My P.O.S. computer chair that I bought far too many moons ago is on its last legs (wheels... whatever). I have added TEN steel mending plates to various structurally significant parts of the chair to keep it from disintegrating.

For future reference, you should avoid chairs that use the (plastic) arms as the means of attaching the back of the chair to the seat, especially if the seat is mainly plywood.

Some of these little "design features" aren't visible unless you rip off some fabric -- which may get you thrown out of the store... so just avoid all the chairs that don't have lots of visible metal and you should be fine. To save you some time, you can eliminate all the chairs at Office Max and Office Depot, because they all suck.

So, to the internet!

There are many expensive chairs to be had, but I'm not in the mood to spend $500-$1,800 for a chair just yet. Cutting to the chase, I think I'll end up with an M40 from dmoz.