Ikea has recently begun offering a pair of electrically adjusting sit/stand desks:
One question: do the Ikea versions remember their heights? That to me is a killer feature, because trying to figure out the "right" spot every time a desk goes up and down would make me insane.
No. Source: friend bought one yesterday.
Personally, I don't miss that at all. In fact, I think the variation is good for my back, I often move my table up and down little bits while sitting or standing, just because I change my posture.
Anyone know where I can get a standing desk (don't care if it's adjustable) that isn't insanely expensive?
I've made a simple desk in the past with an ikea top like this one http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S29870932/ and four lengths of 100mmx100mm planed softwood for the legs, and four big (10mmx200mm) countersunk screws down through the top into the legs. It was surprisingly sturdy, and takes a few minutes to assemble once you've got the parts.
I find it difficult to categorize the desk, a tool for productivity, as a luxury. I know that's just personal bias speaking, though.
The market supplies alternatives of varying degrees of quality, functionality, and design for ordinary desks. I wish there was equal demand for standing desks. Nothing ever seems to bring down the prices for them.
So you don't believe the tale that the primary audience for Hacker News are actually working on startups?
If someone can't afford US$500, they can make a desk out of a plank of wood on top of some bricks or old furniture. A standup desk is a minor modification. One can then put a bunk bed for sleeping above the desk, and thus share the room with co-founders. Co-founders can then take turns sleeping in the car.
A quick search here shows small standing height units for as little as 250UKP including VAT and motorised ones for ~500UKP - so I expect you'll find some fixed height examples available in your state in the $250 range (assuming that prices follow the 1UKP->1USD pattern seen in what I pay for electronics and similar goods rather than the actual exchange rate which is currently closer to 1UKP->1.6USD - that may be an ill-informed assumption).
Another option for home if you have the skills (or friends that do!) is to make one. Before I got the free desk we were going to take the tools to breakfast bar furniture (which a friend had going spare after some renovations and which legs of the right sort of height) and install it in that corner of the home office.
If you are shorter, half-height blocks are available to get to 12" of lift, or if your are even shorter, just use one layer and get 8".
I also bought a 29" wooden bar stool at Wal-Mart for $20 to take brief breaks for standing.
(that said, $500 for an adustable one is very very reasonable. that price was unimaginable 2 years ago.)
As others have said the Ikea version is actually insanely cheap: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-standing-desks .
Not adjustable unless you take all your stuff off it, but a whole lot cheaper.
All motorized standing desk seems to be frustratingly slow, and I imagine this is by design to offer better safety.
Does anyone know of a good non motorized standing desk at a similar or lower price?