I’ve had a crappy desk for as long as I can remember. It was too small, uncomfortable and wobbly. I worked on that same desk for nearly a decade, mostly because I didn’t think anything else would be better. Then the folks at Autonomous reached out and asked me to check out their SmartDesk 2. At first I was like, “I’ll never stand up to work it hurts my knees.”

Then the desk showed up, I built it and realized that standing up to work is very comfortable for my back and neck. I really love it standing to work and having the ability to sit as well. The entire build process took me about an hour, by myself and that was with me taking pictures and yelling at the dog to leave me alone.

The awesome part about the SmartDesk 2 is that the entire thing is automated. You press buttons to raise or lower the desk and it has three memory presets. This means that you can get the exact height you need for the most comfort, and press a button to go directly to your favorite sitting or standing position. At 5’9″ I am mostly torso and have long arms. The problem always had with other desks was in order to have my feet comfortably on the ground, the desk was always too low, and my knees ran into it. The SmartDesk 2 fixed that allowing me to chose the perfect height, with a height range of 24″ to 51″.

That means you can find different heights for you or someone who shares a desk with you and with a single button press, the SmartDesk 2 will raise and lower itself in near silence. In fact, I can move the desk up and down all I want with my kids asleep a room away and no one knows I am doing it. In addition to its adjustability, it has a nice cable management system, with two holes in the desk with covers for cable pass-through and cable holders underneath to keep wires from dangling down in the middle.

I am a basic black sort of guy, so I originally ordered the SmartDesk 2 with a black frame and black top. A basic desk with a 53″ x 30″ top and black frame with the full electric height adjustment sells for just $299. I’m not sure how Autonomous can sell this desk for that price. It’s the same price or cheaper than some manual standing desks I have seen online. After the desk showed up, I realized I had so much more room in my office area that I could have gone with the big 70″ x 30″ top, the good news for me and you is that you can use that top with the same frame. Autonomous sent me out that larger top, I installed it, and for $549 total, I have the best desk I have ever used.

The dual-motor Business Edition, which is the desk shown here, is meant for people with dual monitors or other heavy loads, and has a capacity of 300 pounds. You can get a home edition that has 220 pound capacity, which has a single drive motor.

I really can’t say enough good things about this desk. It’s very well priced, comfortable, and looks fantastic. I highly recommend the Autonomous.ai SmartDesk 2.