Whilst many of the best standing desk brands out there often with several models for different sizes and weight capacities etc. Vernal aims to make the customers life simpler by introducing one frame to do it all at a price of £430 (at time of writing).

With a rated load of 120kg, it should be more than enough to lift anything a regular work from home environment can throw at it.

Vernal Standing Desk: Unboxing

The desk came as expected in two parts, one large heavy box for the frame and very flat for the desk top.

The frame was well boxed with all parts separated by protective foam, cardboard and plastic. All the assembling accessories were packaged neatly in one box. The screws, tool etc were in a bandolier of plastic, each section marked in size and part number.

All sections of the desk had nice, large and more importantly low tack sticker labels identifying each part. This allowed easy identification of parts and removal of the labels post assembly without leaving that horrible sticky residue.

The desk top was equally well packaged with large rubber like corner protectors. We opted to go with the 120cm x 60cm walnut laminate desk top, the smallest size on offer from Vernal.

You also get a nice, premium feeling beech wood coaster.

Vernal Standing Desk: Assembly

Assembly of the desk was equally easy. Vernal provided all the tools necessary, namely an M6 Allen Wrench and Phillips Head Screwdriver, so if you have absolutely no tools, you can still put this desk together. We had power tools at out disposal making assembly significantly quicker.

The manual was incredibly clear and easy to follow being like a large book. We start by putting together both the legs, side and mounting brackets together then the desktop. Vernal’s desk tops already have pre threaded metal inserts showing where the mounting brackets are to be screwed in.

This easily done by mounting one set of legs to one side, then sliding the cross bars in before finally sliding the opposite side legs on and screwing it all down. Vernal has also provided the screws as well for non-Vernal desktops along with separate instructions on how to do this.

I chose to put the control panel on the left side and this is where I noted the first issue. The screws appeared to be short, they are only 15mm long. The control panel bracket is quite thick, I measuring the screw against it, I saw that only the tip, about 5mm of it, would bite into the desk.

As expected, on my first try, the screw tore desktop veneer and failed to grip, same thing with the second screw. With no other provided screws, I had to go and rummage in my tool box to get some longer screws.

Once the control panel fiasco was done, it was matter of attaching the control box, connecting all the cables, tidying the underside up before covering it with the decorative cable cover for a neat install and lastly the cable tray hooks.

The feet are last to go one, before the inaugural flip, they can be positioned center or offset back, the choice/preference is yours. I opted to have it central as I am sure that is how most end users would want it. The desk is then flipped the right way up, to add the finishing touches, two hooks and decorative plates, one on each side.

The last part had me a little concerned, most brands supply all metal parts pre molded or bent to shape. However Vernal has chosen to allow the end user to bend the cable tray themselves along a perforated line.

Whilst I found this easy to do, it did crack the paint on the sheet of metal. I’m not sure how confident others would be doing this for fear of breaking or damaging this part. Hooking on the cable tray is the last part of the assembly save for putting the desk where it needs to go.

Vernal Standing Desk: In use

Over the past few weeks, the desk was put to the test by me and wife who works exclusively form home. The Vernal standing desk was big upgrade from her smaller Ikea desk, just in terms of real estate.

Vernal claims that this desk should be able to lift 120kgs easily with max load of 160kgs. Sitting all my 100kgs on it I found the desk seem to be slow to raise, and it had to stop a few times under the load of me. However, I did not hold this against the desk as carrying 100kgs is unusual for what is an office desk.

Putting the usual office equipment on it, the Vernal desk had no problem lifting and lowering the load smoothly and quietly.

The control panel is simple in form yet provides all the needed functions for going up, down and three memory functions. I like that the buttons had to be pushed physically into actuate them as some other tested desk will activate simply by you brushing against the control panel. The panel can be switched between metric and imperial measurements and other settings based on button presses.

The hooks on either side are a nice feature allowing you to hang handphones or other peripherals off the desk rather than crowding it. Each side of the desk has a Vernal magnetic vanity plate on the legs, ostensibly to hide two screw heads. This is a subjective matter but I would have preferred a more subdued such as black engraved rather than the Silver.

I was initially skeptical about the size of the cable tray as it was so large, however this has proved to be a boon for ease of access from all angles of the desk.

What I wasn’t a fan of were the feet of the desk. The feet, whilst planted firmly on the ground has a “decorative” plate on top that extends beyond the actual feet, this plate is thin and more crucially at toe stubbing level as I found to my detriment.

Vernal Standing Desk: Final verdict

Overall, the Vernal Standing Desk is a great desk, for the price and simplicity of only having one model puts them ahead. The assembly, large cable tidy tray, head phone hooks and easy to use control panel make this a breeze to own and use.

However, it is sorely let down by the fact that the screws for the control panel are not adequately long enough, some bending is required by the end user and the most egregiously, the toe stubbing feet of the desk.

We've listed the best office chairs.

The Chat Wireless from Creative is a lightweight Bluetooth headset designed for business use. It doesn't seek to reinvent the wheel, but instead deliver exceptional comfort and crystal-clear audio at what I'd consider to be a very fair price.

As a chap who lives inside his headphones - for everything from conference calls to music playback and gaming sessions - I was keen to see how well they performed.

Spoiler alert: they're definitely worth a look if you're a professional. Yes, I have issues with the buttons, but the design, price, and overall quality of the audio and noise-canceling mic are excellent.

Creative Chat Wireless: Price & availability

The Creative Chat Wireless headset is currently priced at $70 from Creative’s official US site - while in the UK, it’s retailing for £50 via Creative.

I’m also seeing it available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk for the same price.

Compared to alternatives, it’s priced pretty much at the low- to mid-range - it’s certainly not as pricey as offerings like the Jabra Evolve 2 65 Flex I’ve reviewed, which far surpasses the $150 mark.

Creative Chat Wireless: Design & features

The design of the Chat Wireless headset is par for the course and in line with what I’d expect from a unit at this price. Inside the box, there’s the headset itself, a USB cable, the USB dongle, and a quick start manual.

In hand, the headset is impressively lightweight with plenty of give to fit a range of head sizes. The band is made of a firm plastic, neatly rounded on one side, which I think gives it an attractive, premium style compared to bland, budget headsets. Encompassing the top is padding for a more comfortable fit. As an accent, there’s bronze-colored metal connecting it to the pads.

I found the earcups well-cushioned, with a foam interior covered with a synthetic material. They fit nicely over the ear, but don’t envelope them in the way casual consumer headphones do. These also swivel inward for easier storage - although they aren’t foldable and don’t come with a case.

On the left earcup is a USB-C port for charging and separate volume up and down buttons. I particularly like how they’re positioned on either side of the band, so I wasn’t blindly fumbling for the correct one.

It’s also home to the stowable microphone, which rotates both ways and features a physical mute button. At the base of the mic is a Call button, used to turn the unit on and off or entering Bluetooth pairing mode.

All in all, the headset boasts a simple and efficient design with all the core features you’d expect.

Creative Chat Wireless: Performance

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Chat Wireless is light, tipping the scales at 0.3lb / 137g when I weighed them. It’s the sort of headset you can easily wear all day (and I did) without discomfort. If you’re taking a lot of calls, they’re pitch-perfect in this regard.

When wearing the headset, it’s surprisingly firm on the ears - and while there’s no noise-cancelling on the earcups, the snug fit did prevent extraneous background noise filtering in.

I found audio quality to be excellent, with just the right amount of bass and treble, while voices had the correct timbre. I used these for video calls using both Bluetooth and the USB dongle, as well as hooking up via Bluetooth to my phone to listen to music and podcasts, and a Nintendo Switch 2 while playing games. Each time, I experienced no tinniness here, which I sometimes find from cheaper devices.

Microphone quality came out incredibly clear. There is noise-canceling on the mic and in my own tests, this worked well. Which is useful, as I have an especially vocal cat that likes to make its presence known during calls. I experienced absolutely no issues throughout my use, and yes, the mute button on mic works instantly and well (a perennial fear of mine). A discrete voice will whisper in your ear to let you know when it’s muted or unmuted, and the LED simultaneously switches from blue (unmute) to white (mute), too.

All button presses feel soft and pleasant - neither too clicky nor too mushy, but somewhere in between. However, I did find when attempting to adjust the volume, I had to be quite firm in order for it to register. Light taps just won’t work here.

This wasn’t the case with the Call button, which was immediately responsive when answering calls and hanging up. Other features like holding the volume buttons to skip tracks during playback or tapping the Call button to play or pause worked well.

Where I did run into problems, though, was when hitting this button multiple times to activate the various functions, like redial or opening my AI assistant. It took some time to figure out the appropriate amount of time between each click. It needs to be neither rapid nor too drawn out. Experimentation is recommended.

But where it really counts - audio and mic quality - I was highly impressed, and confident I was being heard. Never once did I have to ask “Can everyone hear me?” or “Is this thing on?”

Creative Chat Wireless: Final verdict

Whenever I’m reviewing a device like this, I ask myself: Would I buy this with my own hard-earned cash? And, considering the cost and the overall audio experience, this one is a resounding yes. It’s impressively lightweight, and ideal for professionals in an office or home office setting.

I do have some issues with the buttons, which could be more responsive - but to some degree that might be user error on my part - and some may wish for extra features like a foldable design or a storage case. And if you prefer a wired connection, these aren’t the ones for you, as they’re wireless-only.

But for a low- to mid-range wireless unit that makes meetings more bearable, especially if you're using them all day, they’re one of the best Bluetooth headsets I’ve used.

Should I buy the Creative Chat Wireless?

Buy it if...

✅ You wear a headset all day: The Chat Wireless is pleasantly lightweight for all-day use, and the earpads feel snug over the ear without pressing against them too hard. I found them to be very comfortable, even after wearing them for hours at a time.

✅ You want a well-priced headset with all the core features: It’s not overloaded with unnecessary features or expensive technology, but audio quality is great and the buttons deliver a multitude of additional functions for navigating calls and playback.

Don't buy it if...

❌ You need wired and wireless connection: As the name suggests, this headset is wireless only using Bluetooth 5.4 or the USB dongle. Creative does sell the Chat USB, which has a slightly thicker design but near-identical price with - you guessed it - a wired USB connection.

❌ You want noise-canceling audio: While the mic does have noise cancelation, the earcups don’t have this feature. I didn’t find this to be an issue even in somewhat active rooms, but it may be a deal-breaker for those in noisy workspaces.

For more top picks, we've reviewed the best headsets for conference calls.

You probably know Rippling for its workforce, human resource management, and payroll functions. Rippling is your single source of truth when it comes to backend employee management.

From onboarding, remuneration, and off-boarding to day-to-day management like time and attendance, scheduling, and benefits management – there’s a lot you can do with Rippling.

However, it also has a very robust IT security suite, offering features like identity and access management and comprehensive device management.

This review will focus on Rippling’s identity and access management solution, which offers features like Single Sign On (SSO), Multi Factor Authentication (MFA), password management, and role-based user provisioning and access controls.

Rippling IT IAM: Pricing

Rippling is a unified solution for your entire workforce's needs, including various suites such as global payroll, time and attendance, benefits management, scheduling, recruiting, and so on. Each of their featured suites has a different pricing model, for which you will be required to contact their support team.

We did a bit of digging and found that their identity and access management solution, which offers features like SSO, MFA, role-based access policy, and automated provisioning and deprovisioning, starts at $8/user/month. That’s it – there are no different pricing tiers. You get everything for your identity access management needs in a single plan.

Besides this, if you also want to include device management and inventory management, it will cost you an extra $8/user/month for each of these features.

Although the pricing isn’t displayed on the website directly, I still found the structure to be pretty simple and straightforward. You don’t have to juggle between various pricing tiers or add specific features one by one as you require; in a-la-carte pricing followed by other providers, such as Okta and JumpCloud.

Rippling IT IAM: Features

Rippling makes it very easy to create and manage user groups based on predefined attributes such as job title, department, location, and so on, known as Supergroups.

Instead of having to manually add or remove employees from these groups, Rippling does it automatically based on these attributes. Whenever an attribute is updated, the group is also updated without any manual intervention.

Rippling focuses a lot on role-based permissions, which automate a large chunk of the approval hierarchy, ensuring that admins can focus on more critical tasks. For example, you can set which employee gets admin access based on their attributes, such as department, team, membership, location, and so on.

You can also define the type of data they access and the subset of the organisation these permissions will apply to. Whenever a permission profile is updated, all matching users' access is adjusted automatically in real time.

Rippling also acts as a comprehensive outbound SSO provider. This means that you can log into Rippling using your Single Sign On (SSO) password and simply click on the app you want to log on the dashboard. There is no need to add additional passwords for individual apps when you use Rippling as an identity provider.

Rippling integrates with 600+ apps for all your SSO needs. Plus, if you do not find an app in the library, you can set up a custom integration with apps that support SAML for SSO and SCIM for user provisioning.

RPass is Rippling’s native, built-in password manager that suggests and remembers strong passwords across your organisation.

What I like the most is that it goes beyond the capabilities of a traditional password manager by integrating behavioural monitoring. For example, if the manager finds a suspicious login from an unknown geographic location, it will block the login attempt, even if the password is correct.

RPass can also be used to share passwords to SuperGroups instead of individual employee-based credentials.

Rippling IT IAM: Interface and in-use

Rippling has done a good job when it comes to interface and in-use experience – the dashboard is quite modern with a minimal design and easy-to-navigate modules. The widgets are fully customizable, and you’ll find various shortcuts that help you launch common tasks quickly.

Onboarding and offboarding can be fully automated, thanks to Supergroups. The Rippling support team will also help you with a quick and smooth initial deployment and implementation. The mobile interface is also pretty slick, allowing admins to manage day-to-day operations on the go.

That said, there is a bit of a learning curve involved with the platform, especially if you’re using multiple modules apart from the IAM suite.

Rippling IT IAM: Support

Just like pricing, there is no upfront clarity on the level of support you can expect with Rippling. However, as per my discussions with the sales team, the platform offers 24/7 customer support through two channels.

Firstly, you can either raise a support ticket on your Rippling dashboard. Alternatively, you can also get support via phone call. I was pretty impressed by the response time, which is actually less than a minute.

Rippling is also one of the few providers that openly advertise their Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), which sits at around 92%.

Plus, more than 45% of the cases are resolved by the first response itself, requiring no further clarifications. And, only 21.34% of the live chat requests are asked to convert into a call, which means that around 78% of the queries are solved on the chat itself without any additional support.

Besides this, there are a lot of online resources such as blogs, webinars, and troubleshooting guides. That’s also a dedicated Help Centre where you can find answers to commonly asked questions.

Overall, I found support to be very comprehensive, with quick response times and high query resolution accuracy.

Rippling IT IAM: Security

Rippling is very conservative when it comes to security and data protection, with various certificates such as SOC1 Type 1, SOC2 Type 2, and SOC3. The certification ensures adherence to the basic trust principles of confidentiality, security, and availability.

Besides this, Rippling is also ISO 27001 and ISO 27018 certified. It is also one of the few providers that holds the ISO 42001 certification.

While the first two certifications ensure that Rippling follows adequate practices to protect private and sensitive data from unauthorized access, the 42001 certification ensures that the platform has an active and robust management system in place to ensure that its AI systems are ethical and safe without any risk of bias or misuse.

Rippling also conducts regular internal and external penetration testing and has an active bug bounty program to find any security vulnerabilities in its infrastructure. Active threat monitoring includes the use of tools such as Web App Firewall (WAF) and Runtime App Self Protection (RASP) to quickly locate and eliminate any threats.

WAF monitors and filters all incoming traffic to protect the platform from threats such as SQL injection, DDoS attacks, and malicious HTTP requests.

On the other hand, RASP is built into the application itself and monitors its behaviour to protect against zero-day vulnerabilities, insider misuse, and malicious API behaviours.

Overall, I found Rippling’s security infrastructure to be pretty robust, and they have gone the extra mile to incorporate additional measures beyond what is required by law.

Rippling IT IAM: Competition

Rippling is a robust identity access solution. However, not everyone’s needs are the same. If it doesn’t align with what you’re looking for, here are a couple of options you can look at.

Okta is one of the best identity tools when it comes to setting up automatic workflows. It features 90+ templates and 140+ pre-configured triggers that lets you design workflows as per your needs. Plus, the platform integrates with 7,000+ apps for all your MFA and SSO needs. Okta also features FastPass, which facilitates password-less biometric-based authentication.

Plus, its Identity Threat Protection features continuously monitor all your live sessions and immediately flag any suspicious behaviours. It is also a bit less expensive than Rippling, with starter plans priced at $6/user/month.

If you only have limited needs and do not need the full suite of identity access management solutions, you can go with OneLogin, which features an affordable à la carte pricing model. Features like MFA, SSO, and Active Directory start at just $2/user/month each. It also has more than 6000+ third-party applications.

OneLogin employs Vigilance AI, its proprietary threat detection engine, to assign a risk score to each login attempt and decide whether additional authentication is required or not.

Rippling IT IAM: Final verdict

Rippling's IT identity access management solution offers essential features such as multi-factor authentication and single sign-on on along with comprehensive password management and access controls.

Admin can form Supergroups based on predefined attributes, such as employee location, department, and job title. Application access and security controls can then be aligned with these groups without having to individually assign them.

What I like the most is that Rippling integrates with more than 600+ third-party apps so that you can provision your SSO needs across multiple applications. And for those that you do not find on the integration list, you can set up a custom Integration with the help of SAML and SCIM.

Rippling’s support is one of the best I have seen across the industry, with a response time of less than one minute and a customer satisfaction score of 92%.

Although the pricing is not fully transparent, you can expect the plans to start from $8/user/month, which is more expensive than the likes of Okta and JumpCloud. Even at this higher price point, you do not get as many features as Okta.

That said, Rippling is just not an IAM solution but offers a wide range of services such as payroll, recruitment, and comprehensive human resource management.

So if you already use Rippling for those purposes, it makes sense to go with the IAM solution too, since it syncs seamlessly with existing HR profiles.

For UK-based employers managing payroll, using Pay As You Earn (PAYE) software that’s recognised by HMRC is more than a convenience – it’s a regulatory requirement. To that tune, using a tool that comes directly from the government, then, makes a lot of sense.

Businesses with fewer than 10 employees can use HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools to simplify things like tax calculations and real-time information (RTI) submissions.

It’s a free application provided directly by HMRC that’s fully compliant and functional, but it’s a seriously stripped-back system with an ultra-basic interface and a highly limited feature set that does nothing more than it needs to.

Covering all the essentials like calculating income tax, National Insurance, producing payslips and sending requiring reports to HMRC, it does unfortunately lack the modern capabilities of other solutions in this space, including free platforms for micro-businesses.

In contrast, several free commercial offerings like 1st Money exist, but in a world where free products are dwindling in number (IRIS’s Payroll Basics is phasing out after 2025/26), the fact that the people who set the standards also offer a free solution to meet those standards is a very welcome move.

• Our guide to the best payroll software

HMRC Basic PAYE Tools: Plans and pricing

HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools is a completely free package intended for small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Even though there’s no cost involved at all, Windows, Mac and Linux versions of the software have all been developed to ensure widespread adoption.

It sets the foundation for what ticks the right boxes, but other free options from IRIS, Primo and 1st Money do offer more functionality.

HMRC Basic PAYE Tools: Features

HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools records employee details to calculate PAYE, National Insurance and student loan deductions, while also generating real-time submissions to HMRC, Employer Payment Records and statutory payment calculations.

On the company’s side, admins can produce printable payslips using HMRC’s system, too.

However, HMRC themselves say that the tool only allows you to perform “most” payroll tasks – an admission that even moderate features let alone advanced ones may be missing.

Beyond that, there’s really not a lot to talk about. No flashy artificial intelligence, no automations, not even an employee self-serve portal. Just a totally stripped-back bit of kit for companies to do what they need to do to stay above the board in HMRC’s books.

HMRC Basic PAYE Tools: Ease of use

Apart from the Windows, Mac and Linux software packages, you can also access HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools on Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari, so you don’t necessarily have to download any software at all.

We downloaded the software, which took a long time to open on macOS 15. Once it did, it mirrored an online portal, so it’s probably just as effective to access the government’s Basic PAYE Tools from a browser.

On the whole, the system isn’t especially intuitive and can feel awkward to use.

HMRC Basic PAYE Tools: Support

Being a back-to-basics government-issued tool, there’s no real support for Basic PAYE Tools.

What you can do, though, it get in contact with HMRC more generally. This includes chatting about payroll-related queries, but support for the software and online service might not be so strong.

We couldn’t find any help articles for the system, but getting in contact with HMRC is a relatively simple affair and speaking to a human agent is easy by phone.

HMRC Basic PAYE Tools: Final verdict

Basic PAYE Tools from HMRC offers a compliant and cost-free entry point for micro-businesses with fewer than 10 employees, handling core payroll tasks like tax and NI calculations, RTI submissions and statutory payments.

However, its no-frills approach presents major limitations, such as the absence of auto-enrolment, cloud access or a modern user interface.

Instead, HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools is an online portal or a stripped-back desktop app based on that same portal, so it’s only suitable for the most basic use cases.

For businesses that need more than the basics but still want to avoid high costs, free commercial software such as 1st Money offer a more appealing middle ground. You still get the benefits of free software for micro-businesses, but you get a much more inviting interface with a few more handy features.

HMRC’s lack of direct support for Basic PAYE Tools is also a downfall, but the fact that it comes direct from HMRC does mean that it covers all the bases exactly as HMRC intends.

For tiny startups who need to do no more than the sheer essentials, HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools are fine, but we think it’s worth exploring other free options for a more comprehensive approach.