It has been a trying few months, to say the least. Back in July, I flew to and back from Canada for TennoCon, which was amazing. However, within a week of returning, my legs and back apparently exploded. I had two bouts of Sciatica in a row, broken up with a case of gout. I am in my early 30s, a vegetarian, and never drink alcohol, work that one out.
Add to this big changes in both my jobs and, suffice to say, I have been losing my mind. I have always had back issues, but never to this degree. So, I’ve spent months not being able to move much and wallowing. About three weeks ago, though, I had that screw it moment. I needed to change things. In a flurry of motivation, I rearranged a few rooms and finally got around to upgrading my home-office setup, and I am quite pleased, which is good because, lord, it was expensive. And almost exclusively catered for by Amazon it seems.
OffiGo Standing Desk 150cm x 120cm – £209.99
Let’s start with the base of it all, the desk. I wanted a corner desk so I had a little dedicated place to take photos of things I review. The home-office space is in an alcove, opposite the door, and I wanted an adjustable one, so it took a while to find the perfect proportions. Eventually, I happened upon the OffiGo Standing Desk, which is a perfect fit.
It rises up to 120cm, and I needed 118cm, so all good there. The main desk is 150cm across, which fits my three-monitor setup to a T, although it is a corner desk, so you don’t get all that much room to roll around in with your chair. That fact also diminishes my little photograph area, but 70cm is more than enough space, so I am very pleased with it. It wobbles a lot more than I would like, though that is the only downside, but it was on a budget.
What I do really like about it is the power sockets it offers. You get two plugs and two USBs, which is perfect for having two monitors. Yes, you need to plug the desk in to power them, but it needs to be plugged in anyway to work the motor. At least this way, you are up one socket. Thanks, basic maths.
Positiv Plus Medium Back Office Chair – £1,329.56
Most of my life, I have had back issues because I am unnecessarily tall and didn’t take proper care of myself. I had a degenerated disc in my back since I was a teenager. Then one day, during work, I was in a two-hour meeting in a pretty bad chair, and suddenly it hurt incredibly badly. Come to find out, it was because that chair sucked, and now I have a herniated disc.
I went through an enhanced desk check thing, I forgot the name, and they recommended this Positiv Plus chair. Luckily, it was paid for by work because jeez, that price tag. It has been about two years since, and it is still incredibly sturdy and comfy. There is a built-in adjustable lumbar support, and it is the first thing I have owned that actually has a usable headrest for me. Plus, the arms are quite customisable in height.
The back can also rise a bit. Not massively, but enough to give you relief when needed. There is also an adjustable seat, which I have never seen the point of, and a tilt. Again, I don’t use the tilt that much. It has a middle setting, one where your hips are much lower than your knees, and the other tips you out of the chair. It is the first chair that I actually feel like it fits me, though, so I am overjoyed with it.
Lenovo Legion R25f-30 Full HD HDR Gaming Monitor, 24.5” x2 – £119.99 each (on sale)
Purchasing monitors taught me two important lessons: always measure before buying, and I don’t know measurements. I initially ordered two 27” monitors, and my lord, were they big. Like, I couldn’t fit them and my laptop on my old desk big. You could feel your brain melting trying to work on it. So I went back, hat in hand and exchanged them for the Lenovo Legion R25f-30 24.5”, which was a fantastic decision.
I have never had graphics as beautiful as this before. At least at the time I brought them, but more on that later. The home-office feels like a cinema now. They have made every video game just incredible; the level of detail I get is mind-blowing. Unfortunately, the built-in speakers are a little weak, but for the price, I don’t care about that at all. The graphics more than make up for it. It is worth mentioning that I got them on sale – the current price is back to £169.99 per. I would still recommend them at that price. There is no picture I could take with my phone to do the graphics justice, you need to experience it.
BONTEC Dual Monitor Desk Mount – £27.58
Another issue the Lenovo monitors have is the stand. It has two front legs that extend quite far, and since the screen is obviously top-heavy, you need full contact with the desk, or it’ll faceplant. Luckily, though, I already wanted to get a mount so I could get the screen at a proper height for me. I genuinely couldn’t find any big differences between the options, so I just randomly chose the Bontec.
It is incredibly sturdy, and the gas-powered arms keep the monitors exactly where you want them. Most importantly, however, I can get the screen to a recommended height for my eyeline, so my poor neck thanks BONTEC. My biggest problem was getting it properly set up, though. I did not consider the fact that my desk is right against the wall. I damn near had to twist the arms around the pole to stop the screen from being right in front of my face. This does mean I can’t have my screens right next to each other, but that is not BONTEC’s fault. Just more proof that I leap without looking.
Having said that, I do manage to put them on top of one another. I can drop the left monitor to the desk, and raise the right one, then center it. Perfect for the extra height that the treadmill puts under me. More on that to come. BONTEC keeps rescuing my neck.
Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 16” – £2,520.30
Now for the pièce de résistance, the cornerstone of the home-office; the laptop. I know I could have brought a rocket of a desktop for that price, but with back issues, I can’t always be at the desk, but I still need to work. Originally, I had purchased an ASUS ROG Strix 16, and may I just say, never again. It got returned within a month after blue-screening four times and freezing three. For £2,000.00, you would expect that a product from an esteemed company would just work.
So, we went back to the drawing board, and I narrowed it down to the Lenovo and an Alienware. My friend made the decision for me when he called the Lenovo Legion “the Mass Effect one”, so I bought it. And I was the most impatient man for about a week. However, it was absolutely worth the wait. This is an absolute beauty.
I said above that the Lenovo Screens had the best graphics I had seen at the time. That was before I brought this. It loaded to the desktop and I wept. It is absolutely gorgeous. FFXIV has never looked this good. I spent a bit more to upgrade to the Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 9 275HX and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, almost entirely because “ooo bigger number”.
There will be a proper review of this coming in the future, but suffice to say, I absolutely love it. The graphics, the speed, the performance. It was very pricey, which makes my heart cry, but at least it was worth every penny.
Bluearth Walking Pad Treadmill with 10% Auto Incline – £199.99
One of my biggest issues in life is a lack of exercise. Both my jobs are desk-based, this website is desk-based, and my biggest hobby is either desk or couch-based. I try to use weights or go walking, but I am lazy, and I hate how long it takes to do these workouts. So I decided to get a treadmill for under my desk so I can combine walking and work/play.
So far, it is working perfectly. I have fallen off once and had a dozen almosts, but it is easier than I thought it would be. I have tried it both with work and with games, and it’s been no bother. In fact, you can barely notice that you are doing it. If you can afford a standing desk, I would recommend it.
Now, would I specifically endorse this one? I don’t think so. The equipment itself works wonderfully. I mean, it is a treadmill and the thing moves. What more can you say? Here is the problem, at least for me: the Yessoul app sucks. Not as in the interface is clunky, it just doesn’t work.
I’ve reinstalled it, restarted my phone, and the treadmill multiple times, but the app refuses to connect to the treadmill. The treadmill knows it is connected; the treadmill is smart. It beeps, and the Bluetooth symbol stays solid; it’s ready to go. The app just sits on the “connecting” screen indefinitely. It doesn’t stop you from using it, but it does prevent you from automatically logging the workout, and that’s annoying. Buy a treadmill, but not this one.
The best of the rest
That is all for the big purchases, but I am just going to rattle off the rest of the cast here.
- BoYata Monitor Stand Riser – £28.99 – A simple stand I use for my laptop, does its job.
- JSAUX 8K HDMI Cable 3M 2-Pack – £14.39 – I needed a longer HDMI for my monitors, and for that, they work perfectly. I have noticed absolutely no benefit from the 144Hz, 4K@120Hz, 8K@60Hz gibberish. My scenes look as pretty as they did with my basic HDMI leads.
- KGROTE 100PCS Self-Adhesive Cable Clips – £9.99 – If you only take one thing away from this article, let it be this: avoid these. In just a manner of weeks these failed under the weight of a single HDMI lead. That’s putting it mildly. The clip actually peeled off the adhesive and left a new sticky square on my desk. Run away.
- UGREEN USB-C to HDMI Adapter – £9.99 – The Lenovo doesn’t have two HDMI ports, so I needed this for my second monitor. I haven’t noticed any loss of quality, and the picture is still beautiful.
- Treadmill Mat – £17.09 – This was a miss. I wanted something to help soundproof the treadmill, but it is far too thin to have any effect. It will be replaced in the future.
- PARTH 5 Way Extension Lead Surge Protected – £19.99 – I started worrying about the amount of power needed for the screens, laptop, and treadmill, so I picked up this handy surge-protected lead. Each socket has its own power switch for that extra dose of environmental friendliness. Although, can you believe that with these 5 sockets and the 2 on the desk, I still didn’t have enough? I had to move my Wi-Fi extender when I wanted to play the Xbox with the extended hard drive on my treadmill.
- Under Desk Cable Management Tray – £12.74 – Finally, a nice tray to hide that Extension Lead and all the plugs. Has enough space for everything, and I am pleasantly surprised that I am not kneeing it all the time.
The expensive home-office of my dreams
So here we are. £3,311.92 in the hole, but with a set-up that I love. It is the first time I have had a proper home-office situation, and I have no complaints. Now, just to sit down and make sure that I actually make the most of it. Wish me luck.
