Hacker News Reader

Comment by Aurornis | Hacker News Reader

The people demanding new top spec MacBook Pros every year aren’t the same people requesting the cheapest Chinese standing desk they can find.

View on HN

I can understand paying more for fast processors and so on but a standing desk just goes up and down. What features do the high end desks have that I am missing out on?

Stability and reliability.

Stability is a big one, but the feel of the desk itself is also a price point. You're gonna be paying a lot depending on the type of tabletop you get. ($100-1k+ just for the top)

Mine is very stable. Top is just some kind of board. It took a bit of damage from my cat's claws but that's not a risk most corporate offices have.

What price point did you buy at?

I paid a premium for my home height-adjustable desk because the frame and top are made in America, the veneer is much thicker than competitors, the motors and worm gears are reliable, and the same company makes coordinating office furniture.

The same company sells cheap imported desks too. Since my work area is next to the dining table in my open-plan apartment, I considered the better looks worth the extra money.

500 GBP in 2018. It looks functional but not stylish, which is all I needed. You make a good point about appearance: companies that want to create a certain impression for visitors are going to spring for better looking furniture.

I went with Uplift desks which are not $150 but certainly sub $1000. I think what I was paying for was the stability/solidity of the desk, the electronics and memory and stuff is probably commodified.

$300 electronic leg kit from Amazon + Ikea top is pretty solid and has memory etc

Doesnt matter, some people just want whatever the company will spring for them.

If you buy from a dealer/manufacturer they come and set up the desk for you. You can also get stuff like really good sound absorbing panels and better integrated electricity and other stuff like that. If you buy system furniture like connected desks and cubibles it is probably the way to go.

Furniture for managed office space has different requirements.

If someone's unstable motorized desk tips over and injures someone at the office, it's a big problem for the company.

A cheap desk might have more electrical problems. Potential fire risk.

Facilities has to manage furniture. If furniture is a random collection of different cheap desks people bought over the years they can't plan space without measuring them all. If something breaks they have to learn how to repair each unique desk.

Buying the cheapest motorized desk risks more time lost to fixing or replacing it. Saving a couple hundred dollars but then having the engineer lose part of a day to moving to a new desk and running new cables every 6 months while having facilities deal with disposal and installation of a new desk is not a good trade.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com