How to Choose an Adjustable Stand Up Desk
Not only are we at our trading desk for long hours, but we also need to be able to sit and stand up throughout the day. Our health is important to us, and it’s important to be comfortable as we trade. Being able to stand while comfortably working at your stand up desk is vital. With the right adjustable stand up desk, you can:
- Burn up to 50 calories an hour.
- Reduce back pain and stiff joints.
- Easily stretch while working and standing.
- Reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes and other metabolic problems such as cardiovascular disease.
- Exercise your core, glutes, and legs.
- Reduce your risk of cancer.
- Lower your long-term mortality risk.
Adjustable Stand Up Desk Price
We searched far and wide for the best adjustable stand up desk that met our four criteria listed above. The best part is that this desk won’t break your bank account to purchase! We decided on the Crank Adjustable Sit to Standing Up Desk with a heavy-duty steel frame.
The desk comes at a price at the time of this blog post, at only $379.00. That is a lot of desk for the price! The size was more than enough for both our 34″ wide screen monitor and our ASUS USB monitor with Tablet Stand.
Test Drive an Adjustable Stand Up Desk
The box for our adjustable stand up trading desk came with plenty of protection, and was heavy! Once unboxed, it took only 30 minutes to put together. The materials are extremely high quality. Take the great paint finish on the framework, for example, which resists scratching very well. I can say the same for the birch top. It has a quality molded vanity that’s resisted spills and scratching as well; I have two small children who have not managed to damage it at all!
The stand up trading desk rolls glides effortlessly around the hardwood floor in my office. The wheels have locks that can keep them in place. These can be set or released with just your toes easily. Very handy because I don’t like crawling around on the floor to do this.
Adjustable Stand Up Desk Setup
Once we loaded our desk with our day trading computer setup, we tested adjusting the desk up and down. Within about 20 seconds, you can easily lower and raise the desk to the desired height (my 8-year-old tested it as well).
This desk can easily be raised to fit a tall person (tried with a 6’2″ friend) or a shorter person (my 8-year-old is about 4’5″), as well as lowered to the standard height for an office chair.
Power
To help the desk have more freedom to move around while having all the electronics plugged in and attached to the desk, we opted to purchase a Tripp Lite 350VA UPS Battery Backup. What I like about this UPS is that it protects from blackouts, brownouts, and transient power surges. Not to mention the six outlets to plug in all my gadgets.
Additionally, purchasing some Industrial Strength Velcro is a must as well. The adjustable stand up desk comes with 3 “wiring” portholes in the middle of the lower and upper level for your wiring to be run through. We attached the Velcro to the bottom of the upper layer of the desk, attached the other end to the power supply (so your legs won’t bump into it), connected all of our devices to the power supply, and now we have only one cord going from the desk to the wall.
The loose power lines are wrapped using Velcro ties, so nothing but the one wire to the wall is hanging down and out of the way. This allows the desk to slide effortlessly around without running over any wires.
We use a high-powered laptop on this desk setup, so there is no tower to worry about. However, if you wanted to use a tower and put it on wheels, we recommend this tower caddy so that your desktop rolls around like your new desk!
The Complete Package
The accessories we use with it make it even more enjoyable. I’ve included below the few accessories we recommend to add for completing your adjustable stand up desk setup.
Sound Accessories
We needed some better sound than what came out of the laptop when the lid was closed on the desk. We also needed the solution not to take up much space, so we opted for the popular Anker Bluetooth Speaker. This BT speaker packs a lot of sound into a small footprint. It looks good on the desk, is loud enough to fill the sound in our 180sq ft office, and has great battery life.
Cooling Accessories
To keep our laptop running cool while on the desk, we decided we needed a cooling pad that could handle the job. This cooling pad is designed to keep your laptop temperatures low, even while using it at a high capacity.
It uses cooling fans to constantly blast cold air to the bottom of the computer and dissipate the emitted heat. We went with this cooling pad and found it was very quiet. And it kept our laptop CPU cold enough, even while running YouTube live, OBS, Trade-Ideas, ThinkorSwim, and DAS Trader at the same time!
Dual Monitor Arm
Lastly, add a dual monitor arm setup to fit on your desk, as we have shown in the picture above. If this is the case, and you have a widescreen monitor as we do (34″), you’ll want this dual monitor stand that is tough enough to hold a heavy widescreen monitor along with another smaller monitor.
Getting Started
The final verdict: We love this desk. It is quiet, durable, well-made, and so simple to use! Now you have a slick setup on your adjustable stand up desk that will last you for years to come. No more having to decide between a sit-down or stand up desk, you have both! Your body (and mind) will thank you for it, because you will be taking better care of your health because of this ergonomic desk.
