Show HN: My Sort-of-DIY, Dual 30", Sit-Stand Treadmill Desk Setup | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: My Sort-of-DIY, Dual 30", Sit-Stand Treadmill Desk Setup

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Monitor cable note: You don't have to use the expensive dual-link DVI adapters if you have a monitor that supports the standard sized DisplayPort. You can get a simple Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort adapter (and DisplayPort cable) and it supports the full 2560x1600 resolution of monitors like the 30" Dell.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TSDG06/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=dr...

(note: summary description says max of 1920x1200, but detailed description says up to 2560x1600. I'm using it on a 30" Dell, so it works :)

That's exactly what I did as well. It works a treat, other than the cable and/or connection sometimes being finicky and sending the external monitor into sleep mode. I suspect a higher quality cable wouldn't exhibit this problem.

Or without the unmentioned referal link

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TSDG06/

What's wrong with a referral link?

Absolutely nothing, but I prefer when you disclaim that you've included one.

It's a common curtosy to mention it. Ufnortunately otherwise, when you recommend a link it sounds more like your trying to make a buck than help someone out.

TIL that a 30" Dell monitor costs 2500 USD in Brazil. WJW.

That adapter only supports one monitor right?

Yes, only one monitor per mini DisplayPort.

Working out and writing software are like beer and chocolate.

I love both, but not at the same time.

I understand your point (and agree), but a nice stout and some fancy chocolate go quite well together. :)

I, on the other hand, love beer and chocolate together. Not quite as nice for breakfast as coke (soda), chocolate and a cigarette, but I ain't that young any more.

Many of the comments here are arguing that walking desks aren't necessary because one can just exercise outside of working hours. What they're failing to consider is new research that shows that sitting all day and then exercising is still unhealthy on the whole. Walking desks are intended to reduce the number of hours just sitting. They're not intended to be your daily workout/break from the monitor, etc.

I hate this whole standing/treadmill desk fad. It solves the wrong end of the problem. Sitting on your ass is fine but don't do it all day.

I can understand if you're a hamster in a cage but seriously just go for a walk instead.

10-20 times per day?

Well tend to walk about 5-6 miles a day and do nothing else whatsoever and I'm in very good health.

I don't eat meat though so my metabolism is probably different.

Why do you maintain this is just a fad? I walk that same distance every day on my treadmill desk. It's helped my chronic back problem and it's better for my joints because it prevents bad posture. What's wrong with it?

You'll find out in about 10 years.

So you think it's a fad, fine. But why the hatred for it? Why do you think they're bad? Have you seen research that shows them to be unhealthy? Did you have a bad experience with them? I'm trying to understand what you feel is disadvantageous about them in light of my and others' experiences to the contrary.

Taking a walk a day isn't going to offset sitting on your ass for all of your other waking hours.

Unless you're walking constantly, but that makes it rather difficult to work at your computer...

Depends how far you walk. Too much exercise decreases your lifespan as much as too little.

Wow, I'd really like to read more about that. The the most things that kill americans are, Heart Disease, Cancer, Respiratory disease, and exercise helps with all of those. Suicide is in the top 10, and exercise helps depression. Any amount of exercise is better for lifespan than no exercise.

I'm willing to accept the possibility that there is an inflection point out there somewhere. However this sort of assertion without any evidence at all seems like something you made up. I'd really love to see any evidence at all that to much walking decreases lifespan.

Google for professional athlete lifespan.

Not sure what you want me to be googling for. all the studies point to longer lifespan.

"In conclusion, this study found that overall, professional football players had a 46% lower overall mortality rate than the general United States male population with a similar age and race distribution" http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/sports/28longman.p...

and there is a massive difference between professional athlete and your claim of "getting to much exercise"

I don't think it's remotely sensible to compare the types of exercise professional atheletes endure to walking.

That's easy if 'sitting on your ass' amounts to grazing on facebook, watching idle entertainment or playing games. For the rest of us who work on a computer at a job and/or then again at home, that's a bit impractical at best and not the least feasible for many, even some who happen not to be hamsters in a cage. And though a treadmill is a bit extreme I see no reason to shrug off standing desks as an annoying fad--it's just as natural a position to work as sitting though not as culturally ingrained, and uncomfortable for long straight hours (but then sitting is seemingly comfortable while not at all healthy).

Perhaps the problem is that you shouldn't be sitting in front of the computer at work and at home rather than have a standing desk at either?

>I hate this whole standing/treadmill desk fad. It solves the wrong end of the problem. Sitting on your ass is fine but don't do it all day.

Sure, but I actually find that I feel better when I use a standing desk than sitting.

The best part is that mouse. Razer DeathAdder.

Awesome, awesome, awesome mouse. Highly recommended.

Even for not-gaming use?

Absolutely.

It's very comfortable, very accurate, very smooth. It's simple, but has all the basic buttons you need and none of the extra chaff. It has an awesome blue light, but you can disable this if you want. It's also easy to clean, and looks great! :)

There's also a button on the bottom, you can program this, but it is in a rather awkward place. My only complaint.

Newer models come with a braided cable which is very sturdy.

You can get a black edition DeathAdder, which doesn't have the blue light. I got this mouse even though I don't game, because it appears to be one of the only high quality corded mice on the market (Microsoft's mice have severely dropped in quality over the past few years).

Agreed. I bought it primarily because it has a left-handed version, but it's a great mouse.

Did you consider any of the Lifespan Fitness models? They sell complete kits, some for less money than the cost of what you built yourself:

http://www.lifespanfitness.com/tr800-dt5-treadmill-desk.html... http://www.lifespanfitness.com/treadmill-desk/tr1200-dt5-tre... http://www.lifespanfitness.com/treadmill-desk/tr5000-dt5-tre...

I have the mid-tier model and absolutely love it. Curious if there was anything in particular about it that turned you off (you obviously researched this project thoroughly).

Hi, I built a running "desk" for situations when I consume podcasts/youtube. It is not for working but good for running/walking while watching.

Kettler treadmill + Griffin stand + MacBook: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/559047/mbp-running.jpg

That's awesome! I did something similar to that years ago with an old elliptical trainer: I clamped a dell laptop to it. But my problem I found is that I'd still spend all the other time sitting when doing real work.

You can actually get into a really good coding zone when walking, once you get used to it...

Or just take a break for 1-2 hours during the day to go out and hit the gym or go for a run. I would argue it makes you feel better than trying to mix exercise with working on a computer.

Sadly, research suggests that's not sufficient enough to counteract being sedentary for the rest of the day.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39523298/ns/health-mens_health/#...

The idea of these treadmill desks is to keep you from constantly sitting all day. I would agree that one should probably do some more vigorous exercise as well.

  > I would argue it makes you feel better than trying to 
  > mix exercise with working on a computer.

This is a common misunderstanding about treadmill desks. They're not a workout replacement, they're meant to reduce the number of work hours just sitting. Typically you're not breaking a sweat or even breathing heavier when you use one. You should still go to the gym/go outside/work out if you use one of these.

Get away from your desk every once in a while instead of exercising behind your desk. It clears your head and makes you focus better afterwards.

Why "instead" and not "as well"?

I feel you would get less work done running or walking on one of these, and you would also not get much exercise value out of it.

It would be better to take breaks often, and every other day take a 1 hour break to do a proper set of exercises in a gym, playing a sport or just running or biking outside.

There was a study I remember seeing referenced a while ago (I think it was in an article about the Mayo clinic guy Levine) where the big point was that if you spent essentially most of your workday sitting, then an hour at the gym doesn't undo that. With this approach I can walk 3 - 6 miles while working. I'm not trying to get my heart rate up to cardio levels obviously; I'm just walking. And I'm not saying I'm a role model for perfect health, etc...

I used to stand. An then arranges for my MacBook Pro to sit nicely on my already existing high end treadmill.

Neither really did it for me and I think I was just sucked into the trend.

Now I do 5k a day on the treadmill and some basic work with light dumb bells. No more sore back. And RSI in the wrists is pretty much gone despite still pushing some 4 hour sessions without rest (which I know is wrong).

Inspirarional. Good job on planning and make it happen for yourself! Everybody deserves a decent workstation.

I've been considering adding a treadmill to my standing desk, but am concerned about the whine of the treadmill and the sound of my footsteps on it bothering others in the room or who work below me. How is the noise from your setup? Have you had to address that in any way?

It's awesome! But I don't see how you can have high-productivity by using a laptop keyboard.

I also have a SteelSeries 7G keyboard, which is what I used when just using one 30" monitor. But I haven't figured out how to incorporate it with the dual 30" monitor setup. And dual 30" monitor + laptop keyboard > SteelSeries + single 30" monitor. Maybe I'll get a laptop stand and try incorporating all three plus the external keyboard...

I'm curious why you need the laptop at all. Do you like looking down on the tiny screen even though you have two huge ones above?

The retina display is nice to look at when coding :)

My current workflow is to just put one Emacs buffer in it, and I also use one of the two 30" displays for a whole bunch of Emacs buffers, and the other 30" display has browsers and other stuff. But I'm still evolving it. I have a coworker who just leaves his laptop shut and uses the two 30" displays in this setup.

i would argue that the massive difference in DPI on the retina display compared to the Dells isnt very good from an ergonomic perspective.

I wonder why you need a Laptop at all in that setup. Wouldnt a Mac Pro and a Macbook Air for on the go make more sense ?

Cool stuff though! For a while i had a Crosstrainer facing to the wall where i mounted a 22" monitor to watch movies while working out..That was really nice, but unfortunately my current home office is too small for a big work out machine.

Yeah I have a coworker that just puts the two 30" displays together (in a sitting desk). Right now I'm not sure whether my love for the SteelSeries 7G will end up winning out over my love for looking at a retina display. So far, no.

The funny thing is that the switching between "awesome sharpness" and "meh" isn't so bad. I put web browsers on the left 30" monitor and other Emacs buffers in the right 30" monitor (full screen Emacs in it, and then a couple of horizontal and vertical splits) showing other files I'm dealing with. The primary buffer I'm working on in the retina. But it's fine to do edits on the 30" monitor too, and there's no issue.

Divvy is essential here so I don't waste time resizing things.

Productivity is rarely limited by typing speed.

Arguably, there are laptop keyboards that are much better than most desktop keyboards.

I prefer my laptop keyboard to normal ones. In what way would it limit my productivity?

For me lack of a number pad. But I spend much of my day in spreadsheets.

Nice! I have almost an exact same setup! www.treadmilldeskdiary.com

While the dual-30" monitors certainly has its appeal, I find getting away from my screens and truly discovering the world to be my most enriching time. Why confine your walking to the scope of those foreboding screens when your walk could be toward something unknown? Something strange, something beautiful. Something to inspire. A show, a friend, or something you've never experienced. I know it takes more than a walk on a treadmill to open my mind to a new idea.

> Why a sit-stand treadmill desk? It’s the perfect way to work.

Emphasis mine.

I fully agree! I like snowboarding or going down to the ocean for that. But doing a startup requires massive hours at a computer, and the problem is that hours of sitting is fundamentally bad. Besides being bad for your health (see http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/06/treadmill-desks-i... and follow your nose) I find it's also easy to fall into a rut and end up on HN too much. Like now :) Goodnight!

Then you have to come back and sit for 8 hours coding that idea. Problem remains.

How can you possibly track text for reading, let alone type accurately while walking on a treadmill?

You'd be surprised at how easy it is. You're not running, nor are even walking at full speed. It's really just a casual stroll while typing. People do all sorts of things while walking.

If you walk at "going for a stroll" speed instead of "competing in the olympics" speed it's actually fine. For me, I can code or even play civ at 1.6 to 2 mph.

The only thing I've done where I was frustrated by walking at the same time was play StarCraft 2. This was just when I had one 30" monitor and was using my SteelSeries 7G. The mouse control is really hard for SC2, but I play zerg, so you can do macro cheese types of strats while walking. (I'm plat though. I think you'd get slaughtered if you tried this at diamond or higher.)

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