Marco.org

Great roundup from Mark Lukach.

I used a makeshift standing desk at Tumblr for over a year, and then a few of us got nice electric-lift Details AdjusTables desks (copied directly from Fog Creek). I liked mine so much that when I left Tumblr, I negotiated to take it with me.

Part of the reason I took it was that at the time, it was effectively impossible for one person to buy one good electric-lift standing desk. Tumblr and Fog Creek had to get the AdjusTables through expensive office-furniture dealers (the kind of dealers whose websites don’t contain any prices and who take 6–8 weeks to do anything), and they ended up costing almost $2,000 each after all of the fees. These dealers probably wouldn’t even sell just one, they probably wouldn’t bring it to a house in the suburbs, and it would probably cost a fortune if they did.

The original GeekDesk was the only consumer-accessible electric-lift desk on the market at the time, but it lacked a critical feature: programmable height memories. Trust me, as a long-time user of standing desks: you want that. Find your most comfortable sitting and standing heights and program them into memory. You don’t need a lot — I’d be fine with just one each for standing and sitting. (Mine has three, but I’ve never used the third.)

Today, there are more electric-lift options with programmable heights: the GeekDesk Max, the NewHeights, and the attractive NextDesk Terra. I’m glad Mark found these: now I don’t need to worry that I won’t be able to replace my desk when the AdjusTables’ unreliable lift mechanism inevitably breaks.