Setting up a home office in Dubai.

1. What to buy first, second and third

If the budget is finite — and it always is — the order matters more than the total.

1. The chair. It is the thing you are in contact with for eight hours. Aim for a working tilt mechanism rather than for materials: in our range that starts at AED 1,290, and the median chair is AED 1,490.
2. A screen at the right height. A monitor, or a stand for the laptop plus a separate keyboard. Cheaper than the chair and often the bigger change.
3. The desk. Any stable surface at the right height works. This is the place to save, not the chair.

The common mistake is the reverse: a beautiful desk, a laptop flat on it, and whatever chair came with the apartment.

2. Desk height decides more than desk price

Standard desks are 720–750 mm. That suits people roughly 170–185 cm tall, and everyone else is adapting.

The rule that matters: set the chair by your elbows, then fix your feet. Sit, let your shoulders drop, raise the seat until your forearms are level with the desk. If your feet now hang, you need a footrest — a box works. Do not lower the chair to reach the floor; that puts the desk too high and your shoulders back up.

If you are much taller than average, a standard desk will always be slightly low, and the chair cannot fix it. Look at chairs with a taller back and consider a desk with adjustable legs.

3. The screen, and why it beats the chair

A laptop forces a choice: hands right and screen too low, or screen right and wrists in the air. Over months, the low screen wins, and your neck pays for it.

Target: top of the screen at eye level, roughly an arm's length away. A stand and a separate keyboard cost a fraction of a chair. We wrote the longer version in neck pain at a desk, and it is the advice we give most often to people who came asking about chairs.

4. What this climate changes

• Heat against your back. Nine months of air conditioning does not change the fact that a foam-and-fabric back holds warmth. Mesh breathes: 89 of our 157 models use it.
• Sunlight. A desk against a floor-to-ceiling window looks wonderful and ages everything on it. Plastics get brittle, upholstery fades. Two metres from the glass is a different life for the furniture — and easier on your eyes.
• Dust. Fine sand reaches everything, and in a chair it ends up in the castor bearings. Vacuum the base a few times a year.
• Foam and humidity. Seat foam ages faster here than in Europe. Why, and what else fails first, is in this guide.

5. What to skip

• A chair with eight adjustments you will never touch. Three that fit you beat eight that do not.
• A standing desk bought before you know you will stand. Try standing with a box on your existing desk for two weeks first. Most people stand less than they imagine.
• A gaming chair, if this is your working chair. The reasons are in this comparison.
• A footrest before you need one. Set the chair first; you may not need it.

Questions

The short version

Chair first, screen second, desk last. Set the chair by your elbows and fix your feet afterwards. Keep the desk away from the window. And if your lease is shorter than the furniture's life, spend accordingly.