Although the Secretlab Magnus is quite easily the best gaming desk with all of its magnetic gadgets and gizmos, it’s missing a key feature in 2022: a standing function. Fear not, though, as the company has heard your cries and is ushering in height adjustable versions of the surface called the Secretlab Magnus Pro and Magnus Pro XL.
This isn’t a hack job, though. Secretlab hasn’t just chucked a pair of motorised legs and a collision detection sensor on its already impressive table, no siree. Both revisions come packed with new features I’ve personally never seen before, aiming to claim the title of best standing desk, too.
Firstly, you’ll notice that the control panel isn’t a poorly placed hanging appendage you can whack your leg against as you roll your gaming chair around. It’s carefully built into the side of the desk itself and includes all the usual suspects: backlit up and down buttons, three customisable presets, and a screen that displays your current height – which ranges between 65cm to 125cm.
While the original Magnus is a dab hand at helping you manage cables with a desk-length tray at the rear – which makes a return here – Secretlab goes a step further in helping you hide your wires. The left leg doubles up as a power supply column that delivers power into an outlet tucked into the tray itself, meaning you can plug in your own extension cord and completely conceal your spaghetti monster. It gives you all the tools to make this the neatest desk out there.
New magnetic accessories
Both the Magnus Pro and Pro XL have the same magnetic DNA as the static counterpart, which means they support the same accessories. It’ll come with the newer, brighter Nanoleaf-powered MagRGB light strip by default and a Magpad desk mat in a design of your choosing (Batman, Assassin’s Creed, Team Liquid, you name it). You can also still get your hands on cable anchors, sheaths, and the headphone hanger, but there are a couple more additions to the roster.
Putting your gaming PC on the floor with a standing desk isn’t much of an option, since your cables will either stretch or tangle depending on what mode you’re in. Rather than expecting you to plonk your system on top, taking up valuable surface space, Secretlab now has a Premium PC Mount so you can attach your system to the bottom of your desk, out of the way. The attachment won’t work with anything but the new Pro and Pro XL, so original Magnus owners are out of luck, but it should support the majority of PC cases.
Secretlab is also launching its new single and dual monitor arms, which gel well with the cable tray. I’m a big fan of attaching my gaming monitor to an arm, particularly if it helps me avoid a garish V-shaped stand, but it’s a tight fit getting a clamp in there without scratching the metal. The Magnus Monitor Arms solve this with ultra-slim top-mounted base clamps. They’re also quite stylish, matching the aesthetics of the Magnus with magnetic cable guides to hide the wires.
As you might be able to guess, the difference between the Magnus Pro and Magnus Pro XL is size and weight. The Magnus Pro is 150cm in length and holds up to 100kg, while the Magnus Pro XL is 177cm long and withstands up to 120kg. Since the original weighed a hefty 42kg, you can expect either of these new ones to be a two-person job when setting up, but Secretlab says you can get it done in 15 mins with a bit of know-how – for what it’s worth, the original is particularly easy to set up.
It’s clear that Secretlab is reinventing what it means to be a gaming desk, with an attempt to topple the very crown it’s held onto for the past four months. You’ll need to wait for the PCGamesN review to see whether it lives up to the hype, but the original has left such a good impression that the Magnus Pro and Magnus Pro XL look promising.
You can get the Magnus Pro from $799 USD / £729 and the Magnus Pro XL from $949 USD / £829. The single Magnus Monitor Arm comes in at $149 USD / £149 GBP, the double at $249 USD / £239 GBP, the PC mount at $89 USD / £79 GBP, and there are even LAN cable extensions and surge-protected power stips soon to follow.