Steam Deck

You can get 'em for <$500 if you look the right places. And it follows the rule of never skimping on anything between you and the earth. Shoes, Tires, etc.

If you're getting back pain from an office chair then your arse is likely too far forward when you're sitting and you're putting pressure on your spine due it being at an angle other than 90 degrees from the seat, or your table is too low, lowering your arms, so you're bending forward.

You're suppose to feel your arse pushing against the back of the chair not leaving enough of a hole between the chair and your lower back that you can fit an arm in it, and when your arms are resting on the table (which they should be pretty much all the time if your keyboard and mouse are sufficiently forward) you should feel no pressure either downwards or upwards on your shoulders

I've been coding for over 3 decades, often for massive long hours (to the point that by the age of 17 I had RSI due to how my wrists were resting at the edge of the table and some years later when already doing it professionally went to the doctor with chest pain - which I feared were due to a hearth condition - which turned out to be work posture related) and at some point in my mid 20s I moved to The Netherlands and to a company which had its own Ergonomics Consultant (this was back in the peak of the 90s Tech boom so there was lots of money sloshing around) who would come around when you joined and adjust everything for you (they even had tables with adjustable height) and explain you all about the correct work posture.

Been following that advice and haven't had posture related problems since then whilst always using pretty standard office chairs (always with adjustable height, tough).

I have however seen plenty of people doing the lazy (and stupid) posture of being all the way forward on their chair and quite a lot with arms too low or too high (which is more understandable since most cheap office tables don't have adjustable height).

Most gaming chairs are an easy 200+. At that price range, an office chair is GOING to outperform it in terms of comfort.

Gaming chairs on the other hand, throw on some pads with different colored stitching, and are incredibly low quality.

Any office chair in similar price range would be at least somewhat better than a gaming chair. Gaming chairs are also overpriced so there really is no reason to but one unless you prefer looks (subjective) over comfort for done reason.

I was looking for some affordable refurbished ones like leap but it was either out of my price range or hard to find a good one. Ended up buying a cheap office chair, kinda regret it but ig you get what you pay for.

Some folks like bottom performers. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

My office chair and gaming chair are both the same office chair. I swap the same monitor's connection between my work laptop and pc depending on time of day.

The better office chairs have 10+ year warranties, if you spread out the cost of buying a cheap chair (£150) every 2 years Vs a £1000 one that lasts 10 years its not such a huge difference in price whilst the benefits to your back are worth much more.

I know not everyone can afford this, but it's worth checking for interest free credit from either the manufacturer, store, or even PayPal / klarna (which is what I did).

I managed to get my whole family some really good office chairs because a local business chucked them all in a local dumpster. Most of them just needed to have the foot-rests removed to be completely perfect. I looked them up, and they are all $600+ chairs brand new. Dumpster diving has always been fun :)

Find a good used office supply company. You can find top notch chairs like aerons that have a scratch or ding for half the price. They are usually good with single customers for these lightly used chair.

They're not comfortable, they're fashionable. You pay extra to be hip with it.

Steam link fpr the win. You can play your pc games on the loo as well!