Oristand:
The Oristand is a standing desk made of cardboard that easily collapses and requires no complicated assembly. It’s made out of industrial grade cardboard that is light, strong and affordable. Not to mention it is 100% recyclable. Meaning you can save some cash and we can save some trees.
I’ve been interested in standing desks for a while but most are over $200. At $25, this looks like something you could test out inexpensively. It’s being produced by the folks behind the Vancouver, BC based Hootsuite.
You can also buy one of those metal wire shelf stands at Costco or a home improvement store. With a little careful curating, they can become very good stand-up desks. I use mine as a standing desk for my Retina iMac (something you probably wouldn’t want to do on cardboard).
IMO this is mostly useful if you’re a laptop user that needs flexibility where you set up. For that, it is indeed pretty clever. For me, though, I need more screen real estate than what my MBP can offer.
i went w/ a Human Solutions LIFT900:
http://www.thehumansolution.com/adjustable-height-desks.html
One solution that might be appropriate for some people is to take some DJ legs:
OnStage Stand US$99
http://www.samash.com/on-stage-heavy-duty-t-stand-ows8550xx
… and you just put on whatever desktop you want. The legs are totally adjustable for sitting or standing, they’re absurdly rugged, and they fold up to go into the trunk of a car for traveling or moving. The set I’m using is at least 15 years old and they still work perfectly and look great, so over time, this might be cheaper than the cardboard one, which may not survive a move.
I’ve left a few desk tops behind at various places, so I tend to go cheap with them. The current one I’m using was US$25 at Home Depot for both the piece of desktop-sized wood and the black spray paint. Another time, somebody was throwing out an IKEA desk top (or maybe table) because the legs had broken, so I got that one for free. An old door also works if you have one in your garage or something. If you want to go a bit upscale, you could put some granite or something on there. The legs basically have zero style (like jeans or a black T-shirt) so they kind of go with anything, and they can hold a lot of weight.
If a cardboard rig like this could hold a pair of full-size monitors, I’d be all over it. We just got our second Multitable base. I’m keeping my Ikea Jerker desk top for it.