A few years ago, Dennis and I checked out the Secret Lab Magnus Pro, and we liked it a lot.
However, the price can be a little bit of a sticking point. So Secret Lab sponsored this video today
for us to check out the Secret Lab Magnus Evo,
which is a more affordable option. Let's get into it.
Oh man, I forgot how heavy these desks are. The Magnus Pro is all steel,
while this one is a mixture of MDF steel
with laminate on the top. It's supposed to be soft touch, so we'll be checking that out in a minute.
Let's get organized first.
What do we got here? What do we got?
We got a quick start guide. We're gonna be following this to the tee.
I'm not gonna mess this up like I do every other desk and chair. One thing that I really like about the Magnus series
in general is all of the different attachments. So we'll be getting into that a little bit later.
And probably my favorite feature of this series of desks
is the integrated power in the leg. So you can feed all of your cables in
and have like one cable coming out, which is really nice for cable management
when you're setting everything up. Another difference between the Pro and the Evo
is that the desktop itself comes in a few pieces and slots together.
So we'll be testing and seeing how that holds up when we're done here.
Like the Magnus Pro, it comes with quite a bit of packaging, but I do like how clearly everything's laid out.
And if I recall, I remember the instructions being pretty easy to follow as well.
Oh, okay, this is the heavy piece. This is the heavy piece.
Woo, I almost just damaged the TV.
I almost hit the TV with that. Don't throw your pieces, kids.
This thing feels premium. No, let's knock me over.
Oh, hold on. There's tips in the bottom of the box.
Tip, use this for easier assembly. Remove this T-shaped board from the box.
Place the desktop on top of this T-shaped board.
Perceive the assembly. Let's try to take this out.
Oh, that's pretty neat. That's a good idea. I find sometimes building desks on a flat surface
like a floor is actually really difficult. So they are smart for using the packaging
for you to build on. So you can get up off the floor and kind of maneuver it a little bit easier,
especially when it's so heavy. Now it's time to start building. We have four steps for assembly
and it says it's going to take about 30 minutes here. And it says it's easier on co-op mode,
so I might need somebody to come help me. Maybe I can solo it, I don't know.
We've also got all of our parcelists here from A to I, which was marked on the bag for each one.
I probably shouldn't have taken everything out of the bag, but it's pretty easy to understand what goes to what.
So let's do it. Let's do it!
What is this?
Nah, I don't need that. Step one, place the desktop on top of the T-shaped board
provided for easier assembly. And then we're going to install the desk extensions
on both sides and start with that.
What is this? Oh, silica gel. Do I eat that?
Just kidding. No, I don't think I'm supposed to take that out yet.
I should probably just follow the instructions. Tools, there should be tools somewhere too.
It's a lot of packaging, but I do like how nicely labeled things are. You know, little dummies like me can figure it out.
Anybody can figure it out, right? Ooh, cable ties.
These aren't LTT Store cable ties, but that's something.
Oh, dude, that's so sick. So sick, dude. Never thought I'd get so excited about screws.
Is this real or is this because I'm 34? I'm like, wow, these screws are labeled.
That's so exciting, kids. So then right, right, is that right?
Literally labeled on the bottom. Whoops.
You slide them in. This plastic doesn't really help.
I should move the plastic and not move it. There you go. Nah, just let me suffer.
I'm just going to put these extensions in. Just line up the hole. It's okay that we got this.
Maybe it ain't going nowhere.
Give it a hold. Bzz. Ha ha ha, you just can't get it.
Yeah, sure. There's that manual over here. Yeah, is this like more detailed or what?
Assembly guide, quick start guide. The screws on the desk extensions are already installed.
You just need to tighten them. That's pretty easy. And then just put the screw covers on
and we'll be good to go. Very important when installing screws.
Righty-tidy, lefty-loosey, okay?
Next step, we're going to install the side frame screws
onto the side frames themselves and then we can move on to step two. This actually is pretty straightforward.
I'm just a silly boy. Next, screw all fasteners into main frame.
Also all these side screws got to go in next. Okay, main frame screws, nicely labeled.
We'll install these next. I'd like to celebrate moving from step one to step two.
Good job guys, we did it. Now for the leg column and cable tray assembly.
Install the leg columns by connecting the cables and inserting it into the desk frame.
Fully tighten the fasteners. Fully tighten, not loosely tighten.
Fully tighten. Look at these chunguses.
Look at these things. I say chungus is an endearing term because all of the cable management is in this,
which is awesome. I think we have to like move this stuff.
Back when we unboxed the SeekerLab Magnus Pro, you weren't able to swap the legs
to have your power delivery go to whatever side that you want.
SeekerLab has updated that desk. And also with this desk, they allow you to swap your legs
so you can feed power to whichever side makes the most sense for you, which is really cool.
With that said, we're gonna keep everything as is for now. So just wanted to check to make sure that was a thing.
These go into these.
Oh, let's probably take that off. Oh, that's your problem right there.
Yeah. I like how that just slots in so you know that you're not gonna get it in the wrong spot.
No, these things are heavy, man.
Ta-da! Crap.
This is what I do with cable management in my PC. I just shove all of the mess up cables in there
and they don't even exist. All right, as long as everything works, we're good.
Okay, that's done. Probably have to tighten these. What am I doing with my life?
Step 2.2, install the mounting bracket, pull this stuff out, finishing caps.
Extra packaging. Nice, I almost hit the camera.
Almost hit you. Tag, you're it. Cringe.
Mounting brackets, I gotta install these first before I can install everything else.
There's a lot of packaging, which is like, just the one thing, but sure.
Oh, it's magnetic, that's so sick. Actually, that's not sick.
Stop, it's like pulling it. Stop, don't move.
The magnets are pulling it away from where I need to screw it in. Man, sponsor videos are tough
because I really like how straightforward all of this stuff is, but I can't like pipe it up too hard
because then you guys are gonna be like, well, you see that because it's sponsored, but I'm not. It's actually like very straightforward
so far building this thing, which I like. I have PTSD from spending four hours on camera,
which gets cut down to 10 minutes or whatever, building just atrocious things
and the wrong instructions, no instructions. Magnetically snap on the cable tree.
What do you mean? Just like, you just, you just, oh, wrong way.
Dumb.
Like that? No, that's not right, hold on. That was loud. Guys, I'm confused.
This way? Oh, this way probably. What the?
Whoa, that magnet is crazy. Hello?
Oh, I see, I see. There's two little screw holes back here that I gotta line up, but it is on there.
The magnet is very much engaged on the front.
Cool. Cable tray screws, that'll be these.
You know what I realized so far? I don't need any friends to build this.
Can do it all by my lonesome self.
Cable tray is installed. I just screwed in the back here because you can actually kind of open it a little bit
to install and route your cables, which is really nice. It's magnetically attached, it's a strong magnet too.
So we're on to step three out of four. Now we need to install the desk feet.
My favorite part of the desk. At our blur the feet.
Am I doing this? I've been saying that it doesn't fit. You need the feet facing out.
No, I know, but look at the screws.
I've installed everything wrong. Just kidding. I gotta start again.
I gotta start again. This is? That's the last one.
My bad, user, you can delete all that.
Yep, that's problem right there. I just got my directions mixed up.
Don't mind me, they hired the best person for the job.
We're basically done, we just gotta install these finishing caps onto each side.
Ah, that looks right. Final touches, with at least two people
gently tilt the desk, rotating at 90 degrees until the control panel is facing downwards.
I'll do it myself.
I wouldn't recommend that. You can kind of feel the thing kind of bend a little bit,
but it's good.
You know? Fits the butt drop test.
You left two cheap marks on it. No, I didn't.
Feels good, even when it's on a desk. So what you're looking at here is the two-tone desktop
that we were talking about a little bit earlier. So this portion here is metal,
and then this portion here is MDF with a laminate top.
The laminate top is soft touch, which I do like, but if you've got really gross gamer hands,
you don't have a desk mat, it might get a little dirty over time.
That's okay. We're plugged in, now we just need to calibrate it, so I'm just following the directions here.
Turn the control panel on and press and hold the down button do not release until a beep is heard.
I think it might've already beeped. When I first plugged it in, it beeped immediately.
I think it might already be calibrated. So it goes from 72 centimeters up to,
what's going baby? 117, that's pretty tall.
What's up? One thing I really like about the Evo is that the motor is pretty quiet.
There's a little bit of wobble, but I really wouldn't worry about it
given the metal construction of everything. It feels secure.
Wow, this thing goes, I'm really high up guys. Be careful, buddy.
Help me. If you're afraid you're going to hit one of these controls and adjust your desk, you can turn this off.
Don't worry, it's not going to turn off the power to your legs. Those will still work totally fine.
You've got three profiles here that you can save to and go to at any point.
And that's pretty much it for the control panel here. I'm using my work laptop for demonstration purposes,
but imagine you have a whole desktop system here, okay?
Grab the cords, route it through here, plug it right into there, and boom, you have power.
One thing I really like about the Secret Lab Magnus series is that they have a full suite of accessories
that you can choose from. So they've got PC mounts that go under your desk,
headphone holders, they've got monitor mounts, cable management, but if you don't have their cable
management, you can use MCM from LTTstore.com
and you can manage your own cables. One of the ways that Secret Lab is able to sell the Evo
for a cheaper price than the Pro is instead of having the entire desktop
being completely magnetic, they have magnetic zone. So we've already talked through the one on the back.
They also have some different areas as well, like the front here.
Again, you could have a magnetic headphone stand
or something there. Another really cool feature that Secret Lab has is it will detect if it's going to crush something.
Let's try it, three, two, one, go.
It did it, it stopped. It's a little sketchy looking, but confirmed works.
That was good, that was good, it stopped.
So that about does it for the Evo. We've got the XL variant here,
which you can pick up online for about $849 or you can get the standard size for $749.
My overall honest thoughts, I really like the build quality. I think personally, if I was going to buy this desk,
I'd probably spend a little bit more for the Magnus Pro itself, but overall,
the build quality, the power delivery, being able to switch it from side to side
and pretty much everything. I would say this is the go-to gaming desk
that I would pick up and I know that's weird when it's a sponsored video, but genuinely,
I do believe that. So what are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments down below.
Make sure to like it if you liked it and thanks to Secret Lab again for sponsoring this.
I'll see you on the next desk or chair video.
Peace. Bye.