Ikea Galant

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/workspaces/18960/

You could try the desks that Joel Spolsky ^[1] bought for his crew. Adjustables ^[2] by the Details company. Unfortunately, the website doesn't appear to list pricing info.

For $1-2000 you can get a carpenter to custom build you something. A good carpenter will know about things such as ergonomics (i.e. what the right height for you is/etc.). I personally use a $150 cheap table that happens to be the perfect height, to bad it's a bit on the small side.

There can be only one style.

This is a cheap one ($800) functional but give me more then ten minutes and I will find better.

I really like this one - unfortunately it is $3000 because it is "Amish".

This is a top view so you can see what happens to the monitor. Presumably the hole is covered when the monitor is down. Might be a minus though because I might pile up so many things I could never get it off to raise my monitor!

If you only need one surface and are looking for something pretty special, I'd check out the Biomorph desks ^[1].

There's also AnthroCart, but personally I think they are a little expensive for what you get.

If you want something that is very beautiful, the Jesper ^[2] bow desk + tear drop (if you have room for the teardrop) is just stunning--the organic shape, the long lines--it's quite a sight--this is in their 3000 line.

There are attractive electric height adjustable desks out there--but I am not sure who makes the best ones. I have seen them from time to time.

If you want more than one surface, I'd recommend buying out of a standard office collection that has a lot of modules. That's what I did--my entire desk system was a little over $2,200--I used coupons and took advantage of sales aggressively. I have 2 large 6 ft desks, a 6 ft credenza, many drawers and storage cabinets out of a middle-grade Bush collection. It looks pretty decent and offers a lot of configurations.

I have experimented with numerous expensive keyboard and mouse tray systems at various price points, but I've not found any that I liked better than a well-positioned 1 x 12 pine board ($10 at Home Depot).

If I could buy only one desk, it would be either the Jesper or Biomorph. The Biomorph is a little over the $2000 limit, but I believe the Jesper bow + tear is around $1600 (or used to be). Frankly, the Biomorphs are stunning and worth going a little over if you can afford it.

My 2c. :-)

For my home office....

I have a huge IKEA worktop that is over six feet long and quite deep. It's up upon some adjustable height-folding legs. Where I have my desk placed, I also have a matching IKEA shelf (the sort that don't have visible brackets), this shelf is placed about 5 inches above the level of the desk and is perfect for lifting my two 24" monitors to a good position. My wife is about three inches shorter, and she can adjust them down to her eye level easily [the shelf did actually need the addition of some brackets to hold the weight, but you can't see them].

The advantage of this layout, combined with using wireless keyboards and mice is that if I want to convert the room into another guest room, remove the keyboard/mouse, tilt over the desk to enable folding away the legs and push up against the wall. I then have almost all of the space I had before furniture was put into the room! The monitors sit on the shelf untouched!

I paid about £100 for everything...

Check out this site ^[1] and its associated links.

Don't know what happened to the guys at mypce.com ^[1]. The lastest news on the buy a PCE page is from '06. I always thought having a PCE would be cool though.

As promised, the Sauder Computer Desk in Magna Cherry ^[1] is today listed at $159, but I payed $65 for it in the store right next to Starbucks HQ. I don't usually inquiry such questions, but I believe my desk is straight.

I have an adjustable keyboard tray ^[1] attached to my desk so, given that and an adjustable chair and monitor, from a programming and ergonomics point of view I don't think that the desk itself matters very much.

I use Ikea Jerker ^[1] desk and I'm very happy with it. It's very simple, no cabinets, really big flat space. All I need. But it is not adjustable (I never missed it).

I like those electrical adjustable desks, and they must be able to go quite high so you can stand up and work (it is quite good for your back to stand up now and then...)

However if we go back some 5-10 years that type of desk was hard find, but today they seem to be all over the place. Even IKEA has a couple of those (with fairly good quality as well, they seem to have a 5 year guarantee on the electrical motors anyway), and their system is called Galant and a normal sized desk costs about 500$.

So if you pay your own bills I would go with the IKEA solution...

I use the Vanguard EZ desk ^[1], it's big, it's height is perfect and it's very roomy and clean with the sockets panels.

Not to mention it looks hot too.

My work surface is optimized for letting me type without injuring my wrists. For that purpose, a simple flat wood desk combined with a fantastic keyboard tray is the key.

The desk itself is just a plank of wood 24" deep, 60" wide, and 2" thick. Anything will do; I like the Room and Board Parsons Legs desks ^[1]. 30" used to be standard desk depth. But now that CRTs are a thing of the past consider getting a narrower desk for your computer.

The keyboard tray is much more important; there's a lot of junky trays out there. The best keyboard trays I've found are from Humanscale ^[2]; very sturdy and a variety of options for mouse trays, etc. The mounting takes up some space, which is why it's good to have a thin desk without any molding, etc underneath the top.

A friend of mine used a big wooden solid door on 2 saw horses. It worked great - large surface area - good height and quite cheap!

Scroll down to the chair/desk from Vision One

http://designlunacy.blogspot.com/2009/01/environment-keyboard.html