I have had several standing desks over the years. Starting out with a cheap ($130) Ikea model for the wife and her MacBook Pro/Cal Digit TS4 dock and a single 32” monitor it works fine and we have had it for 8 years. For a while it was relegated to the garage as the controller would only allow it to go up, to move it down required a small wrench to turn the hex-shaped motion bar. I eventually took the controller apart and repaired the switch (bad solder joint) and now it works fine.
My next standing desk was an Office Depot “Magellan” desk. This was fairly inexpensive ($369 at the time) and with free delivery it was a great deal. It took less than an hour to assemble and it turned out to be a nice, sturdy basic desk. At 30” deep and 60” wide it has plenty of desktop space. It has an inch-thick laminated MDF desk surface and steel frame; The motor unit has a built-in outlet strip with 2 USB power ports. The wife liked it so much she bought one for her sewing room (and still has it!) I replaced it with the next entry here and the wife used it for a second assembly table in her sewing room before the daughter-in-law claimed it for herself, she took it with her when they moved out and still uses it. I like it just fine but needed more space.
My next desk was an Uplift jumbo-sized L-shaped standing desk. This was a real behemoth, but it was perfect for my needs. At the time I had 3 monitors plus a 27” iMac Pro, later replaced by a Mac Mini, then a MacBook Pro and now a Studio. I also had various ham radios, a Windows computer and accessories. The Uplift was a great desk and I really liked it. I never had a problem with it mechanically or operationally. After I retired from the WFH job I really did not need as elaborate a system, but the kid was moving in and I was going to share an office with him. He also worked from home in an IT job and needed more space than I did so I reverted back to one of the Magellan’s for a while and gave him the Uplift. He liked it so much that when they moved into their new home, they took it with them and he uses it still.
For my radios I bought a utilitarian Home Depot workbench type crank-up. This has 2 tool drawers underneath. It was actually my wife’s idea, she liked the aesthetics of it, she had seen similar stuff used at her hair salon and though it would work well for me. I agreed and we went to Home Depot and bought one. I already had a slightly smaller one in white in the garage for a real work bench and I figured I would use the new black one for the radios and can repurpose it later for an additional workbench (Spoiler: I did.)
My biggest pet peeve is wire management. I cannot stand to see wires. With multiple monitors, 2 computers, 25 radios and various other tech there are a ton of wires in my office. That’s where the latest desk came in. I saw some sponsored YouTube videos about the new SecretLab Magnus Pro standing desk. It really looked intriguing. It has a wire tray along the back and a flip lid to cover it. There is just enough space between the desk surface and wire tray for cables to pop in and out as well as a boatload of accessories like monitor mounts, computer mounts and magnetic wire clips. The entire desk, including the desktop, is heavy grade steel, the desktop had an MDF core under the steel. They have various desktop mats, held down magnetically, that covers the entire desktop with a mousing surface and to protect from scratches. I had to have one and ordered it on that Wednesday. It was expensive (about $1500 with the accessories I bought) but would be worth it, so I thought.
It arrived on Saturday morning. I had to leave but when I returned the kid had already assembled it for me. He said it took about half an hour. I spent an hour or so setting up the computer, monitors (3) and accessories. I bought 2 of the dual monitor arms, I only needed 3 monitors at the time, but I figured I could always add a 4th later this way. I also ordered 2 of the under-desk CPU mounts, These are pretty neat, they hold a full-sized computer case under the desk along either leg. I bought one for the PC and the second for a UPS.
This has been the best desk I have had. The black color scheme matches the aesthetic in my office, it is extremely sturdy and the wire management tray is awesome. I had an outlet strip, USB power brick and a whole bunch of wires hidden in there. The integrated power connection allows for a single power cable to be attached to the leg; there is an outlet in the tray for your power strip. There is plenty of room in the tray for things like a small Ethernet hub, USB hub, power blocks and other stuff that does not need to be on the desk. On my desk I have that power cable coming out the leg and an Ethernet cable coming down the back leg, hidden by magnetic sheaths. I would go WIFI, but I now have 2GB fiber to the house and I cannot get the full speed over WIFI.
So, after the kid moved out and I had the office to myself again I was using the SecretLab desk for my computers and the Home Depot workbench for the radios. It worked fine but I really liked the SecretLab desk so much I wanted to get a second one for the radios. I ordered one up and a couple days later it arrived. It took me about a half hour or so to assemble it and an hour so to set up the radio cabinet and wiring. I moved the PC to that desk along with one of the monitor arms (happy now that I bought 2!) and got it all working.
For the last year this has been my setup. The Mac and a couple monitors (or a single 49” widescreen) on one and my Windows machine and radios with a couple monitors (and now the same 49” widescreen) on the other. The only thing that I could see replacing this setup is if SecretLab came out with an L-shaped version with the same wire trays.
My next standing desk was an Office Depot “Magellan” desk. This was fairly inexpensive ($369 at the time) and with free delivery it was a great deal. It took less than an hour to assemble and it turned out to be a nice, sturdy basic desk. At 30” deep and 60” wide it has plenty of desktop space. It has an inch-thick laminated MDF desk surface and steel frame; The motor unit has a built-in outlet strip with 2 USB power ports. The wife liked it so much she bought one for her sewing room (and still has it!) I replaced it with the next entry here and the wife used it for a second assembly table in her sewing room before the daughter-in-law claimed it for herself, she took it with her when they moved out and still uses it. I like it just fine but needed more space.
My next desk was an Uplift jumbo-sized L-shaped standing desk. This was a real behemoth, but it was perfect for my needs. At the time I had 3 monitors plus a 27” iMac Pro, later replaced by a Mac Mini, then a MacBook Pro and now a Studio. I also had various ham radios, a Windows computer and accessories. The Uplift was a great desk and I really liked it. I never had a problem with it mechanically or operationally. After I retired from the WFH job I really did not need as elaborate a system, but the kid was moving in and I was going to share an office with him. He also worked from home in an IT job and needed more space than I did so I reverted back to one of the Magellan’s for a while and gave him the Uplift. He liked it so much that when they moved into their new home, they took it with them and he uses it still.
For my radios I bought a utilitarian Home Depot workbench type crank-up. This has 2 tool drawers underneath. It was actually my wife’s idea, she liked the aesthetics of it, she had seen similar stuff used at her hair salon and though it would work well for me. I agreed and we went to Home Depot and bought one. I already had a slightly smaller one in white in the garage for a real work bench and I figured I would use the new black one for the radios and can repurpose it later for an additional workbench (Spoiler: I did.)
My biggest pet peeve is wire management. I cannot stand to see wires. With multiple monitors, 2 computers, 25 radios and various other tech there are a ton of wires in my office. That’s where the latest desk came in. I saw some sponsored YouTube videos about the new SecretLab Magnus Pro standing desk. It really looked intriguing. It has a wire tray along the back and a flip lid to cover it. There is just enough space between the desk surface and wire tray for cables to pop in and out as well as a boatload of accessories like monitor mounts, computer mounts and magnetic wire clips. The entire desk, including the desktop, is heavy grade steel, the desktop had an MDF core under the steel. They have various desktop mats, held down magnetically, that covers the entire desktop with a mousing surface and to protect from scratches. I had to have one and ordered it on that Wednesday. It was expensive (about $1500 with the accessories I bought) but would be worth it, so I thought.
It arrived on Saturday morning. I had to leave but when I returned the kid had already assembled it for me. He said it took about half an hour. I spent an hour or so setting up the computer, monitors (3) and accessories. I bought 2 of the dual monitor arms, I only needed 3 monitors at the time, but I figured I could always add a 4th later this way. I also ordered 2 of the under-desk CPU mounts, These are pretty neat, they hold a full-sized computer case under the desk along either leg. I bought one for the PC and the second for a UPS.
This has been the best desk I have had. The black color scheme matches the aesthetic in my office, it is extremely sturdy and the wire management tray is awesome. I had an outlet strip, USB power brick and a whole bunch of wires hidden in there. The integrated power connection allows for a single power cable to be attached to the leg; there is an outlet in the tray for your power strip. There is plenty of room in the tray for things like a small Ethernet hub, USB hub, power blocks and other stuff that does not need to be on the desk. On my desk I have that power cable coming out the leg and an Ethernet cable coming down the back leg, hidden by magnetic sheaths. I would go WIFI, but I now have 2GB fiber to the house and I cannot get the full speed over WIFI.
So, after the kid moved out and I had the office to myself again I was using the SecretLab desk for my computers and the Home Depot workbench for the radios. It worked fine but I really liked the SecretLab desk so much I wanted to get a second one for the radios. I ordered one up and a couple days later it arrived. It took me about a half hour or so to assemble it and an hour so to set up the radio cabinet and wiring. I moved the PC to that desk along with one of the monitor arms (happy now that I bought 2!) and got it all working.
For the last year this has been my setup. The Mac and a couple monitors (or a single 49” widescreen) on one and my Windows machine and radios with a couple monitors (and now the same 49” widescreen) on the other. The only thing that I could see replacing this setup is if SecretLab came out with an L-shaped version with the same wire trays.
