Branch standing desks

Branch has stopped selling its original two-leg desk new. The product page now redirects to its successor, the Tria, and this desk survives only as open-box stock, from $599 against a $749 list price for the 48×30. As a desk it sits awkwardly beside the Duo: the same 275 lb rating, but four presets, three-stage legs and 26 inches of travel, from 26 to 52 inches, which is a genuinely wide fit window, plus 60 and 72-inch widths the Duo does not offer. Its electronics were covered for three years where the Duo gets ten. If an open-box or secondhand unit is on the table, the range is the reason to take it. If you are buying new, the Tria is now Branch's full-size desk and the Duo its small-room one.

Best for: Weighing an open-box or secondhand unit of Branch's original full-size desk against current ones.

One motor in each of four legs, a ten-year structural warranty, and the clean look Branch sells on — this is the four-leg desk for an office that has to look like a room rather than a workstation. It removes the wobble problem structurally, the way every four-leg desk does, and it does it without crossbars. But the numbers underneath are modest for the money. The 225 lb rating is the lowest of any four-leg desk here, lower than several two-leg frames costing half as much, and the 44.6-inch ceiling is the lowest maximum of any powered desk in this catalog — by the standing-elbow rule that is about right for a 6 ft user and short for anyone taller. At $1,099 it costs more than four-leg frames here rated for well over twice the load. Buy it for the design and the warranty; it is not the spec-sheet choice.

Best for: A visible office where four-leg steadiness and a clean look matter more than reach or capacity.

Branch built the Duo for rooms that cannot take a full-size desk: 36 or 48 inches wide and 24 deep, with a 58×27 size above them, and a frameless underside so a drawer unit or a chair can sit where a crossbar normally lives. An OLED control panel replaces the usual plastic keypad, the finish options are furniture colours rather than office ones, and the whole thing is covered for ten years including the top — unusual generosity at $549. The compromise is the height range. Two-stage legs give it 19.3 inches of travel starting at 28, which is near the top of what a normal fixed desk measures. That works for an average-to-tall user and does not work for a short one, and no keyboard tray fixes a desk that will not go low enough. Judge it as a compact desk for someone of average height, not as a small version of a full-range one.

Best for: A small room or a shared space where a 60-inch desk will not fit and the user is around average height.