How We Chose The Best Gaming Desk
There are many ways someone could interpret whether a desk is good or bad, but fundamentally our team believes that the merit of a desk, especially from a gaming point of view, comes down to 3 specific areas.
Functionality
The first and most important feature or aspect of a gaming desk is its functionality. There’s no point getting a desk that looks superb but can’t accommodate a keyboard. It would be completely impractical. So the first rule of any gaming desk needs to be how functional and practical it is to the consumer.
So how does that break down… Well, the following are areas that need to be considered when looking at the functionality of a desk:
- Height (adjustable)
- Gaming surface size
- Load capacity
- Adjustable feet stabilizers
From a gaming point of view, and for me personally, these are the key areas that a manufacturer would have to address before looking at things like aesthetics and build quality. The design needs to be functional enough to accommodate everything a gamer needs or it simply won’t rank as a gaming desk.
Design Aesthetics
Aesthetics in the technology universe seem to be growing in importance year on year it would seem. If you compare any piece of tech from any era you will likely see a huge increase in aesthetic design the closer you get to the present day. The gaming desk is no different.
A gaming desk isn’t all about functionality, it needs to look the part as well. With the new age of gaming which is riddled with RGB and exciting new designs, the desk needs to follow suit and fit in. You would hate to have an RGB pumping, tempered glass, water-cooled gaming beast sat on a white plastic desk. It just wouldn’t look right. This being said, the design of the gaming desk ranks quite high when we select the best gaming desks out there.
Features & Price
Finally, we come to the last, and for some, the most important aspect of any hardware addition, the features and price section.
I’ve combined these 2 categories into one as I feel anyone can acquire a desk packed with features if they spend enough money. However, what separates a lot of desks, is how good the features to price ratio is.
A desk worth $500 with 6 features is going to be much less desirable than a desk worth $300 with 5. It’s all about finding the right balance between good, quality features, and an affordable price tag.
Some cool features that appear in our recommended desks are as follows:
- Additional holders
- Microfibre waterproof skin
- Wireless RGB controllers
- RGB
- Adjustable height controller
- Cable management
- Ergonomic design
For most, this is the hardest part when purchasing new items, fear not though. The team spends countless hours browsing, purchasing and testing hardware offerings available to make sure the recommendations we provide are up-to-date and accurate. If there is value to be sniffed out, they’re the guys to do it.
With that, we feel that all of our desk recommendations have been carefully considered using these 3(4) areas as a good benchmark.
Why Should I bother Getting A Computer Gaming Desk?
Well, it’s a great question and one that crops up fairly often.
For us, the answer is pretty simple. If you want to get the edge over your competition then WE believe that a great gaming desk is absolutely essential. You simply can’t put a price on a comfortable, ergonomic desk.
Let’s take the surface for example. if you’ve never used a large playing surface before, you probably won’t understand the advantages that come with using one. Using a small surface will automatically restrict your mouse movements meaning you either have to: smash your keyboard out of the way when doing a 180, or increase your sensitivity to accommodate for the lack of space.
Now, if you had an extra 2 feet to play with, you wouldn’t have this issue, to begin with. What you would have is a tonne of extra room to fully maneuver the mouse in your preferred sensitivity. If you’re playing FPS there’s simply no substitute for accuracy. A large gaming desk 100% increases that and gives you additional confidence that outside factors aren’t going to falter in the heat of battle.
Another feature that crops up in gaming desks is their ability to alter in height. Now, if you game on a serious level you will fully understand the importance of having the perfect gaming height, as it were. You can’t go from a 30″ desk to a 25″ desk, it’s not going to work. So having the ability to change the height is pretty crucial for us.
The build quality of a gaming desk will, 9 times out of 10, be much better than your budget office desk. They’re built using quality materials that are both robust and built to last meaning you can get quite aggressive with your movements and won’t be worrying about it caving in anytime soon.
There are loads of little things that gaming desks bring to the table that others don’t, but for me, these are the main benefits of a gaming desk.
Gaming Desk FAQ’s
What is too big for a gaming desk?
It’s an interesting question because I’m not sure you can go too big? Maybe one that physically doesn’t fit inside of your house? No, jokes aside, there is a range that I consider to be the optimal surface width for a
gaming monitor, and that’s roughly between 65″ and 75″.
Why is that? Well, a computer gaming desk needs to be practical and functional, as mentioned above. A desk of 65″ will accommodate 2 – 3 monitors and a huge mousemat meaning it can be tailored to literally every gamer’s needs. A 75″ will accommodate the same triple monitor setup, however, it will also be able to house your PC on top as well. This is great for streamers that want to show off their cool RGB dazzling rigs respectively. Anything over this will be a little OTT in my opinion.
Does a gaming desk improve your gaming?
That really depends on what type of game you’re playing in my opinion. If like me, you’re an avid FPS gamer then I definitely think a larger desk is going to improve your overall gameplay. I used a small crowded desk back in the day, it was garbage. However, once I had upgraded to a larger desk, it gave me peace of mind and more confidence meaning I could focus on in-game stuff and have fewer distractions out of the game.
Other game platforms won’t benefit like FPS does, however, it will make the gaming experience more enjoyable so that might have a knock-on effect.
Should I be Worried About Load Capacity?
In short, yes.
I mean, most desks out there about going to be able to handle the weight of your generic monitor and desktop computer. However, if you want to upgrade to some heavier components or a dual monitor setup down the road, you might find yourself struggling to accommodate the extra weight.
Just keep it in the back of your mind when purchasing a desk, if it holds 40-60kg.. I would probably reconsider.
