Is a Desk Converter Enough, or Do You Need a Full Sit-Stand Desk?
Summary
A converter is enough when your current desk already suits you for sitting and the converter can carry your equipment. It lifts the keyboard and screen but leaves the desk where it is, and it adds some height even when fully lowered. If your desk is already on the high side for seated work, that extra height is the problem a full sit-stand desk avoids.
What OSHA asks of a converter
OSHA's purchasing guide calls these "tabletop sit-stand units" and gives them two conditions. They "must accommodate the size, weight and quantity of computer equipment," and they "need to fit securely on the worksurface and raise/lower easily."
In practice that means making a list of what will ride on the converter, whether that is one monitor or two, a laptop, the keyboard and the mouse, and comparing it with the platform's size and weight rating. Then check the base against your desk. It has to sit flat and stable, with the keyboard deck close enough to the front edge that you are not reaching forward to type.
The seated-height test
OSHA's purchasing guide gives 22 to 30 inches as the seated range for keyboard height, "at about elbow height." A converter puts its keyboard deck on top of your existing desk, so at its lowest setting the keys sit higher than they would on the bare desktop.
Say your desk is 29 inches high and the converter's keyboard deck, fully lowered, sits 2 inches above it. The keys are now at 31 inches plus the thickness of the keyboard, above OSHA's seated range before you start. Compare the minimum height on the converter's spec sheet with your own seated elbow height, measured with the chair set.
If the numbers come out high, OSHA's fix for a desk that cannot be lowered still applies. Raise the chair until your elbows meet the keys, and put a footrest under your feet. That works when the chair has the range, and it means living with the footrest every time you sit.
What a full desk does differently
A sit-stand desk moves the whole surface, so everything on it stays at the same height relative to your hands. OSHA's note on sit-stand work surfaces mentions this advantage: "In the standing mode it provides improved access to items on the work surface such as larger or multiple paper documents." With a converter, the papers, phone and notebook stay down at seated height while you stand.
The full desk costs more space and more setup, since the old desk has to go. A converter keeps the desk you have.
Sources
We have not tested these products. Specs and guidance are as published on these pages on the date above and can change; the manufacturer's page for your model has the current details.