Under desk electric elliptical (aka motorised) is better if you have mobility issues or recovering from an injury while manual mini under desk elliptical is better if you want to use an under desk elliptical pedal exerciser without having plug-in the machine. With motorised compact elliptical under desk, you don't need to get of the chair or lean down to change resistance. You can do it with the push of the button which is really handy if you have mobility issues.