Building the Ultimate Desk Setup for 2025

Okay, today I'm finally back in the studio and I'm gonna do something that I've been wanting to do for a while. So I've been using the Secretlab Magnus Pro XL desk for a while now which I have loved. Secretlab recently released a white version of this desk which I've had sitting in the studio in boxes. It's time to set it up and replace the black one. So sit back, relax, I'm gonna get to unboxing this stuff and I'll see you in a bit. To begin with the packaging is outstanding. Everything is well thought out and it makes for such an amazing unboxing experience. The desk comes in two packages. The big one includes the metal tabletop along with the cable management tray and cover. The XL tabletop is very heavy so it'll be a good idea to get help when setting this up. The second box of the desk basically includes the motorized legs along with the magpad desk mat. I opted for the silver suede desk mat, you'll see why in a bit. The desk comes with its own tool kit and an in-depth manual which are used as a refresher. To begin you connect each leg with the color-coded cables and then slot the leg into place. Pre-installed screws are included on each leg which you then just need to tighten in place. Do the same for the other leg which also includes an extra cable in case you want to swap the positions of the integrated power supply. One of the best features of this desk is the hidden cable tray which is attached to the base of the desk. Compared to other cable trays this one has a lot of space to store all your plugs and cables, more on that soon. With the cable tray in place we then move on to adding the feet to the desk. It's worth noting that every component has a premium feel to it, you can tell by how heavy each one is. That's one thing I love about Secretlab, the quality is amazing. Learning from past mistakes, with a desk this heavy I decided to add some wheels to it which I got from Amazon. These wheels let you lock the desk in place as well. It's a cost effective solution that allows you to freely move the desk about after it's built. I'll link them in the description below for you. And this is the part where I wish I had help building the desk but I still managed to flip it over and keep it in one piece. I'm so glad the desk came with this protective foam that covered the desk controls. Now back to that cable management tray, you can see how big it is. Before assembling further it's best to add a power extension to the tray first, you can see here I'm using the 12 port extension. The game changer here is that the desk has it's own integrated power socket. This feeds out in the bottom of the desk leg so it avoids any cables from hanging down. Especially since this is a standing desk this gives you the absolute cleanest look with no visible cables. The hinge rear cover attaches with a couple screws on each side and this allows you to access the sockets by simply opening and closing the cover. There is also a hidden area along each side of the desk for you to run wires through if you need to connect anything at the front of the desk. With one single power source running to the desk you're good to go. The actual motor that controls the movement of the desk is actually really quiet compared to other desks I've used in the past. The integrated controls are flush with the desk and they feature a safety on off switch, up and down buttons along with 4 modes where you can set predefined height positions. Personally I set the first mode to my sitting position and the second mode to my standing position. Since this is a metal desk Secret Lab have their own range of desk mats which attach to the desk magnetically and cover the entire top of the desk. For this desk I chose the silver suede desk mat which feels amazing. You can buy these separately and they have a very wide range of desk mats available so you can change them whenever you feel like it. Since this is a white desk I decided to get the matching Secret Lab white desk riser. The desk riser allows you to attach a monitor arm to it and that gives you a clean overall look. I love how you attach this to the desk. First you attach the feet and then slide onto the desk like this. Then you simply use the allen key to tighten the internal screw which in turn tightens the riser to the desk. It comes with a cover and 2 side panels which attach magnetically. Another one of my favourite brands is Nanoleaf and they collaborated with Secret Lab to produce this strip light. Unlike traditional adhesive strip lights this is a Mag RGB and it's specifically made for the Magnus Pro desk. It is a diffused LED strip light that attaches to the desk magnetically. You can connect to it via the Nanoleaf app which then gives you access to various customisable scenes. Secret Lab have also made one of the most well thought out footrests I've ever used. So this is the Secret Lab footrest and it's made of 2 parts. You get this soft plush cell cover which then attaches to the base magnetically. There is a switch on the back which allows you to lock the footrest in place or you can keep it unlocked and it will move from to back. This has your circulation in mind since when you're sitting for long hours at a desk it's a good idea to move your feet. Honestly I'm exhausted but I'm so happy with how that turned out. I think the white looks stunning and the RGB lighting behind from Nanoleaf, I just love that touch. The desk riser as well for the monitor, that's gonna be sick. I'm so glad I added those wheels as well. One thing I'm a bit worried about is if the sun goes. It's currently I think 3, 4 o'clock and I think I'm gonna lose some light in a bit but we'll see how we get on. Might have to continue this tomorrow. At this point the sun did start setting so before I head out for the day I decided to start dismantling the old setup since the plan was to move the monitors and peripherals over to the new setup. A 49 inch monitor is no joke when it comes to moving it so I took extra care taking it off the arm and moving it over to the new setup. I was keen to get it set up on the new desk so I could see what it would look like. I quickly got the arm set up and mounted the monitor to it before heading home for the day. All evening I sat thinking about the layout of the monitor and where the arm was sitting. I really didn't like how close the arm was to the desk riser so I did a bit of research to see if I could mount the heavy duty monitor arm to the desk riser with my 49 inch. It's not in the official Secretlab documentation but I did find a few other people on Reddit that had mounted it to the desk riser and they said it was fine since the riser itself could hold up to 70 kilos. So the next morning I got to the studio and started taking everything apart again. Here I'm using the Secretlab heavy duty monitor arm which is basically made for ultra wide beats like my 49 inch monitor. Now to centre the monitor you need to offset the base by 12 centimetres. The arm really does make it easy to mount the monitor to it so if you're looking for one I really do highly recommend this one. I'll link it below for you to check out. I'm glad I decided to put the monitor on the riser. It's made such a difference and now this actually allows me to move it further away from me. Using a 49 inch monitor it's best to have it at about an arm's length away from you. I've found that's the most comfortable viewing angle. Just a quick note, the lights behind the monitor are the Philips Hue playbars. Remember how I mentioned that this is magnetic? Well Secretlab also have this cable management kit which come with some velcro strips along with these magnetic clips. The magnets on these are so strong but what you can do with these is actually attach them to the desk to keep your cables in place. As you can see here I've added some behind my CalDigit TS4 Pro hub. I also added some behind the portable monitor to hide the cables. The feet of the desk riser are also magnetic so I added one there as well to hide the main thunderbolt cable that goes to my MacBook. Cable management is always a pain but with a desk like this it makes it a joy to set up. The magnetic ecosystem is so handy and really does help keep everything nicely organized. I ended up taking the cable cover off again so I could plug everything in a bit easier. Plus I wanted to keep these cables relatively tidy even though they would be hidden away. I blame my OCD for that. Now that the cables are sorted let's speed run this to see the result. I am exhausted. Well if you made it to the end thank you so much for watching and I'm actually really really really happy with how it turned out. I mean just look at it. Anyway I'm planning on making a hell of a lot more videos moving forward starting with this one. As you can see it's only got like a 3D printer on it and stuff like that. I have got a little stuff underneath there, kind of need to monitor, kind of need to set up there but we'll see what we're going to do with that. That will come to follow. For now let me know what you think I should turn that into and if there's anything else you want to know just ask. I'll catch you in the next one. Bye!