I've been stuck on a cramped 50cm Ikea desk for too long now, so I was clearing out my cables as soon as I had the chance to review the FlexiSpot E7 Pro standing desk. The brand has become synonymous with motorized sit-stand tabletops since those first working from home days of the pandemic, but the line of larger desks has since been refined to add some intuitive quality of life features. I've spent three months sitting and standing with the E7 Pro across all daily work and nightly play, here's where it fits among the best gaming desks on the market.
Assembly
I knew I had my work cut out for me when I tried to lift just one of the massive boxes that landed in my porch earlier this year. The E7 Pro comes in two packages, one containing the main desk top and the other holding all the legs, cables, trucking, and screws you'll need to keep it upright. I'm not a physically strong person, but even my far more capable helper struggled with these boxes - it's definitely a two-person job moving all this kit around. Still, this heft was a promising sign.
Unboxing everything, it was clear that these parts were all of solid build quality. The table top itself was packaged neatly and well protected during transport, as was the automotive-grade steel frame. There were no bumps or scratches on anything after my unit's long journey from the US to the UK.
Assembly instructions were clear and easy to follow, with individual parts nicely organized and labelled. Despite this, and while also following along with a video, I still managed to put the entire frame on the wrong way round on my first attempt. I'm chalking this up to attempting assembly after a long work week and on the hottest day of the year, but it did show me just how easy it is to disassemble the entire structure. Don't get me wrong, the E7 Pro is heavy enough to warrant some serious thought as to its location before building - you don't want to be moving this thing around all the time - but if you do need to pack it all up, you won't be spending too long fiddling with individual parts.
After that, everything slotted together without too much extra sweat (did I mention the hottest day of the year thing). You'll need a drill outside of what's included in the kit, and an extra screwdriver as well. My only regret is the slight angle of the control pad located at the front right - there's no guide to drilling these holes so it's easy to misalign during the final few moments of the assembly process.
All in all, the FlexiSpot E7 Pro went together in about an hour with one person doing most of the work (me), and a second helping with eyeing up the legs and shifting boxes.
Design
The FlexiSpot E7 Pro is available with either a black or white base and a range of different tops. There is a gaming friendly soft top available, but in hindsight I'm glad I received the light bamboo option. I spend enough time scrubbing at my desk-length mouse pad is already considerable - with all my kit piled on top of a similar material things could get pretty gross pretty quickly.
The bamboo topper is nice and smooth with a natural grain and sturdy density. It's a straight edge without a slight curve in the middle, which I personally prefer - it allows for a desk mat to sit close to the lip of the table itself without hanging over. However, if you're looking to keep your gaming chair tucked a little closer to the action it's worth checking out some other FlexiSpot designs that do incorporate this form factor. My 55 x 28 inch top has plenty of space for a 32-inch gaming monitor, 36-inch mouse pad, a laptop, headset stand, set of speakers, and plenty more.
The steel legs do collect dust but they're easily cleanable with a quick wipe and hoover, and I have no concerns about their ability to hold a considerable setup.
Underneath, a magnetic cover keeps the desk's cables out of sight, and a cable tray runs along the back of the main unit for all your extra wires. I initially thought this wasn't going to be enough for my setup, but two power bricks and plenty of USB-C cables later, it's holding everything nicely in place.
Features
I'll get straight to it, FlexiSpot makes some of the best standing desks on the market, and the E7 Pro is no different. This is a super smooth glide whether you're moving up or down, and with a responsive touchpad located at the front of the desk actually initiating that change from sitting to standing can be done with the touch of a button. The console allows for finer changes upwards or downwards with two arrows, but you've also got four slots to program here (using the M button). That means you can easily program your favored height for sitting or standing (as well as two more options, I used one for cable attention and left another spare) and when the time comes just tap one of the buttons on the right. This is also particularly handy if you're sharing a desk.
Unlike cheaper standing desks I've tried, there's no judder to this motion and the whole mechanism springs to life as soon as you tap the correct button. I was immediately impressed with this process - there's something to be said for a mechanism so intuitive you forget about it until you try a less sophisticated implementation.
There's also that handy USB-A port sticking out the side of the main hub, powered by the desk's mains connection. It's a life-saver, providing me the chance to ad-hoc throw a charger in when necessary without having to worry about cables reaching up to the full height of the desk when elevated. I primarily used it for a quick phone recharge, or for plugging in a gaming headset when the juice was running low.
There's also plenty of cable management options included in the box. The aforementioned cable tray does a good job of keeping everything out of sight, while the roll of grip tape supplied helped keep wires together as well. I did have to use some of my old accessories to keep cables running from the desk to the power strip, including a zip set of cable sleeves, so it's not a full solution straight out of the box.
The only real pain point I ran into isn't exclusive to the FlexiSpot E7 Pro. You'll find most standing desks drop built in storage, and having previously relied on two drawers and a big old cupboard for various cables, keyboard switches, accessories, and controllers I was initially stuck. I've had to relocate a lot of kit to make this setup work, though have stuck a cheap add-on drawer to the left hand side for essentials.
Should you buy the FlexiSpot E7 Pro?
The FlexiSpot E7 Pro isn't a cheap desk - my configuration comes in at $759.99. Still, that's cheaper that the SecretLab Magnus Pro, though you're dropping the additional cable management options afforded by the SecretLab (and the ability to switch off the control panel on the Magnus Pro would have saved me a few accidental presses). If you're not a fan of the all-black heavy-looking design of the Magnus Pro, the lighter more relaxed aesthetic of the E7 Pro will draw you back to FlexiSpot. It's down to personal preference, but I definitely favor the more natural form factor here.
Then we have the FlexiSpot E7, a $499.99 option (in its base configuration). The E7 is only capable of carrying a 355lbs load, so if you're concerned about the weight of your setup the Pro is going to be your friend. You've also got more cable management options, a higher max height, and extra cable accessories included in the Pro model as well. I'd recommend the E7 if you've got a lighter setup that doesn't need too much cable management (you just need to run a monitor and a laptop or PC). However, anything more taxing (a speaker system or soundbar, docking station, RGB lighting or secondary laptop) would do far better with the E7 Pro.
How we tested the FlexiSpot E7 Pro
I used the FlexiSpot E7 Pro every day for three months, assembling the full desk and running all my work and daily play from it. My setup consists of a Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop, 32-inch Samsung Odyssey G5 curved gaming monitor, Corsair MM700 mouse pad, Logitech Z533 speaker system, Mountain MacroPad, and USB hub dock. For more information on how we make our recommendations, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.
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