I'm using your basic pine from home depot, I would suggest going with a hardwood like oak instead since it will dramatically be stronger and the surface isn't going to dent if you drop something to hard on it. At the time I was scraping to get along with the project so I just went with pine, it'll be fine but it does dent, if I protected the top with epoxy it might hold up better, but i'm not sure if it would be much different compared to the oil based polyurethane that's applied to it.
![Grin](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/grin.gif)
How I wish I can also do this project. I actually can source a good wood material for the same project for my desktop set-up here but I am planning to hire somebody to do it for me -- an uncle actually who is involved with making furniture am sure he can easily do the job. I am wondering what type of wood are you using here...