Secretlab Magnus Pro Review
Secretlab has long been responsible for some of IGN’s favorite products for rounding out gaming battlestations. The company’s gaming chairs tend to sit at the top of our rankings, and Secretlab has more recently dug further in with a gaming desk, the Secretlab Magnus. Now it’s taken the Magnus desk to another level, literally, with the motorized standing-desk version: the Secretlab Magnus Pro. This model combines the metal desktop and versatile cable organization of the original desk with powerful motorized legs to let gamers dial in their fit whether they’re sitting cozy in a chair or standing up, alert and ready to game. With a starting price of $800, it’s not a cheap option, but it brings a lot to the table and supports an ecosystem of accessories that effectively enhance what was already a strong foundation. The Secretlab Magnus Pro won’t be for everyone, but for those who want the flexibility of a wide-ranging standing desk and enjoy a very tidy setup but don’t want to compromise on what they can put on their desk, this is easily one of the best options out there.
Secretlab Magnus Pro – Design and Features
The Magnus Pro is a twist on the original Secretlab Magnus, which also used a metal tabletop but sat on four stationary legs. In contrast, this model stands on two motorized legs with an inverted T-shaped base. The motorized legs have three nested columns providing a very wide range of height adjustment. This lets the desk sit as low as 25.6 inches or raise up as high as 49.2 inches, giving a diverse range of users access to desk heights that will provide good ergonomics. Tested here is the standard Magnus Pro with a 59.1 x 27.6 inch desk, but Secretlab also offers the Magnus Pro XL with a 70-inch wide and 31.5-inch deep desktop.
The desktop is made out of MDF and bamboo with a steel wrap. This extra steel gives it some bonus rigidity, should protect it from damage, and enables the magnetism of the desktop. Sneaking through this metal wrap, at the front-right edge of the desk, Secretlab has built the motor controls right into the desk rather than relying on an attached control panel as we’ve seen on many other standing desks. This is an elegant tweak. The controls offer manual height adjustment as well as the ability to save three preset heights. To avoid accidental adjustments and disable the lighting on the buttons, a small switch is also built into this panel that puts the desk into a standby mode. Switching it on from this mode, the desk is ready to move almost instantly.
The motorized legs are much like those we’ve seen on some other quality sit-stand desks, like the FlexiSpot E7 Pro. They’re thick and sturdy, each with its own motor. They can move the desk quickly and quietly, with little more than a high-pitched whirring as the desktop glides up and down – silent enough that it’s unlikely to bother someone in the same room, let alone another room. Between the desktop and the strong motors, the desk is rated to hold up a little over 200 pounds plus the weight of the desktop itself, and the motorized legs are made to raise and lower about 220 pounds.
Here it’s worth calling out something: the desk shows limited motor safety. Now, Secretlab protects the motors themselves, limiting how much they’ll run in a short span to avoid overheating. But they are not very sensitive to resistance. Even a cheap motorized standing desk I owned would detect extra resistance quickly as it raised or lowered and would stop in its tracks, though this could occasionally result in some false positives. The Secretlab Magnus Pro, meanwhile, doesn’t appear to have hesitancy in its nature. Perhaps this is what makes it a “gaming desk.” With a bit of tilting while the desk moves, I’ve gotten the anti-collision detection to kick in, but it doesn’t seem to respond to any pressure, and I think it could do some damage before it catches itself. Something caught between the desktop and the feet of the desk may not tilt the desk at all, and therefore might get seriously squeezed. It’s an edge case, but I’d be wary of resting one of my legs on the feet of the desk underneath the desktop as a result.
One big aspect of this desk is its cable management. In addition to the metal surfaces supporting magnetic anchors, there is a large tray underneath the back edge of the desk that can hold a power strip and the many cables that might be running between your computer and the surface of the desk. This tray is truly spacious, with enough room for my arm to go inside.
To get to the tray, there’s a flip up panel at the back of the desk and a slot running across the width of the desk. The tray serves as something of a gutter with openings at either side for cables to run down to a computer or power outlet underneath. However, to make for even tidier cable runs, the desk itself has a power outlet right next to this tray so you can wire up a power strip without needing to run its cable outside of the desk. Instead, the only cable that needs to run from the desk is the cable that powers the desk itself. The built-in outlet will supply up to 10 Amps. If too much current is drawn through that outlet, the desk includes a resettable fuse that will switch off the flow of power. The one thing that Secretlab doesn’t help cable manage is the cable for the desk itself, which is both long and incredibly thick.
The desk is designed to support Secretlab’s special leatherette desk topper: the Secretlab Magpad Desk Mat. Without it, the desk looks a little Spartan with its exposed steel surface and somewhat untidy edges. With the desk mat it looks a little bit more elegant.
The version of the desk sent to us for testing was the black version with a black desk mat, however the desk also comes in white, which applies to not only the legs and desk surface but also the cable tray and tray cover. The desk mats are also available in a variety of colors. Most of them are black with different color stitching, though a few offer different base colors such as a purple, a green, a gray, a pink and a cream. These different color desk mats are mostly parts of different themes, such as an Attack on Titan or Joker theme, and include extra logos and artwork. The desk mats add anywhere between $50 and $80 to the price.
Purchasing Guide
The Secretlab Magnus Pro has a base price of $799 at Secretlab’s online store. That includes the desk itself with no accessories. The MagPad is all but essential and adds $49 to $79. In addition, the following accessories tested here are available as add-ons during checkout:
Secretlab Cable Management Bundle – $50 ($73 if purchased individually)Secretlab MAGNUS Monitor Arm – $149Secretlab Premium PC Mount – $89Secretlab Magnetic Headphone Hanger – $29Secretlab MAGRGB – $79
These bring the total price of the setup I tested to $1194.
Secretlab Magnus Pro – Assembly
The Secretlab Magnus Pro came in two boxes, one with the desktop and several other small components and another with the motorized legs and feet. Extra accessories available for the Secretlab Magnus Pro came in yet another box. Each component is well packaged and neatly organized with the necessary tools for assembly, making the process of getting everything in order and assembling easier. That said, because of the large dimensions of the desktop and boxes, it will take up quite a bit of space to unpack and assemble.
The assembly is fairly simple. Flip the desktop over, wire up the legs and slot them in, and bolt on a few other components at the back. It takes a bit of time lining everything up and screwing it in, but it was still simple, particularly with little fuss getting bolts in straight. I completed the whole process in 45 minutes with no help outside of flipping over the assembled desk. The size and weight of the desk do make it a task best completed by two people though.
Extra accessories like the desk mat, monitor stand, MagRGB light strip, and under-desk computer mount don’t take much extra time to install, but will add to the overall time it takes to get up and running (especially since it took a few days for the chemical smell of the leatherette desk mat to fade). As we found in our review of the Secretlab Magnus, the magnetic desk mat is one of the trickier accessories to install because it doesn’t simply sit on desk but rather clings to it magnetically, so if it’s not perfectly lined up when it unrolls, it has to be re-adjusted completely (it fiercely resists sliding). That still proves to be the case for the Magnus Pro.
For what it’s worth, the Secretlab Magnus Pro will sit on four circular feet with adjustable heights so you can get them level, but those feet can be removed and swapped out for caster wheels if you prefer a desk that can move (though it will increase the minimum height of the desktop).
Secretlab Magnus Pro – Gaming
Having made many tweaks to the gear on my desk (and the desk itself) over the years, all of the ways the Magnus Pro can help me hide and route cables prove brilliant. The design of the desk effectively eliminates the need for the many extra cable management accessories I’ve accumulated, and it manages all that organization as well or better than anything I’ve tried. While cable management isn’t fundamental to gaming, being able to have a tidy desk certainly can help with focus, and I don’t have to make big sacrifices to my preferred keyboard and mouse arrangement.
Using the Secretlab Magnus Pro is largely a delight. Even this non-XL model is a fairly spacious desktop with more than enough space for my keyboard and all the mousing room I could want. The leatherette topper is a great extra as well, providing a smooth surface for mousing around if you don’t already have a mousepad or desk mat. And though it feels like the mat should be included with the desk, its $50 price feel eminently reasonable
Spacious though the desk is, it doesn’t actually offer as much depth as you might expect. The rear cover of the cable tray occupies the last few inches of the rear, and it’s not intended for anything to really sit on it. I got away with magnetically anchoring a small USB hub there, and I could push speakers back if I wanted a little extra space at times, but that area ultimately serves as a bit of a no man’s land, leaving 23-inches of front-to-back standing room for gear on the desk surface.
The cable tray also gets in the way of many third-party monitor arms (which often have a clamp that tightens from the bottom), so you’re more or less obliged to go for a first-party one from Secretlab or stick with your monitor’s own stand. But since the desk isn’t very deep, as mentioned, you could end up with the monitor stand cutting well into the space you want for a mouse and keyboard. Secretlab’s first-party mount is a bit pricey, but it does the job well, supporting even heavier ultra-wides and offering some cable routing of its own.
The many magnetic accessories that Secretlab offers for the desk cling to it with a surprising ferocity. A special headphone hanger that snaps on firmly to the underside of the desk held so firm that when I bumped it with my head reaching for something under my desk, my head came away worse for wear than the hanger. The small cable anchors latch on with so much pressure that you’d be wise to avoid using them on top of the leatherette desk mat, as they’re liable to leave permanent depressions. They prove quite promising.
The under-desk computer mount is brilliant. It attaches to the underside of the desk’s motor and can accommodate PCs both wide and tall. Since the PC is connected to a moving portion of the desk and not a stationary component, it also rises and falls with the desk, which means all the cables running between it and accessories on the desk don’t shift or change distance at all.
When I’m at the desk, the motor provides a very quick way to adjust setups between sitting and standing, and I can’t even hear it if I’ve got music pumping. The desk can wiggle a little bit when it’s standing tall, but it’s subtle. Because the desktop is larger than the base, placement of the desk becomes an important consideration, as it’s possible to position the desk against a wall, where its movement could scrape or scuff the paint.
The only major letdown is the MAGRGB light strip. The design of the desk does allow it to hide well, but it doesn’t direct its lighting very well. It’s also not as bright as I would have hoped, proving insufficient for very effective bias lighting during the daytime. It also lacks the kind of clever cable routing exhibited everywhere else on the desk. And, perhaps a faulty unit, the connection between the control unit and the cable running the light strip was incredibly loose, and required commiting a cable anchor to the task of holding it in.
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