Secretlab Magnus Pro desk review: Beautiful, but expensive

The Secretlab Magnus Pro Gaming Desk is the company’s first attempt at a feature-packed height-adjustable desk, and they knocked it out of the park.

Secretlab introduced Magnus in 2021, bringing the desk to its high-quality line of gaming furniture favored by thousands of fans around the world. Their take on gaming chairs even has themed collaborations with Valorant, Overwatch, and more.

However, there is one commonly requested feature from the original gaming desk release. It’s height adjustability.

Secretlab has responded to the request with Magnus Pro in August 2022. This is the first attempt at a sit-and-stand desk with the infamous Cable His Tri and Leatherette ‘magpad’ accessories to give gamers a luxurious experience.

We’ve had the Magnus Pro for a while now, and I’m ready to tell you if it’s worth its hefty starting price of $799.

Main Specifications

• size: 59.1 inches long and 27.6 inches wide.
• Water surface: steel, leather with mag pad
• weight: 125 pounds
• Feature: Steel construction, cable management tray, height adjustment, seamless control panel

assembly

In usual Secretlab fashion, the Magnus Pro comes in two very well-packaged boxes with various types of foam that protect the top, bottom, sides and corners of all parts of the desk from shipping damage. We have arrived at the door.

A similar dedication to quality can be seen in the accompanying toolkit, which offers both a T-handle and a regular hex wrench to aid assembly in a convenient package that can only be shoved into a drawer. .

It became apparent that two people would be required to assemble the desk from scratch, as the Magnus Pro’s near-full metal construction lends it considerable weight. Combining both boxes makes about 125 lbs.

From attaching the legs to screwing on the cable management tray, Secretlab’s easy-to-follow instructions make assembly easy.

After everything is assembled, you’ll be instructed to reset the inline height controller and you’re ready to rock and roll.

I soon noticed a burning smell coming from the main power undercarriage, but after a recall and repair it was back in working order. This is because the reviewer’s unit was a pre-production model and should not affect most users.

design

Design is key when it comes to sit-to-stand desks. Constantly varying heights means paying attention to cable management and making sure your cables are long enough to accommodate the height of your desk.

Secretlab has completely knocked it out of the park when it comes to making cable management easy.Underneath the back of the Magnus Pro is the company’s now infamous cable management tray, which we absolutely love. It can be accessed from the top thanks to a hinged cover.

But what makes the Magnus Pro one of a kind is the power solution Secretlab has created, and we believe it’s one of the best parts of the desk. Power strips can be plugged into the legs of the desk, so all he needs to power the motorized legs is his single power cable plugged into the wall, making the entire game setup possible. I can.

Thanks to the company’s magnetic cable management sheath and “one cable to power everything” system, we were totally mesmerized by knowing that we never had to worry about kicking loose cables under our desks. I got

The in-house developed leatherette MAGPAD is another signature product of the Magnus desk, providing an easy-to-clean surface across the desk and also offering surprisingly high-quality mouse tracking. It connects to your desk with a magnet on the back. In our testing, we found that no matter how hard we tried to move it, it would stay in place.

We also received the MAGRGB add-on, a diffuse RGB strip that Secretlab developed with Nanoleaf. There are some magnets on the back that allow it to snap to the underside of the desk inside the cable tray so it shines beautifully through the gap between the desk surface and the cable management cover. MAGRGB includes a simple controller that you can stick to the side of your desk if you prefer, but I chose to control the lights via the Nanoleaf mobile app.

One thing I’ve noticed about the MAGRGB, though, is that with Secretlab’s monitor mount, it doesn’t attach to the desk as intended. Most of the time we found it to stay in place, but around the clamp mount on the monitor isn’t as magnetic as the rest of the desk, so it can easily come off.

Control

The control panel of the Secretlab Magnus Pro is another feature that sets it apart from other height-adjustable desks.

Instead of a separate box hanging at the bottom of the desk, Secretlab integrated touch controls into the edge of the desk, complete with display, manual adjustments, three presets, and an on/off switch.

The switch not only turns off the controller backlight, it also works to prevent accidental adjustments as you move through your setup.

When I first received the Magnus Pro for review, the control unit was defective, but the company was quick to replace the defective part. Usually purchased at retail stores.

Magnus Pro Desk Accessories

monitor mount

Built specifically for Magnus series desks, Secretlab’s Monitor Mount Clamp Mount is built with ample clearance for the desk’s infamous cable management tray and is available in both dual and single options. increase.

Mounts aren’t cheap, at $149 for a single monitor setup and $249 for a dual monitor setup. Both are rated for 34″ monitors and have a weight limit of 17 lbs per arm. That’s less than we’d like, given the growing popularity of larger ultra-wides.

Well designed and easy to set up with your favorite monitor layout. The quick release VESA mount latch is plastic, which can be a concern if your monitor is heavy.

MAGRGB lighting system

Secretlab’s MAGRGB light strip, created in partnership with Nanoleaf, is beautifully diffuse and fits almost perfectly under the Magnus Pro’s back lip.

This is unless you are using one of the company’s newer monitor mounts. I found it very difficult to keep the strips attached with the monitor mount secured to my desk.

Download the Nanoleaf app to easily connect the strip to your phone. It also comes with an in-line remote that sticks to the side of your desk.

Expect Secretlab and Nanoleaf to come out with different designs sooner or later, in the form of short strips that fit around accessories commonly added by streamers and content creators.

Premium PC Mount

Height-adjustable desks require users to invest in long cables for their PCs or place them on their desks. Luckily, Secretlab has provided an under-desk mount that allows you to easily secure your computer to one of your desk’s legs.

We are absolutely fascinated by the build quality, solid metal with proper padding to keep your expensive rig from getting scratched.

It can hold computers up to 33 pounds and is 14 to 21.5 inches high and 6.7 to 11.8 inches wide.

I had no trouble getting my Corsair 4000D Airflow into the mount and had plenty of room for something larger. Thanks to the locking mechanism, it is of course safe.

should you buy it?

The Secretlab Magnus Pro height-adjustable desk is unfortunately hard to recommend outright.

The biggest problem so far has been various mechanical issues with the desk. Most of the problems stemmed from the units we received that were prototypes of the final retail product, but we can only confirm what was actually put in front of us.

The issues we faced, combined with the hard-to-swallow $799 starting price and limited compatibility with non-Secretlab accessories, make for a rather disappointing experience. It is very difficult to secure a clamp style monitor or mic mount due to its slenderness.

Also, the structural supports take up so much space that there is no room on the sides and the height control on the right leaves only the left front of the desk. This meant that users were forced to put more things on their desks, and we found the space to run out pretty quickly.

They offer a 10-inch-larger option for a $150 price increase on the Magnus Pro XL, but anyone who uses a desk every day has the same problem of running out of space.

It’s a beautiful and very well-made option for users who don’t have a ton of accessories, but those looking for a height-adjustable desk should consider options like the Flexispot Pro Plus. Equipped with various accessories.

By clicking on product links on this page, we may earn a small affiliate commission.