The best desks of 2025: I spent nearly 4,000 hours testing desks. These are the ones you want.

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. I’ve still 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 tall; 5 feet, 8 inches high; and 5 feet, 4 inches tall, respectively, to give me a good cross-section of the average user’s height.

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 it contained. 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 just 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 tabletop or inconsistencies in the feel of the desk as I work.

Weeble-snail

It’s a bit back from when my dad was making furniture. Everything my dad built would be criticized by my mom, and if it didn’t pass inspection, she’d say, “It’s a little shaky, isn’t it, dear?” After I build each desk and charge it for normal use, I’ll check it for vibration . 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.