Testing desks is kind of a subjective game. Like office chairs, testing is based on comfort, reliability, and ease of setup rather than things that can be tested in electronics like power and battery usage. I still tested each one rigorously and will continue to test them for longevity in the coming months.
I tested these desks by having three people test each one. Each of them used the desktop for at least 16 hours and then gave me their impressions. The three people were 6 feet 1 inch tall; 5 feet 8 inches tall; and 5 feet 4 inches tall respectively, to give me a good cross section of the average user height.
Setup time and package quality.
Building desks can often be difficult and time-consuming. For each desk, I timed the time it took to unpack and assemble, and noted whether the manual was easy to follow. I followed the instructions as closely as possible so that each build went as if I had never built one before. I also thoroughly checked the packaging, to make sure it was not damaged and if it was safe enough to transport the desk it contained. Any damage was noted and images were sent to the manufacturers for review.
Structural integrity
Modern desks must be able to support a good amount of weight. If you’re on a desktop, you might only have a small laptop, but if you’re using a gaming desktop, you probably also have two monitors and a giant gaming PC. For each desk, I checked the maximum load specification and tried to match it to the materials we actually use in our desks.
I used:
- A heavy gaming PC tower
- Two 27-inch gaming monitors on a dual-monitor arm
- A MacBook Pro
- Two different keyboards and a variety of mice and trackpads
- My Oculus quest 2
- Support for my phone and USB hub
- A microphone and headphones for podcasting.
Depending on the length and weight capacity of the desk, I mix and match these elements, then check to see if there are any curvatures at the top or inconsistencies in how the desk feels while working.
The wobbles
This is a throwback to when my dad used to make furniture. Anything my father built would be criticized by my mother, and if it didn’t pass she would say, “It’s a little wobbly, isn’t it, dear?” Once you have built each desk and loaded it for normal use, I would check it for wobbles. This means rocking it side to side and back and forth to check that all the screws, bolts, and hardware are holding everything rigid.
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