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Hardware

The Back Station Reclining Work Desk 47

Posted by CmdrTaco from the ease-into-it dept.
chroma writes "I found this amazing-looking computer desk/chair combo and I'm interested in hearing what Slashdot readers think. It lets you adjust your working posture to just about any angle, including standing and reclining! The bottom line is $6300 (CT:Ouch!), shipping included. " Ergonomics are expensive.
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The Back Station Reclining Work Desk More

The Back Station Reclining Work Desk

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  • My main peeve with the wireless desktop is the way capslock magically turns itself on -- you hit capslock to turn it off, which somehow doesn't toggle it, thus forcing you to hit capslock yet another time.

    You think that's strange? Mine does that and I don't even HAVE a caps lock key to press! (xmodmapped it to Multi_key). Assuming Logitech some day manages to make a wireless keyboard that works, do you think they'd agree to replace our faulty ones for free?
    --

  • I can't get that link to post right.

    Look for Healing Back Pain by John Sarno on Amazon.

    Or just get rid of the space before the last series of numbers in that link above.
  • It is cool. But is it worth $6300 just so you can pretend to be Stephen Hawking? Maybe (given the week that's in it) you could get two people playing X-Wing and relive the dialogue ("I got him! I got him! "Great, kid. Don't get cocky!). But not for more than a grand. No way.
  • I think that Herman Miller sells a desk which can go from a few inches off the ground to standing very easily. Combine that with a good chair and you have what is probably just as ergonomic of a sytem for a quarter of the price. $6300 bucks is not worth it. You could probably contract someone to build you one of these things for less!
  • "..........priceless at $6295.00 (space travel included for destinations in the continental U.S.A.)"

    Cool! I wanna go to Io, one of the moons of Mars! Other people will want to go to Mars itself, or Venus, or that moon of Jupiter that might have life on it, but I want to be able to say "I've been to Io!", and have other people say "Huh?"

    Oh, wait it says it's included for destinations in the continental USA. Well, if a relative from Neptune ever wants to come visit me, here's a way to travel cheap.


    This reminds me of a book I read on Burma Shave signs. One of the series of signs read "Free Offer! Free Offer!/A Trip to Mars!/For 1000/Empty Jars!/Burma Shave" Some wiseguy who owned a store asked all of his customers to give him all their empties he sent them all in ...
    The Burma Shave company found a town called Mars, or Moers, or something like that in Pennsylvania, and gave him a vacation there for his efforts.
    It's not exactly a trip into outer space, but at least it's better than their plan B, which was to give him a tour of the local Mars Candy factory.

  • People who want to sell (presumably) smart people a chair for $6300 should know better than to call their technology "zero-gravity ergonomics".

    I see a problem besides the price. Where are you supposed to keep your books/pens/coke can?

    Or for that matter, your computer?

    Is this even for real?
    --

  • I'll have to agree with you on this one. Yes, those chairs are wonderful. My friend got one as a present (hint hint) and I've had time to check it out. Much better then the $50-$150 office chairs I usually sit in. As soon as I find the spare cash, this is in my future. --Dan
  • i'll take an Aeron chair [hermanmiller.com] any day over that piece of rubbish. These "Alien Furniture Technology" guys seem to be taking ergonomic lesson's from 1960s space rocket interiors... hmmm. My back's hurting already.

    Why look like some kind of in-joke from The Matrix when you could work in style coutesy of Eames and his genius pals [for a fraction of the price, I might add]?

    And where exactly am I supposed to put the 800 page O'Reilly tome on Sendmail?

  • I have the Wireless Desktop as well. Should have just bought a wireless mouse. Half the time I try to type C-X C-S in xemacs I somehow end up inserting an "s" into the buffer. Playing Quake with that thing is out of the question - movement keys tend to get "stuck" and sometimes pressing and releasing again doesn't even help.
    --
  • my fantasy:

    wireless keyboard + 64" monitor = coding from my couch for a lot less than $6300.

    And let me tell you, my couch is a whole lot more comfortable than any desk chair I've seen.
    This could be bad for my resolution to get out more.
  • Presumably included in the $6300 cost are a few clamps to hold the monitor....
  • The 'reclining' picture immediately reminded me of Bill Bixby about to be zapped into the Incredible Hulk! Now THERE'S an association you want in your advertising - the ultimate industrial accident!


  • The Alien Tech thing looks cheap. The one from poetic is much better designed, a whole bunch more features, and if I remember correctly, is cheaper.
  • (thus forcing all geeks to get a tan).

    Not all of us. Some of us geeks would just be red all year long. I cannot be in the sun for more then 15 minutes without some heavy duty sunscreen. Even in my pre comptuers days I couldn't (back before I could read), and things have not changed. I like being outdoors, the outdoors doesn't like me.

  • Wot no mouse hole? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Furniture people never learn do they? Where's the area to use the mouse on? And the joystick? And some space for the speakers if it's a multi-media system.

    Did the designers ever actually _look_ at a modern computer?
  • For only $ 5,500 for the single monitor unit, you can get Poetic Technologies' Aura [poetictech.com] chair instead. It's way cooler than this thing, and costs less.
  • A system to let you sit in your over stuffed
    recliner and work on your computer:
    [ee.net]
    http://members.ee.net/~mdbailey/




  • Now there's an idea! How much would YOU pay for the chance to do your work on the Air Force's "Vomit Commet" ? (That zero-G airplane that nosedives for 30 seconds at a time)

  • Alien Furniture Technology (Score:4)

    by meersan ( 26609 ) on Monday May 24, 1999 @05:31AM (#1881557) Homepage
    Ah yes, the computer chair of the future. I can just picture myself sacked out on one of these during those 20 hour code stints. The 'recline' picture looks a bit dangerous though; I wonder if there is some kind of mount for the monitor. It would be pretty non-ergonomic to have a 21" crt come crashing down on your face. Also I'm presuming the computer itself must sit off to the side somewhere -- nice how they don't show all the messy wires in the photos :) (I prefer my logitech wireless desktop anyway. Though I don't like the way the keyboard drops letters when I type too fast. And if I had one of those chairs the wireless mouse might just slide off the desktop while in 'recline'.)

    So, +points for somewhat fulfilling a long-standing fantasy in futuresque form, -points for chintzy ad copy. "Although crusing in 'warp drive', please allow 6-8 weeks" for delivery. Indeed.

    Anyone else think that a Laz-E-Boy in front of a computer desk (or maybe a wall-mounted flat panel monitor) would be just as good?
  • Well, you'd hope so. But if all they're doing is clamping the base, I wouldn't trust that relatively flimsy piece of plastic to hold the screen at that kind of angle.

    *muffled scream*
    "What was that?"
    "Oh, Bob's relaxing at his desk again."
    --
  • I have an All-for-One IR wireless keyboard, and it doesn't have to be in a straight line... It even seems to work pointing AWAY from the computer (Although seeing the monitor is a problem!). It only seems to fail if the IR transmitter is covered or obscured by a LARGE object, or if the kbd is pointed directly away from the computer at some absorbant surface (like curtains etc). It seems to reflect off walls quite happily.

    The only problem I had was it locking up If I touched the mouse in text-mode terminal with GPM *NOT* running. In X-Windows I had no problems at all.

    I just need to get a graphics card with TV output and I can surf the web from the setee in the lounge! (Sad, or what??!)
  • Am I supposed to take the m seriously with statements like this:

    ..........priceless at $6295.00 (space travel included for destinations in the continental U.S.A.). Although cruising in "warp drive," please allow 6-8 weeks for the arrival of The Back Station tm .

    Come on. If you are going to seel me the BMW of desks, treat me like I am at a BMW dealership, not a comic book shop.
  • Some things are better left uncreated. I agree that some things, like the mouse and keyboard particularly, benefitted from being made ergonomic (I really like using my MS keyboard), but an entire ergonomic setup? I find such desks and keyboard pads and mousepads to be incredibly uncomfortable to use. They may prevent carpal tunnel syndrome and help me in the long run, but which is more harmful; the painful displeasure then or the painful displeasure now? I've been using computers for the majority of my life and CTS has yet to hit me so I'm going to go with the former. It may be imprudent, but it's a reality.

    Give me a papasan and a table and I'm set. There's no need to create an all in one folding thingamajig seat to hold my computer. It's too inflexible and its too expensive!
  • It looks very comfortable, but this thing is totally impractical. There doesn't seem to be any place to put your tower, no cable management, and the reclining position means you'd have to use a trackball or touchpad since most mice would roll right off.
    There also doesn't seem to be a very straight-forward and quick way to get in and out of this contraption. So they've managed to combine computers and a visit to the dentist.

  • This contraption doesn't look terribly useful to me, because it doesn't take into account all of the other paraphenalia you need when you work. You're going to have a telephone, probably with a headset attachment, a pile of books, papers, meeting notes, etc., a file drawer, and so on. I find that most people working in IT, at least, have a second computer as well, and perhaps even two monitors on their primary computer.

    cjs

  • I just had to laugh when I saw the 'rotation' [poetictech.com] pic. It looks more like a tilt-a-wheel than a high-tech cubicle.

    Much cooler than the than the 'backstation'. And the 4 flat panels on the upscale model look so nifty. If this thing is only $5.5k, where is all the money going on that $6300 'alien furniture technology' chair? I guess they have to pay their alien consultants for their expertise and travel time.
  • That reclining position looks too silly for the office. My desk and chair work good enough for me.

    --BWing

  • This $6300 chair is a bunch of crap. You can find a comfortable chair and workstation for much less than this.

    If you have problems with your back hurting read this book. It cured me of back pain as well as several other family members and friends.

    Healing Back Pain [amazon.com]
  • I like the little logo that says "Alien Furniture Technology (TM)". I haven't figured out what the logo is supposed to depict---I suppose only an alien mind would know.

    It'd be nice to recline while computing, but with the stuff I'm currently doing at work, I'd probably just fall asleep.
  • My main peeve with the wireless desktop is the way capslock magically turns itself on -- you hit capslock to turn it off, which somehow doesn't toggle it, thus forcing you to hit capslock yet another time. I like the idea of keyboard by radio, it just seems too slow and and undocumented feature-full. I don't know if the infrared versions work any better. I would suppose that having to keep them in a straight line would be a pain.

    I likewise haven't noticed any problems with the wireless mouse, but then I don't use it that often.

    It has cut down on the desktop clutter, but I still have a rat's nest of wires behind my pc.

    *imagines future where the only wires are the electrical cables* Heck, why settle? Solar-powered pcs (thus forcing all geeks to get a tan).
  • It's zero-gravity ergonomics. Haven't you been paying attention? :)

  • Missing cords & CPU box (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Did anyone else notice that the monitor only has a power cable going to it? I also don't see where the CPU box, speakers, converters, and the 20+ other cables and boxes fit in.

    -Ben
  • What's to stop your monitor toppling off this thing and breaking your ribs? I have a 19" screen. That would be really painful.
    --
  • Coolest features is the programmed rotation. The "station" will rotate during the day up to 120deg. No more sun glare on the screens. Wonder if they are looking for beta testers?

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