The best desks of 2023: standing desks, gaming desks and everything in between

$195 at Amazon

Fenlo desk

A budget writing desk with added extras

$300 at Amazon

Fezibo mid-century modern electric standing desk

Writing desk meets standing desk

Having a desk at home is a necessity not only for working professionals, but also for students, crafters, gamers and just about everyone else. Every home should have at least one desk. You may work from home or need a place to do your homework. Maybe you’re a gamer and want to get into Twitch streaming. All of the above ambitions require a comfortable work surface to succeed.

CNET had “best standing desks” article for a while and we know what best office chairs and gaming chairs are, so now is the time to give you options beyond standing desks. This article has everything you need, from standing desks to small writing desks and more.

I’ve spent hours making desks, moving desks, and sitting on and on desks, all to give you the lowdown on the greatest around. I keep getting more too, so watch this space for more of the best desks as they arrive.

A dark image with a large black mass and glowing arc lights

A secret laboratory

I’ve used a lot of desks over the course of my career, but I can honestly say I’ve never used a desk like the Magnus Pro XL. It’s both the most industrial-looking table yet oozes massive gaming energy. At 70 inches long and made almost exclusively of metal parts, this desk is not meant to be assembled by one person. It took nearly two hours to put together, but once it’s done, it’s a work of art.
It has a five-setting system, and the motors are some of the quietest I’ve heard in my testing. The movement is smooth and even though the desk weighs quite a bit, it lifts quickly and smoothly. I’ve never thought of using a standing gaming desk before, but this really helps break up the hours of sitting.

A standing desk with white legs and a wooden top on a purple background

Furniture for branches

At first glance, the Branch standing desk looks pretty generic, but the level of craftsmanship is evident upon closer inspection. All materials feel premium, with a weight that only comes from good engineering.

Wooden desk with white chair and sockets in front

Fenlo

This lightweight writing desk is very similar to many others I’ve tested. Writing desks are usually easy to assemble – it took 10 minutes – and are small in stature. It can comfortably fit a monitor and a laptop, but not much else.

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Fesibo

Most standing desks have a clinical look, as if they were designed to be in a dark office, not your home. Not so with the mid-century standing desk. Its design with a dark wood surface, black drawer fronts and antique gold handles give it a 1950s feel.
The standing desk part also works well with four programmable heights and a sturdy structure that feels secure even when fully extended. I especially like the center drawer that can hold your wireless keyboard and mouse to hide them from view and keep the mid-century aesthetic.

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Branch

The Branch Duo is the company’s newest line of standing desks and uses a very simple control mechanism to set heights. The display is simple and clean, and all the accessories just ooze quality. It was easy to build, took less than 30 minutes, and the size is perfect for smaller spaces. It’s large enough for several smaller monitors or one large one, with plenty of space on top for a laptop.
I especially like the notifications you can set to remind you to stand or sit throughout the day. Standing desks are designed to help your health, but they only work if you remember to do it! Branch Duo eliminates this problem.

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Other desks we tested

Not every desk we test makes the best list. Some of them are not even good enough to mention. However, some are close to good enough and we are willing to mention them here. These desks had something wrong with them that kept them out of the top spot, but they’re decent if you can overlook that particular issue.

Lobster

This desk from Homary looks fantastic when put together. The glossy white finish and antique gold accents give it the luxurious feel that a $1,500 desk should have. All of the individual pieces have the weight you’d expect from a performance item, and once it’s all put together, it looks absolutely stunning.

Monocene

Gaming desks can often be extremely expensive, especially when you add extras. This desk from Monoprice is simple, cheap, and sturdy — all good things — and it also has some handy extras like a headphone hook, cable tray, and an off-desk cup holder. Leaving your drink on the side of the desk is a great idea. If you knock it over, it goes on the floor, not on the expensive electronics on your desk.

How we test

Desk testing is kind of a subjective game. Like office chairs, the tests are based on comfort, reliability, and ease of setup, not things you can test in electronics like power and battery usage. However, I have rigorously tested each of them and will continue to test them for longevity in the coming months.

I tested these desks by asking three people to try each one. Each of them used the desk for at least 16 hours and then shared their impressions with me. The three men were 6 feet, 1 inch; 5 feet 8 inches; and 5 feet, 4 inches tall, respectively, to give me a good cross-section of the average user’s height.

A broken box containing a desk — James Bricknell/CNET

Setup time and packaging quality

Building desks can often be difficult and time consuming. For each desk, I measured how long it took to unpack and assemble and noted whether or not the instructions were easy to follow. I followed the instructions as closely as possible so that each build performed as if I had never done one before. I also carefully checked the packaging to make sure it wasn’t damaged and that it was secure enough to carry the desk that was in it. Any damage was noted and images were sent to the manufacturers for review.

Structural integrity

Modern desks must be able to support enough weight. If you’re at a writing desk, you might only have a small laptop, but if you’re using a gaming desk, it probably has two monitors and a giant gaming computer. For each desk, I checked the maximum load specification and tried to match it to the materials we actually use on our desks.

I used:

Heavy duty gaming PC tower
Two 27-inch gaming monitors on a dual monitor arm
MacBook Pro
Two different keyboards and a variety of mice and trackpads
mine Oculus Quest 2
My phone stand and USB hub
Microphone and headphones for podcasting

Depending on the length and weight capacity of the desk, I mix and match these items, then check for warping of the table top or inconsistencies in the feel of the desk as I work.

Huge black standing desk with rainbow lights — James Bricknell/CNET

Weeble-snail

It’s a bit back from when my dad was making furniture. Anything my dad built would be criticized by my mom and if it didn’t approve she’d say “It’s a bit wobbly isn’t it dear?” After I build each desk and load it up for normal use I’ll check it out to flutter. This means rocking it from side to side and back and forth to check that all the screws, bolts and fixtures are holding everything in place.