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Altwork Ergonomic Workstations: You’ll want to lie down for this

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We spend a lot of time talking about the latests CPUs or GPUs. Obsessing over gaining a few seconds in render time or getting that much closer to cracking the next computational milestone. But what we don’t spend a lot of time talking about is how we engage with our computer-based work.


We spend the bulk of our days staring at a computer screen and there’s been a lot of debate about the health effects of this over the decades. We know that sitting down for most of the day is pretty bad for your health and so we’ve seen a recent fad of standing desks and even ( as if work wasn’t exhausting enough) treadmill desks. No surprise that these special workstation desks cost big bucks and it didn’t take long before health professionals weighed in with the fact that standing all day is also bad for your health. It turns out that, as with most things, moderation and mixing it up is the right answer here.




Apart from possible health issues, comfort and prevention of injury are two pretty important components of being productive and not feeling terrible or in pain after prolonged hours toiling away at a desk.


The question is, how much is that comfort worth? Altwork thinks it's worth $5900, which is a quite a bit of money for a chair and desk combination by almost anyone’s standards.


The Alwork Station, as it is officially known, is unique because it basically transforms. You can from standing up, to sitting as usual, to reclining to actually being flat on your back.


Altwork has a specific market in mind for their product:


Altwork is designed for high intensity computer users, which we define as people that spend at least 4 hours a day in front of their personal computer and are required to focus on complex tasks for extended periods of time such as developing software and producing computer automated design work.”


Does that sound like you? If so you may want to get in on the action early, since the first run will be nearly at half price, a still eye-watering $3900.


The Altwork station can handle 35 lbs worth of screens for permanent operation. There are various side table options and attachments point for you laptop. You’re probably wondering how a mouse and keyboard will work when on your back. Altwork seems to have solved this by making the desk with a steel layer and attaching magnets to your peripherals via an included kit.


The Altwork station is designed to last 10 years (although the warranty is for five) and will accommodate people up to 6’8” and 250 lbs, although the company says people outside of the design specs have been fine, make of that what you will.


If you were to bite the bullet and get the Altwork it may very well be that your back and cardiovascular system will thank you for it in the long run, but at this price maybe you should try out a friend’s first.