Secretlab Magnus Evo review

The Secretlab Magnus Evo certainly lives up to its name, taking its signature sit-standing desk and tweaking some of its biggest friction points for a more refined, evolved experience over its predecessor.

If you're already all decked out with the original Magnus Pro, there's admittedly not much different here to convince you to jump ship. But if, like me, the Evo is your first foray into Secretlab's world of desks, it's a worthy investment—if you can stomach its hefty price tag.

When the Secretlab Magnus Evo first arrived, the biggest thing that stuck out to me was just how heavy the thing was. I opted for the 1.5 m desk length for my small apartment—though it also comes in the slightly larger 1.7 m length option—and with a metal frame containing motor work in the legs, my delivery tracking informed me that the box came in at a whopping 63 kg.

Thankfully I had the foresight to call a friend for help with assembly, and I would definitely recommend two people to put the Magnus Evo together. The parts are heavy, and the desk has to be assembled upside down before lifted upright. The actual process of putting the desk together was simple—I'd consider myself to be a little illiterate in the instruction manual department, but I had the Magnus Evo up and ready to go in around an hour.

The assembly is where the differences from the Magnus Pro start to shine. For one, the Magnus Evo allows you to run the power cable through either leg of the desk, where the Pro was only set up to run it through the left. The Magnus Evo is still set to the left by default—and the leg I opted to use as it was closer to my desired outlets—requiring a little extra work to swap it over to the right leg. But having the option at all is a nice change, making it far more convenient to set it up according to your layout.

The cable management has moved, too. It's now under the desk in a drop-down tray which snaps up to attach thanks to some powerful magnet work. They're strong, but without taking a whole lot of strength on my part to unhinge it and stuff my cables inside. I'm currently running a six-socket extension in the tray with a little bit of extra space, though I wouldn't have complained if the tray had been a touch wider. It makes the entire setup look deliciously clean, though, even with my cable management skills being a little lacklustre.

It's not just the cable tray where Secretlab has gone ham on magnets, either. The entire back panel of the desk is a magnetic zone, as well as the two front corners. It's sleek, both functionally and fashionably—the glossy magnetic trim stands out against the rest of the desk's matte black look, and there's plenty of room to stick all manner of magnetised additions to the desk. It's here where Secretlab really wants you to make full use of its accessories range—magnetic headphone hangers ($35), and magnetic cable management anchors and sheaths ($55 for a bundle).

In fact, I couldn't help but feel like the Magnus Evo wasn't truly complete without dipping into Secretlab's pricey add-ons. Maybe that's a consequence of swapping out from my feature-heavy IKEA Fredde desk, but I fear I would have liked the Magnus Evo considerably less without the addition of the PC mount ($99) or the dual monitor arm mount ($249) to keep the setup looking tidy and work with my day-to-day needs.

It can quickly rack up the price tag on what is already quite an expensive desk. The Magnus Evo starts from $749, with add-ons easily taking the overall cost to over $1000 if you want the full shebang. There is a delightfully premium feel to everything to make up for it, though. It's sleek, stylish, minimalist, and functional all in one.

Nothing ever feels too flimsy—I do experience a little bit of wobble while working standing up with the desk set to around a 101 cm height, but it's not been enough to be a considerable bother to me.

Even when raised all the way to its maximum height of 117 cm, I experienced minimal shakiness both vertically and horizontally. I was able to type without the monitor wobbling around too much, as well as make full use of the standing function to play some arcade rhythm games that require some heavy rapping on a large controller, which really put the desk's stability to the test.

The whole thing is whisper-quiet, too. The first time I played around with the height adjustment I hadn't even clocked the noise coming from the motors. It is, of course, noisier coming up than it is coming down, but the difference is so negligible it's going to be impossible to cause a nuisance to any nearby members of your household. There's also obstacle detection, something I accidentally discovered when leaving my chair tucked in while bringing the height down.

While the whole thing does feel premium, I do take a slight issue with the desk's metal top. Despite careful use, I discovered a handful of scratches just a few days into using the Magnus Evo. With how often I use my desk for both work and gaming, I would have expected a little more durability from its surface. I wasn't even working for a good duration of my time reviewing the desk, which made me even more surprised how quickly scratches had surfaced.

It does mean a more delicate hand is required compared to other desks, which doesn't gel well with my usual day-to-day use. I'll likely get a larger mouse mat in the future to cover it up and further protect myself, but I just wish I didn't have to face that issue at all.

Despite my small issues, I can't help but be totally enamoured with how well the Magnus Evo straddles the line of functional and fashionable. Not only is it utterly gorgeous to look at, but the cable management is a dream. I love the fact that the desk comes with an integrated power supply, too, which massively minimises how many cables are travelling around cluttering up my space.

I wasn't sure how googly-eyed I'd go for a desk, but seamless sit-standing and considerably less messy cablework have already massively improved both my working and gaming experience. If you can look beyond a high price tag and are looking to up your desk game, the Secretlab Magnus Evo is a top contender.