Secretlab is best known for its race car-style gaming chairs, but that very well may change after the release of its first gaming desk, the Magnus. The Magnus sports a bevy of features that help elevate it far higher than its four legs can alone. Those features range from a rear compartment that tucks away all your cords to a luxurious RGB strip that adds a subtle glow to your wall, as well as a slew of accessories that magnetically attach to the desk’s diecast aluminum frame and steel top. It comes with a magnetic leatherette mat that covers the entire table, and at $449, it’s fairly affordable. And while buying into its cool magnetic accessories will steadily raise that price, each product I tested steadily added to the desk’s elegance without adding clutter. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=secretlab-magnus-desk-review&captions=true"]
The Magnus has three superpowers. The first is its absolutely incredible cable management. Unlike other cable-management solutions, the Magnus doesn’t require you to climb under your desk to adjust wires. Instead, a hinged panel on the back of the desk flips up, allowing you easy access to your surge protectors and cords. This hinge leaves a small gap near the back of the desk that allows for VESA-mounting your monitor.
The second is a programmable RGB LED strip designed to lock into that rear hinge and reflect against your wall. The result is a shockingly pleasing ambient glow that can be adjusted with an included remote, with four different lighting presets or 7 different colors. I don’t even like RGB most the time, but those 96 programmable LEDs have made me a believer.
The Magnus has one more trick up its sleeve. Secretlab has designed a slew of magnetic accessories that attach directly to the desk. The first, and by far the most important, is a magnetic leatherette desk pad that extends the entire top of the desk. Beyond that, there’s a number of other useful accessories, including magnetic cable anchors, cable sheaths, and fastening straps.
The only snag I ran into during setup was attaching the leatherette desk mat. The mat comes rolled and you’re supposed to align a metal clamp flush against the side of the desk, then carefully unroll it. But because of the magnetism, you really only have one chance to get it right. As soon as it's down (or even a quarter of the way down), there’s no way to adjust it – only completely take it off and start over. In theory, the align and unroll method should line things up perfectly on the first try, but I spent about fifteen minutes trying to get it straight or get rid of bumps and wrinkles. It’s a laborious process, but once it’s down you won’t need to move it again.
I kept the RGB running the entire time, in part to test durability, but also just because I loved the look of the lights. I mostly left a spectrum cycling from side to side, but occasionally when I was writing or vibing on music, I'd switch presets. There are four available to choose from, a spectrum, a slowly changing gradient, a pulsing hue, and a fourth that flips back to the last shade you selected. This fourth is a bit of a disappointment, especially when each of the hues is easily selectable with its own buttons. I'd like to see more options for RGB, especially those that can sync to my desktop and accessories. After serious testing, my only real concern is the longevity of the magnetism. Unlike other desk accessories, when many of these lose their magnetism – whether through time or repeated drops – they'll be functionally useless. While the cable-fastening straps and leatherette desk pads will likely survive anything you throw at them, the other currently announced accessories may not. Those accessories include cable sheaths that run down the legs, cable anchors, and a still-prototype headphone holder. During testing, my chair’s arms knocked the headphone holder from the desk twice, where it loudly clattered to the ground. I quickly moved the accessory, but already wonder how much attraction I lost. (It still holds my headphones just fine.) [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=best-gaming-chairs&captions=true"]
Continue reading...
Secretlab Magnus – Design and Features
While I’m often left wondering what, exactly, makes something a gaming desk, or a gaming chair, or gaming socks, I left my time with the Magnus with no such questions. The Magnus is totally and irrefutably a gaming device. That starts with its design. The Magnus is a deep black with slight red accents. It has four thin legs and a thinly milled top all made of steel. This helps it feel extremely sturdy while reducing the size of these components. It sits at 29 inches and unfortunately there’s very little ability to adjust that height (.8” higher, per leg). This will be a big problem for tall people and will come as a disappointment for anyone hoping for a standing desk. I’m 5’11” and the height was just about perfect. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=12af1bec-da1e-4bb9-86f6-ebad96687091"] To wrap up the size specs, the Magnus is just under five feet long (59 inches) and surprisingly deep at 27 inches. (There’s also a 47-inch model available sometime in the future.) I use a six-foot workbench for my main desk, and I found the Magnus comfortable for an ultrawide curved gaming monitor, but did feel a bit cramped when I put my gaming PC alongside it. You can alleviate the space issue by removing your desktop or pushing your monitor and keyboard to the left or right of center, but I couldn’t bring myself to sacrifice the symmetry.
The Magnus has three superpowers. The first is its absolutely incredible cable management. Unlike other cable-management solutions, the Magnus doesn’t require you to climb under your desk to adjust wires. Instead, a hinged panel on the back of the desk flips up, allowing you easy access to your surge protectors and cords. This hinge leaves a small gap near the back of the desk that allows for VESA-mounting your monitor.
The second is a programmable RGB LED strip designed to lock into that rear hinge and reflect against your wall. The result is a shockingly pleasing ambient glow that can be adjusted with an included remote, with four different lighting presets or 7 different colors. I don’t even like RGB most the time, but those 96 programmable LEDs have made me a believer.
The Magnus has one more trick up its sleeve. Secretlab has designed a slew of magnetic accessories that attach directly to the desk. The first, and by far the most important, is a magnetic leatherette desk pad that extends the entire top of the desk. Beyond that, there’s a number of other useful accessories, including magnetic cable anchors, cable sheaths, and fastening straps.
Secretlab Magnus – Assembly
The Magnus comes in a box not much bigger than the desk (27” wide x 62” long x 7” deep). I appreciated the packaging, which felt luxurious thanks to neatly stacked boxes and perfectly ordered accessories. The latter, in particular, impressed thanks to cable fasteners, two sizes of Allen wrench, and a bulbous magnetized hex wrench that I would be proud to add to my personal toolbox. Assembly was relatively straightforward – turn the support over, screw the legs to it, then screw the top to that. But this 92.6 pound desk, and its components, are heavy. I weight lift as a hobby and assembling this desk made an hour in the gym feel like child’s play. That’s in part because I, like an idiot, decided to assemble, flip, and arrange it by myself, instead of doing the (extremely recommendable) two-person lifting.
The only snag I ran into during setup was attaching the leatherette desk mat. The mat comes rolled and you’re supposed to align a metal clamp flush against the side of the desk, then carefully unroll it. But because of the magnetism, you really only have one chance to get it right. As soon as it's down (or even a quarter of the way down), there’s no way to adjust it – only completely take it off and start over. In theory, the align and unroll method should line things up perfectly on the first try, but I spent about fifteen minutes trying to get it straight or get rid of bumps and wrinkles. It’s a laborious process, but once it’s down you won’t need to move it again.
Secretlab Magnus – Gaming
My first question about gaming on the desk was, "Is this thing going to fry my PC, demagnetize my credit cards, and wreak unforeseen havoc?" The answer, blessedly, was no. That's because the desk itself isn't magnetized – only the accessories. That still gave me pause while throwing my wallet on the desk, but I risked it all for you, dear readers. Thankfully, after three weeks of testing, nothing is broken. Gaming on the Magnus feels excellent, thanks to the leatherette desk mat. While I prefer a bit more room to manage work and play on the same desk, isolating just my desktop to a gaming desk looked far better. The ability to easily shepard away cables also made the Magnus much cleaner than even my minimalist, wooden, iMac-laden workbench.
I kept the RGB running the entire time, in part to test durability, but also just because I loved the look of the lights. I mostly left a spectrum cycling from side to side, but occasionally when I was writing or vibing on music, I'd switch presets. There are four available to choose from, a spectrum, a slowly changing gradient, a pulsing hue, and a fourth that flips back to the last shade you selected. This fourth is a bit of a disappointment, especially when each of the hues is easily selectable with its own buttons. I'd like to see more options for RGB, especially those that can sync to my desktop and accessories. After serious testing, my only real concern is the longevity of the magnetism. Unlike other desk accessories, when many of these lose their magnetism – whether through time or repeated drops – they'll be functionally useless. While the cable-fastening straps and leatherette desk pads will likely survive anything you throw at them, the other currently announced accessories may not. Those accessories include cable sheaths that run down the legs, cable anchors, and a still-prototype headphone holder. During testing, my chair’s arms knocked the headphone holder from the desk twice, where it loudly clattered to the ground. I quickly moved the accessory, but already wonder how much attraction I lost. (It still holds my headphones just fine.) [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=best-gaming-chairs&captions=true"]Purchasing Guide
The Secretlab Magnus Desk retails for $449 at Secretlab's online store. The Secretlab MagPad meanwhile costs $79 for the Stealth/Signature Edition and the Special Edition costs $99, the company is also holding a special launch promo so the pads are free and $49, respectively. Here's a breakdown of the pricing on Secretlab's other accessories below- Secretlab Magnetic Cable Anchors – $19
- Secretlab Cable Fastening Straps – $13
- Secretlab Magnetic Cable Sheaths – $29
- Secretlab MAGNUS Cable Management Bundle (Magnetic Cable Anchors, Cable Fastening Straps and Magnetic Cable Sheaths) – $44
- Secretlab MAGRGB Diffused RGB Strip – $59
Continue reading...