Thunder X3 Lab-X review

Usually, when I see the term 'gaming desk', I think whatever marketer has got their hands on the keyboard has maybe been a bit overzealous, yet the Thunder X2 Lab-X makes a decent argument for that in its many neat additions.

The Lab-X has a mesh side plate (with crucial optional fan brackets) for cooling, a tempered glass mousepad top, a track system to add headphone or cup holders, and built-in collision detection to stop it from breaking anything as the entire table rises or drops. Though not all these extras proved to be quite as useful as I might have hoped, it all comes together to offer a strong package at a reasonable price point.

Thunder X3's Lab-X is a tough bit of hardware to build. It's not only very heavy, weighing just under 50 kg but wide, at 170 cm. You will likely want two or more people involved in the build, and this is only part of the battle. It has many, many bolts you have to screw in with an hex key, of which the table only provides one.

As well as this, many of the bolts are right next to other parts of the desk, so you can't do a full rotation, meaning you have to put the hex key in, turn it a quarter, take it out, and put it back again. After about thirty minutes of moving, building, a little bit of weeping, and moving again, you can then flip the table over and set it up.

To make this process a little less messy on the end result, the box does come with a pair of gloves to avoid getting your fingerprints all over it. However, once set up, the tempered glass top is an absolute fingerprint magnet. If you spend the time wearing gloves for the entire process, you will discover it's all in vain once you spot fingerprints starting to display after thirty minutes of gaming.

As well as all of this, I had the unique displeasure of finding out my room has walls that curve inward slightly just hours after setting the table up. It's a height-adjustable desk so, after sending the desk up, it resulted in a big scratch through the paint of my walls. The table left that clash unscathed.

In a sense, this is both a testament to the strength of the table and an indictment of the quality of my paint. It is worth noting this is a relatively niche thing to happen, and more the painters who decorated my apartment's fault than Thunder X3's.

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I tested the collision detection by using it normally as I would throughout the last few weeks but also by placing a cardboard box under the table and making it go down. Though there was certainly some pressure as it took a moment to register the collision, it wasn't enough to do any damage to the box.

In return for these quibbles, the Lab-X delivers a striking good experience once setup and gaming. It is a very sturdy build that I never thought twice about after getting it set up. Taking the weight of a PC, multiple books, a board game, and my music production setup, it can handle everything I've put on it without affecting its motor. .

Outside of the scratch on my wall, the collision detection has not yanked any wires out of place and it moves moderately fast. Though not quite silent as the ThunderX3 webpage states, it's certainly a smooth and relatively quiet motor. The 75 cm to 120 cm height range is also solid, being 18 cm shorter in scope than the Secretlab Magnus Pro XL, which is currently our top pick for the best gaming desk.

On the right-hand side sits a small panel with a clear screen. To the left of that screen are two buttons that can send the desk up or down. Then, on the right are two presets you can set by holding for 2 seconds at a desired height.

Finally, there is a 'health mode' button, which adjusts the height of the desk slowly over time to make you change your posture and position. The light creak of things on my desk moving put me off this mode pretty quickly but I could see this working for a certain type of desk user

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The Lab-X's aesthetic is sleek and clean. All black, with different shades for different sections. The glass mousepad on the top is super smooth to game on and cool to the touch. Then, past that tempered top is an aluminium back. The sides are then made out of that same aluminium material but have a mesh texture, intended to fit fan accessories that are sold separately.

I couldn't personally verify any heat dissipation claims with said fans as I don't have them but it does give a good location to place gaming hardware and you can feel the heat underneath the mesh when a PC or console is placed on it.

It is worth noting, if you're in the market for this desk, that tempered glass panels have their own issues you have to work around. Though more heat resistant than normal glass, they can suffer from thermal shock so keep hot drinks away from it.

As well as that, tempered glass is prone to scratches, which could harm a mouse's ability to accurately pick up movement. I saw neither of these problems as I used the desk but it's a consideration I'll keep making as I continue to place drinks and equipment on it.

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The legs are far enough apart that two chairs can fit in between them for coworking and there's plenty of space on the 170 cm by 75 cm top for two people, too. My model came with the cup and earphone holder attachment and these can be fitted on via a rather neat track system just under the sides of the table. You effectively take off part of the corner, place your attachment in, and then screw that into the base. This means not only can you adjust the position of attachments quickly but you can add more accessories as you buy them, as Thunder X3 puts them out.

Unfortunately, one extra feature the Lab-X could benefit from including is a form of wire management. It has management underneath for the cable you plug the desk in with but it's missing anything more. This means setting up your PC, monitor, and extra accessories often means implementing a secondary wire management system to avoid dangling everything down the back.

The Secretlab Magnus Pro XL will likely be the Thunder X3's biggest competition right now, as they are similarly sized and both have a black sleek aesthetic. The latter desk is lighter, cheaper ($600 vs $950), and has a few neat features. Both desks are very firm and a shove only barely wiggles the Lab-X.

However, Secretlab's offering comes with wire management, a wider top and a deeper range of height. It also has a few more preset buttons and comes with a separate desk mat.

However, for its price, Thunder X3 offers a really good bit of gaming furniture here. The build is a tedious and long one, and the gloves are more or less pointless given how many fingerprints get on it but it's super sturdy, the motor runs relatively quiet, and the side of the table is strong enough to fight with my wall and come out on top.

I'm slightly annoyed I'll have to repaint part of my living room but I don't think 'the walls curve inwards' is something the desk can reasonably account for, especially when its anti-collision technology has stopped it from whacking into anything else I own. It may not be an out-and-out Secretlab beater but it puts up worthy competition at a cheaper price point.