Tech Stuff: Standing Desk
This is a decidedly low-tech post, but I’m sure you’ve been hearing a lot about standing desks as well as the virtual death sentence sitting is for us humans. Who knew? Well, Mr. L has been concerned about how much sitting I do at the computer (he’s jealous of the attention it gets). I’ve been bothered by how much trouble my knees give me when I stand up after sitting for some period of time (usually twenty minutes or more). That prompted me to follow through on an order for a lap desk I’d had sitting in my Amazon cart for several months.
This desk is very adjustable, so I could configure it to fit my needs. It’s $30 plus $12 shipping.
When you’re going to stand for extended periods of time, you’ll want cushioning — popularly known as anti-fatigue matting.
For now, I’m using a beat up inexpensive mat from Harbor Freight (around $16 on sale for four pieces) that I stole from the cats, who use it to sharpen their claws:
I’ve placed one of these in my cart, but I’m also looking into one of these. The technology is a littler different between the two, but the first one is $34 and the second one is $106.
This desk could be used on a table or any other flat surface. Standing desks are all the rage these days, and if you go shopping for one, you’ll quickly see you could spend a small fortune. But you don’t have to. For less than $50, you can have a very serviceable standing desk. I ordered mine the day before the Independence Day holiday, and it was in my mailbox on Monday morning. That’s fast.
We’ve got a wooden one that has a storage box when you open it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t fit into my tiny office. It’ll stay in the cellar until the kids move out and I get a bigger bureau.
I like to work at the island in my kitchen, but it’s just a few inches too low. This desk looks like it would raise my laptop to the height I need.
That’s a pretty nice desk you have under it 🙂
Thanks, I was using the pull out on the right to hold the laptop, and I didn’t like doing that. Yes, I’m sure you’d be able to adjust this desk to give you a couple of inches of lift on your island.
That’s very cool. My desk is a table so it’s not quite the right height and I have some back and shoulder issues. I may need to invest in one of these and see if it helps.
Me, I tend to grab nearby boxes and put them on my keyboard tray. Good point about the mats though.
The important thing to do is make sure you keep your monitor at the right height/tilt, though. With a laptop it’s a little more obvious, but any conversion of a desktop it’s an important thing to consider.
Enjoy standing :).