Is a Rolling or Folding Standing Desk Enough for Everyday Work?
Summary
It depends on what sits on it. A laptop needs little surface, but an external monitor needs depth, and OSHA's guidance asks for room to put a monitor at least 20 inches from your eyes. "Portable" also means different things from one product to the next, from a desk that rolls across the room every day to one that folds flat and lives behind a door.
Three kinds of portable
A rolling desk sits on casters and moves while set up. The questions for it are whether the casters lock, so the desk stays put while you type, and whether the weight rating covers what you plan to put on it.
An occasional-move desk is one you shift when you rearrange the room. Here the weight of the desk itself matters as much as its capacity, since you are the one lifting or dragging it.
A folding desk packs away between uses. Look at how the hinges or joints lock in the working position, and at whether the maker's instructions say anything about moving it with equipment on top.
A small top and an external screen
OSHA's purchasing guide wants a work surface "deep enough to accommodate a monitor placed at least 20 inches away from your eyes" and "large enough to accommodate a monitor, a keyboard and an input device."
A laptop brings its own problem. The screen is fixed to the keyboard, so raising the screen to a comfortable height lifts the keys with it. OSHA's purchasing guide suggests a docking station for laptops "so the monitor can be placed in the best possible location." A separate keyboard and mouse with the laptop raised on a stand does something similar, and our laptop setup guide covers both.
The height range matters here as much as on a full desk. OSHA's standing range for keyboard height is 36 to 46.5 inches, and your own standing elbow height is the figure to check against the product's range.
Cords on a desk that moves
Every cable that runs to the wall has to be unplugged, or has to stretch, when the desk moves. Wireless keyboards and mice, and a single cable to a dock, cut down the number of cords that can snag on the way. For a rolling sit-stand desk, the same cords also have to reach the top of the height range. CCOHS's sit/stand guidance asks that "cables, electrical access, storage of materials, and general layout do not make adjusting the desk difficult."
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.