Interested in getting out of that uncomfortable office chair for a few hours a day? It’s no surprise that standing desks have become more popular over the last five years, specifically due to the increasing number of jobs that are putting people in front of a computer eight hours a day.

Unfortunately, buying a standing desk (especially one with mechanical adjustable options) can be very expensive. Some of the most popular standing desks start around $500 and range all the way up to $5,000 for models with advanced electronics.

Of course, who wants to spend all that money just to stand up? We certainly don’t. Here are some of our favorite standing desk options that won’t cost you more than a couple Benjamins.

The StandDesk 2200 ($22)

Developed by an awesome IKEA hacker, the StandDesk 2200 is basically a super-cheap standing desk option that requires a little work to build. Designed to sit on an existing desk, this build requires a side table, shelf, brackets and some screws to create. The concept is also very easy to expand upon if you want to add additional monitors.

The downside to using this design is that portability is terrible. It also takes up a significant amount of space in your office, assuming you are switching between sitting and standing on a regular basis. Of course, the cost savings are fairly tremendous when compared to other options. It’s a cheap way to see if you like standing at your desk.

The Oristand ($39 shipped)

Created by the CEO of Hootsuite, the Oristand is a foldable standing desk that’s built out of industrial-grade cardboard. Ideal for either laptop or desktop users, the Oristand can accommodate a monitor or laptop on the top platform with a keyboard / mouse on the bottom.

Of course, you will need to have an existing flat surface to setup the desk. While definitely portable, it’s not ideal for public areas like a coffee shop, mainly due to the large size of the desk taking up a significant amount of space. It would be ideal for an office though, easy to setup or take down when you want to stand.

The StandStand ($75)

Small enough to slide into a laptop bag, the StandStand is the ultimate standing desk for someone that requires extreme portability. Opposite from the Oristand, this product would be perfect for public places (assuming you exclusively use a laptop). Made out of birch wood, the pieces can be easily assembled in less than a minute.

The downside to the StandStand is that you will be looking down at your laptop screen instead of straight ahead like other standing desk options. In addition, there’s no space for an additional mouse or other accessories (only room for a laptop).

The ReadyDesk ($169)

If you don’t want to give up your dual monitor setup, consider the ReadyDesk. Ideal for anyone that’s still on a desktop, the ReadyDesk can accommodate two 27-inch monitors or a monitor / laptop combo. This desk is particularly ideal for anyone that shares a workspace as the height adjustment options work for for anyone between 5’3″ and 6’3″. T

Of course, this isn’t a portable solution for the majority of users. Once the ReadyDesk is setup, it’s likely going to remain there. That being said, users could always shift their monitors down to the secondary platform and their keyboard / mouse to the desk if they wanted to transition to sitting.

The Chairigami ($95 to $165)

If you are into eco-friendly furniture, then check out the Chairigami desk. Starting at $95 for the Kickstarter model (42″) and ranging up to $165 for a larger size (seen above), the Chairigami may be an interesting option for anyone in need of a full-size, temporary desk; perhaps ideal for a college student living off-campus.

The downside to Chairigami products is how long they actually last. Chairigami estimates that a desk will have a two to three year life before it needs to be replaced. Of course, you may be over the whole standing desk fad by then. The desk can be recycled easily after it’s worn out.

The StorkStand ($99 to $199)

Removing the need for any actual desk, the StorkStand is an option for laptop users that lets you use a simple office chair as your desk. Supporting up to 50 pounds, the StorkStand creates a platform for your laptop on the top of a office chair using a metal brace and a Velcro strap.

While ideal for impromptu meetings with limited conference room table space, the downside to this design is that your platform will likely move with the chair; thus it’s only as stable at the office chair. In addition, some office chairs with low backs may not work well at all with this design.

6 Unique Standing Desks That are Less Than $200

It may seem odd to review a mousepad in the age of the mobile tablet, but I recently purchased the SteelSeries QcK gaming mousepad since my aging IKEA desk has started to cause some problems with picking up the laser on my Logitech G500s. I decided to give SteelSeries a shot due to the popularity of the brand within the gaming community. Typical of most Steam users, I have a sizable allotment of games I’ve picked up for pennies on the dollar during previous sales. Thus it seemed like a good opportunity to see if the SteelSeries mousepad lives up the hype.

Design

A traditional mousepad is approximately 7.5″ by 9.5″ providing about 71 square inches of space. The SteelSeries QcK measures 10.6″ by 12.6″ providing about 133 square inches of space. Not quite double the size, but fairly close. The extra space is definitely ideal when gaming or when moving between a dual-screen monitor setup. Also, the lower third of the mousepad makes for an excellent wrist rest do to the slight padding of the mousepad. I found the size of the QcK ideal for my needs, but you can go even larger with the 15.7″ by 17.7″ QcK+. However, that will take up quite a bit of space on your desk.

The QcK mousepad is made out of a smooth, woven cloth and includes a rubber base to keep from slipping around on a desk. It’s an ideal mousepad for travel as well, since you simply roll it up before stowing it away in a laptop bag. It’s packaged in a thin box and takes about a day to completely lay flat on your desk the first time.

After a couple weeks of use, you will notice that keeping the QcK clean is a constant process. Quite often, lint, dust and hair will get stuck to the mat and requires a quick brush every few days to keep it looking new and fairly clean. You can also wipe it down with a bit of soapy water for a deeper cleaning.

Performance

Over the past couple weekends, I’ve tested the SteelSeries QcK with a variety of PC games and it’s tough to find anything to complain about. Those games include Batman: Arkham Origins, South Park: The Stick of Truth and FPS Borderlands 2. I tested the QcK versus a standard hard mousepad, a textbook with a shiny purple surface as well as my white desk surface.

Hands down, the QcK performed the best, especially during fast action sequences. I’m not a big multiplayer gamer, but I can definitely see how the QcK could provide a slight edge during matches. At the bare minimum, the mousepad provides a level of comfort that’s helpful during long sessions at your PC. The glide is ridiculously smooth, vastly better than any mousepad I’ve tried in the past 10 years.

Should You Buy It?

If you have a desktop setup at home or work, I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t pick up the SteelSeries QcK. It’s a solid performer and ideal if you spend lots of time sitting in front of a computer each day. It’s also competitively priced for a gaming mousepad.

While the MSRP is around $10 to $13, you can often find sales in the $5 range. Since customization is a popular trend on the gaming market, you can also find game-specific designs printed on the Steelseries mousepads, if that’s your thing. However, if you want a nice looking mousepad for your home or office, I recommend the standard black model.

Check Ben’s Bargains for Deals on QcK pads

Glide On: SteelSeries QcK Gaming Mousepad Review

Hate wires, but love gaming? Then it’s time to reconsider the wireless mouse option. Now you can have gaming performance without either wires or annoying rechargeable batteries. Logitech’s G602 promises both gaming grade performance and long battery life.

A Gaming Mouse Without Gimmicks

Typical gaming mice (wireless or otherwise) are packed with unnecessary features like adjustable LEDs, tiny interchangeable mouse weights, and vastly overblown dots per inch sensitivity. Some even have such extreme designs they look no better than a cheap sci-fi movie prop.

The G602, on the other hand, boasts 11 programmable (and accessible) buttons, useful and adjustable DPI up to 2500, AA battery power, and a toggleable power saving mode that serves as part of the mouse mobile friendly package.

Performance

When the mouse’s topside toggle, which is flush in line with the scroll wheel, is set to the (blue) Performance Mode, the mouse operates without any of the troubling lag associated with a typical wireless mouse. The DPI range allows for not one, but five quick DPI settings that can be accessed on the mouse itself, in the Logitech app, or even through game-specific profiles. The mouse can detect when switching from a sprawling desktop resolution into “StarCraft II,” and adjust on-the-fly. Then again, should you prefer one or more settings to also be in use, that preference can be stored in the mouse’s on-board memory, which will follow the mouse from laptop to desktop and even to USB-capable tablets.

Endurance

Switch the mouse’s topside toggle to (green) Endurance Mode, and the G602 becomes a lot more like a typical laggy wireless mouse. However, battery life increases from Performance Mode’s 250 hours to a staggering 1440 hours. So it goes without saying that Endurance is good for overnight stays at the airport or other such power-conservative situations.

Shapely

The G602 starts with the ergonomically pleasing shape of mice like the Logitech G5 or the excellent G500s, and takes it to the next level, perfectly accommodating the extra thumb buttons. The mouse has no less than six Teflon slick feet, which allows it to glide beautifully while keeping the laser at just the right height. The rubber coating on the palm rest works surprising well in one of the typical mouse trouble areas. This, of course, assumes the user is willing to hold the mouse with the right hand; lefties will find most of the buttons clumsily obscured.

In Practice

Compared with excellent Logitech G500s, the wireless G602 takes some adjustment. The G500s has Logitech’s smooth-as-silk scroll wheel, which the G602 must do without. The G602 even lacks the G700s’ tilt function for the scroll wheel. Of course, after tweaking a few settings and settling into the great new shape, the G602s becomes so natural, you may wonder how you ever lived without it or how you lived with wires or wireless lag.

Conclusion

Logitech has a winner. The G602 effectively combines the demands of gaming performance and capability, with all of the advantages of modern wireless mice. Even in Performance Mode, the batteries last and last. Little details, like being able to stash the tiny USB receiver in the AA battery compartment, make the G602 perfect for at home or on-the-go. Plus, the new shape does such a good job of allowing more buttons, it’s shocking this isn’t already the industry standard. With the G602, the term “wireless gaming mouse” is no longer a joke.

BUY NOW: Logitech G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse

Logitech G602 Wireless Mouse Review: Great for Work or Gaming

Last week, the father of the computer mouse (among other amazing computer contributions), Douglas C. Engelbart, passed away at the age of 88 on account of kidney failure.  One way to celebrate his contributions is to read about him.  Another is to watch part (or all) of his 1968 demonstrative vision of person-to-computer interfacing.

But personally, I think this is a great opportunity to showcase one of the more extreme attempts to make the indispensable computer mouse part of portable computing.  Nowadays, I enjoy using a Logitech G500 at home, and either a MacBook Air or HP Folio on-the-go.  But flashback to the 1990s and the touchpad style mouse most people are accustomed to using on laptops was just one of many different ways that laptop manufactures were trying to emulate the normal computer mouse.  There were the eraserhead style mice that lived on in the business world until a few years ago, and the trackball style mouse, which was really the laziest implementation as it was literally an inverted mouseball placed for the thumb to directly manipulate.

That brings us to the HP OmniBook 800CT.  I recently stumbled upon this Windows 95 powered 10.4″ screen Intel Pentium 100 Mhz artifact, and it blew my mind.  Why you ask? It wasn’t the compact but thick size, or the array of old-fashioned ports hidden on the back.  It was the mouse.

The OmniBook 800CT contains no trackpad, or trackball, or eraserhead.  The OmniBook 800CT user is welcome to hook up an external PS/2 mouse, but lacking such, the user has a pop-out fixed armed mouse dubbed the “OmniBook mouse.” Discovering the OmniBook mouse was like discovering a 747 a thousand years before the Wright Brothers ever flew, or some such.

Let me just say quickly before citing HP documentation directly, there is a silhouette of a real-life fuzzy mammal mouse on a button to the right of the keyboard.  By pressing that button, someone’s comical yet ingenious interpretation of a mouse ejects from within the computer.  The resulting Micro Machine-looking OminiBook mouse is not only attached to the little computer, but the thin “sturdy” strip of plastic that keeps the mouse attached is actually the mechanism that tracks the X and Y movement of the diminutive little peripheral.

Should you doubt my modern stupefied description, here is the description straight from HP.

 To use the OmniBook mouse

1. Press the round mouse-eject button in the upper-right corner of the keyboard.

2. Firmly pull the mouse out past the first resistance to its full extended position—about 3 inches (8 centimeters).

3. Lift the end of the mouse nearest you—it pops up for a more comfortable shape.

4. Although the arm limits the physical extension of the mouse, it does not limit the travel of the pointer, as you will see. Just by pushing or pulling on the mouse, the pointer will continue to travel.

The mouse is extremely sturdy. Its flexibility allows it to withstand bending and accidental bumps without breaking.

You use the OmniBook’s two-button mouse just as you do the mouse on your desktop PC: Move the pointer to the icon or menu you want, and click with the left mouse button for most operations. Or double-click—click twice rather quickly with the left mouse button—for certain operations. However, the mouse doesn’t need a surface to slide on—so you can use it anywhere.

Once you’ve popped it out, you can use the mouse with the top popped up or collapsed. The popped up position is usually more comfortable, especially if you drape your hand over it as shown. But the collapsed position may be better if you’re in a cramped environment, or you have to work with the OmniBook on your lap.

To store the mouse

1. If the mouse is popped up, press inward on the support arm and press the raised end of the mouse downward to collapse it.

–or–

Tap down sharply on the raised end of the mouse.

2. Gently push the mouse into the case opening until it latches.

To replace the mouse

1. Tug sharply on the mouse to remove it and its arm from the computer.

2. Slip the arm of the new mouse into the slot inside the mousehole on the computer. Push the arm in and force it past the first resistance.

Just wow.  It isn’t every day you find something so stunning and so forgotten that you can’t help but say it belongs in a museum.  That is, if you can say that without cracking up over the ejectable and flexible OmniBook mouse.

Thanks again, Douglas C. Engelbart. Your computer mouse is so incredible that my cats can figure how to work it, and it is such a huge part of our day-to-day lives that someone was once challenged into creating the somewhat ridiculous OmniBook mouse.

The Legacy of the Computer Mouse in One Crazy Example