Vari standing desks

Vari sells convenience and a long warranty. The desk ships as a few parcels and assembles in minutes with the tools in the box, and Vari covers the whole thing for life — frame, surface, motors and electronics. For a lot of buyers that combination settles it, especially anyone who has read what building a 72-inch frame from parts involves. The mechanical specification is where it gives ground: 200 lb is among the lowest ratings of any full-size desk here, and Vari publishes neither travel speed nor noise, which makes it hard to compare on anything but convenience and the 25 to 50.5-inch range. The range itself is good, three-stage and wide. Treat it as the desk you buy when you want it working quickly and you are not hanging a tower off it.

Best for: Anyone who wants a full-size desk with a quick build and a lifetime warranty, and will not load it heavily.

The six-foot version of the same desk, and the place where the compromise gets sharper. The rated capacity falls to 180 lb on the wider top — lower than the 60-inch version of the same desk — because the longer unsupported span between two legs is the limiting factor, not the motors. That is the honest trade for a 72-inch two-leg desk: the span that gives you six feet of surface is the span that constrains what you can put on it and how still it stays at 50 inches. Like the 60-inch model it assembles in minutes with the included tools, and Vari covers the frame, surface, motors and electronics for life. If you want six feet of surface and a heavy setup, a four-leg frame is the answer; if you want six feet with a quick build and that warranty, this is a strong one.

Best for: A wide desk in a room where nobody wants to spend an afternoon building one.

A converter sits on the desk you already have and raises the keyboard and monitor above it. That makes it the right answer in exactly two situations: a rented or fixed desk you cannot replace, and a room where a second full desk will not fit. The Pro Plus 36 Electric is the powered version of the converter that made VariDesk a household name — two tiers, 36 inches wide, a button instead of the squeeze handles, and it arrives ready to use. What a converter cannot do is lower your sitting height. It sits on top of a desk that is whatever height it is, usually 29 inches, so if sitting at your current desk is uncomfortable a converter will not fix it; it only adds a standing position. The 44 lb capacity is also the real constraint — that is one monitor and a laptop, not two 27-inch panels on an arm.

Best for: A fixed or rented desk, or a room that cannot take a second full-size one.