UpDesk PowerUp Standing Desk Impressions
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2016-05-06
·
1,765 words · ~8 min read
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I wasn't really sure how to tackle this video initially I mean a desk is a very
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subjective thing and whether you like one or not can depend on a wide variety
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of different factors is it aesthetically pleasing to you are its features
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beneficial to you on a day-to-day basis is the bloody thing even comfortable to
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use these are all questions that can only be answered individually
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fortunately I have an entire team of people that have been using power up and
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squared up motorized up desks as their daily drivers since anthology creative
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was kind enough to provide us with enough for my editors and Hardware
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testing team So the plan is to mix in
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some of their Impressions with my own and present them as a group so here we
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go the master case 5 by Cooler Master gives you the freedom to truly make your
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midtower PC case your own with a variety of modular parts and accessories check
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out the link in the video description to learn more I'm not a fan of covering
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products that make claims about improving your health while you do
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absolutely nothing to change your lifestyle and the offers that I've
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received to review things like the ab burner 2000 or whatever go straight in
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the email junk bin where they belong standing desks are a little bit
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different number one they don't claim that you won't have to do anything they
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acknowledge UPF front that you will have to get off your butt and stand up number
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two and I'll lean on the Mayo Clinic specifically here but they're not the
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only reputable source of this information sitting for long periods of
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time has been linked remember this means correlation not causation and they're
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not the same thing to a fairly wide variety of health concerns including
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obesity increased blood pressure high blood sugar abnormal cholesterol levels
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and even cardiovascular disease and three it is also well established at
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this point that doing pretty much anything but sitting helps so while the
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best thing to do is move around even at a leisurely Pace periodically throughout
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the day pacing while on the phone is a good habit to get into if you must be at
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your desk constantly then standing up is better than nothing so with that out of
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the way let's take a tour of the up desk mine is the series 3 power up in the
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large size to accommodate my ultrawide monitor and Aquarium PC but there are a
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variety of sizes and finishes with medium being the best choice for most
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people something I guess Anthology creative knows since it's the only
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available size in some of the funky non-standard top colors not that I'm
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bitter I couldn't get the purple polka doted one okay maybe I am a little
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bitter so moving around to the top we find the regrettably plain black top
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that is well it's plain and black I'm honestly not really sure what to say
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about this but it's 1 and a/4 in thick and has a nicely finished laminate
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surface the only really notable thing about the top surface is the gently
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curved user side this is something I and
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most of my team like I put my laptop to my left and stuff I need Within Reach to
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my right but that Teran wishes was straight since the recess puts him a
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little closer to his monitors than he'd like unfortunately up desk doesn't have
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anything perfectly rectangular or a little bit deeper the good news here is
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that if you really wanted to swap out the tabletop it would be as simple as
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finding a surface you like and screwing everything else into it the input module
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that handles up down saving and recalling your three preset Heights and
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displaying the current height in inches is the only thing that would likely need
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to move and the cable it comes with is long enough that it should work with any
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tabletop that's under the 375 lb capacity of the base unit anyway since
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we're down here this is probably a good time to look at the rest of the underbelly of this Beast I've done some
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custom Cable Management here the USB powerhub AC power strip and a power
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brick for my monitor and and laptop were added but the J channel management runs
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come with the desk as does the large power input and controller module in the
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middle this piece takes input from the user and drives the motors that each
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telescoping support leg is equipped with this implementation of the motors is
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aside from the ability to save and recall height presets the biggest
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difference for me between the up desk and the less expensive vert desks that
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we've used in the past not only is the action smoother and quieter but the legs
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themselves are much less wobbly in spite of the heavier load of the stock
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tabletop and because they don't have a drive shaft that connects to both sides
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with a motor in the middle the assembly process is much simpler you can actually
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see here how long it took for me to assemble a vert desk compared to about
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half an hour for an up desk not to mention that the shaft is impossible to
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pop out on its own requiring about an hour for me and Luke to figure out
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what's going on and repair it true story # blame Brandon on the subject of
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wobbliness there's zero that I can perceive at my sitting height but at my
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standing height I did not notice it while using the mouse and using keyboard
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shortcuts but I did notice it while typing I can say that I'm using an
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extremely heavy monitor which does exacerbate the issue of monitor wobble
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so it's got that going for it but it was
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there one thing I can't make any excuses for though is the Android app to remind you
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to sit down and stand up at regular intervals frankly it's terrible the
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basic functionality actually works but non-ex Savvy users like my mom would get
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instantly frustrated by tapping on a field having it bring up a value
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selector and then just not filling the field out even though it did actually
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end up working once I got it configured even though I was Flying Blind
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apparently the iOS one is better but I'm not on the iPhone right now and I didn't
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use it anyway since there are many third-party standup or break reminder
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applications out there including ones that run on your PC so I don't have to
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be bothered about it when I'm not actually even at my computer anyway so
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conclusion time if the point is to achieve the health benefits of standing
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then there are definitely cheaper fully motorized desk options like the vert
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desk that I have firsthand experience with and the Ikea beant or beant or
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however they pronounce that it means friend apparently that I unfortunately
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do not and there are even Bolton like workstation jobbies from companies like
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ergotron and Anthology creative themselves but the solid build quality
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extremely wide range of movement that allows everyone from me to Luke to
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adjust to the perfect working height regardless of our body proportions and
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the added creature comfort of being able to pre-program Heights has made us
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extremely happy happy with these ones they can apparently even accommodate a
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treadmill under them if you're into that sort of thing but I'm hoping that my
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staff will be happy enough that they have standing desks and enough space in
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the middle of the room to stash their chairs and won't ask for that yet for
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now speaking of things that might make sense to ask for what about a mobile
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carrier that you could pick up a phone and call and there would actually be
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okay this is like someone else having a phone on and I know phones don't look
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like this anymore anyway the point is ting.com you pick them up you don't talk
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to a robot you get put through directly to a person you pay only for what you
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use with the average Ting Bill coming in at about $24 a month per device and if
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you're stuck in a contract and switched to Ting they'll cover 25% of your
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cancellation fee up to $75 and you might be saying hold on a second L what do you
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mean the average bill is approximately blah blah blah well you pay only for
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what you use so head over to listing.com and use their savings calculator to find
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out how much you would likely pay so you basically put in your last few bills and
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then you enter how much you used your stuff and then it goes oh well you know
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hey you're actually a pretty light user you're using a plan that doesn't make any sense for you why don't you pay for
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just what you use see that's a concept it's coming back again so it basically
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goes yeah you'd be a good Ting candidate or no you wouldn't they're completely
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upfront about it and when you sign up at our link that's
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all that you're probably wondering what to watch next so click that little like
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button in the top right corner to check out my video of the ultimate gaming
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monitor the Acer x34
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Predator way to go
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Brandon