I think about that these desks have turn into so ubiquitous that like Bluetooth within the head unit of a funds automobile, it’s simply commonplace now. It’s a pleasant little controller with the LED readout neatly hidden inside the white plastic. It’s only a disgrace that the facility connector pins have been so bent once I assembled it that I needed to manually straighten them out with a flathead screwdriver. Some extra stringent QA would have caught that. 

Michael Crider/Foundry

Bent pins have been removed from the one subject I discovered with the desk. Whereas I used to be ending the setup, I observed that the entrance was critically dipping down. This isn’t fully the fault of the desk, as there’s a little bit of a bunched carpet pad close to the wall in my workplace. However I by no means observed it earlier than as a result of no different piece of furnishings in my workplace was so mild that it couldn’t press down stage on this pad with its personal weight. Fortunately there are plastic adjustment ft beneath the white metal legs, and I used to be capable of juuuuuust about stage the floor of the desk by placing the entrance ones at their most peak. 

Michael Crider/Foundry

Lastly, with every part set as much as my satisfaction, I examined the elevating and decreasing motion. It really works. It’s gradual, particularly at the beginning, however it works. You’ll be able to program as much as 4 positions just by urgent and holding the corresponding buttons on the controller, and it measures peak in increments of a tenth of an inch. In truth you possibly can set the floor much more exactly, as a result of the motion of the motor is analog, regardless that it’s measured digitally. 

Not fairly a battlestation 

I proceeded to arrange a fairly fundamental workstation: small laptop computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and mousepad. A light-weight lamp, heavy espresso mug, and slightly LEGO set for taste rounded it out, plus the assorted cables wanted for every part with admittedly sloppy administration. I’ve used it for a number of weeks, however immediately I may inform that this desk could be missing in sturdiness.

To be blunt, the body is simply so mild that the factor wobbles like a Weeble on the slightest contact. Each standing desk goes to have slightly little bit of give on the high of its peak, even my huge four-poster. However this one is so unstable that I can see it shake with each single keystroke on my laptop computer, even once I wasn’t utilizing any exterior show or keyboard, and even within the seated place. 

Michael Crider/Foundry

At a decrease place the soundness is alright, it doesn’t really feel like I may flip it over unintentionally. However on the standing place it wouldn’t take greater than ten or fifteen kilos of stress to get this factor to tip both forwards or backwards. I can think about an incautious youngster, a giant canine, or an particularly clumsy web author reaching this all too simply. 

Up to now I’ve mounted a full desktop with three displays, lamps, and varied and varied different computing gear to a standing desk with solely slightly warping of the wood high floor to fret about. The Totally Jarvis, for instance, is rated to raise 350 kilos (if not fortunately). Innovar claims a 198-pound capability on this factor, and whereas the motor is perhaps rated to raise that quantity of weight, I’ve zero religion on this desk’s capacity to truly rise up below that load for any period of time. Simply my admittedly “husky” desktop and 34-inch heart monitor would weigh extra collectively than the complete desk.

Save your cash for those who can

Is a $100 standing desk price it? The reply will rely in your wants and your means, in fact. My fellow tech writers and I typically get into discussions alongside the traces of “how a lot does a funds laptop computer price?” Properly, if all it’s important to spend on a laptop computer is $300, then a funds laptop computer for you is $300 and never a penny extra. If you end up in a scenario the place you merely can not spend any greater than needed on a desk and also you want a standing desk for ergonomic or well being causes, then yeah, it’s price it. 

However for those who’re on this scenario and also you’re planning to create a workstation with a desktop PC on the heart, then even that qualifier doesn’t apply to you. I can’t communicate for each single desk available on the market, however this Innovar mannequin I’ve examined is so shaky and top-heavy that it could’t safely maintain a giant, beefy desktop. Get a daily desk or desk as an alternative. For this standing design and people of comparable ilk, restrict it to a small kind issue PC on the absolute most, extra doubtless a laptop computer and a lamp. I wouldn’t anticipate to move this desk down as heirloom furnishings, both. 

Michael Crider/Foundry

The phrase “you get what you pay for” involves thoughts, trite because it is perhaps. In the event you’re ready to spend money on a extra substantial desk or for those who can afford to attend till your funds is extra roomy, then I counsel you achieve this, particularly for those who’re working from house or in any other case planning on spending a considerable amount of time with it.