We get it: desks get beat up over time but sometimes you don’t want to buy a whole new desk just to spruce up your work and gaming space. A new desktop may be just the solution you need and that’s exactly what we did with the Flexispot Odin E7Q and a brand new desktop. It’s a killer upgrade if you’re a tiny bit handy and won’t cost as much as a whole new desk.
Why Upgrade a Desktop and Not the Whole Desk?
We’ve all been there. You’re at your computer desk, playing games or getting work done and something scraaaaapes against its surface leaving a scratch you will never unsee. Or perhaps it's a drop of something just heavy enough to leave a dent. Pen marks, inks or indentation, stains, glue, or wears in the finish. All of these things can leave a desktop looking worse than you’d like.
Depending on your preferences, that can be a major issue. Your desk can be one of the focal points of your day, whether it’s where you make your money and connect with colleagues or whether it’s where you go to relax. And in the age where making a stunningly showy gaming PC is easier than ever, it’s understandable that you would want your computer space to at least look nice and well put together. So when something like the above happens, it’s tragic.
Allow me to tell you some tales of my follies.
- Left a headphone amp on without realizing it. For a week. When I picked the amp up, it had warped and cracked the section of wood underneath it. Even though it was finished and one-inch thick. Then, tried to fix that issue with wood filler and polyurethane, leaving a visible square patch in one corner of the desk.
- That same desk, thinking to protect it, putting a silicone table protector on its surface, promptly replacing the matte finish with a splotchy shine
- Not realized a paperclip was under my keyboard, gouging the surface.
- Had a keyboard slip from my hands, denting the surface
- Water rings
- Discoloration from a damp cleaning rag, left to the side while attending my children
- Scrapes from monitor stands, computer cases, and the sides of peripherals I’ve modded
The list goes on with desks over a many years. Apparently, I’m pretty hard on my desktops. Go figure.
The answer, for many years, was to use the desk as long as possible until a good opportunity came around to upgrade, then donating or giving away the old one.
That is, until it hit me: it’s only the desktop that’s getting worn. The legs and frame are fine. And in the world of standing desks, the desktop simply bolts on top of the frame at set points. Why not just swap out that part and save money?
And that’s exactly what brings us to today’s feature.
Choosing a Desktop
Rather than replacing an entire desk, simply getting a new desktop can be a cost effective way to make your space feel new again. There are tons of options out there and they’re not all created equal. Prices range from the affordable to the exorbitant, but if you’re anything like me, you don’t want to break the bank on what amounts to a slab of finished wood or composite.
My go-to brand for affordable quality has been Flexispot for some time. While there are lots of fantastic brands in the standing desk space, Flexispot strikes the best balance between price and quality, in my opinion. As a reviewer, I’ve also been able to see the upward trajectory the brand has been on over the last five years. The improvements its has made apply across the board, from options, to packaging, to materials, and straight down to the quality of the prep-work (like having pre-drilled holes), it’s elevated itself to being one of the best brands operating in the space today.
And it’s not ridiculously expensive.
So, I went on their site and, sure enough, there’s a whole section dedicated to standalone desktops. You can choose from bamboo, solid wood, solid wood texture (pine and veneer), and chipboard. Prices range from $99 to $395 for the largest surfaces. Sizes extend from a small, single-PC 48x24” to 80x30” for a truly expansive setup.
On the most affordable end, you have chipboard, which is a composite material made of recycled wood and finished with different textures. Unlike MDF, it has a denser, more wear resistant, and easier to clean surface and is available in a range of colors and textures, including granite. Next is bamboo, which is a lightweight hardwood and comes in light or chocolatey dark shades. Then, under the solid wood category, is true solid wood and solid wood texture, which uses a true solid wood veneer on a pine body. Solid wood choices as of this writing are limited to rubberwood while the texture version is limited to black walnut.
Options seem to vary based on availability, as the choices upon writing were more limited than even two weeks ago. I opted for the Black Walnut solid wood texture since I’ve seen it in person before and find it quite attractive.
Your choice will depend entirely on taste, though I would exercise caution with some of the solid wood variants. It can be beautiful but is also softer than the man-made materials. I have used each of the styles above, from Flexispot and others, over the years and they all have their merits. It truly is based on preference for durability, aesthetics, and cost.
One thing to be aware of, however, is that artificial desktops (and artificial woods in general — see laminate flooring for a good comparison) utilize patterning to create their wood texture. In the case of the solid wood texture I chose, there was some noticeable repetition. While it’s very noticeable with the desk bare, it’s much less so when everything is in place. Still, it’s something to be aware of so you’re not surprised when you unbox it. Still, I would be lying if I said I didn’t wish there was more variety in desktop I received.
Swapping Desktops, How Hard Is It?
Swapping desktops can go one of two ways. If you’re replacing a desktop on a standing desk and can get a top that’s matched to your frame, it’s quite easy. You can often tell this if the top you’re looking at is one of the default options for that style of desk. With Flexispot, there are pre-drilled holes to match the frame, so you simply take off you old one, put the new one in the same place and replace the screws.
If it’s not an option, which my choice wasn’t, you’re going to need a drill.
It’s also important to note here that you can certainly replace the desktop on a stationary desk as well. I won’t go into that in this article because it can vary so much depending on the desk you’re using.
For me, I chose the Solid Wood Texture Black Walnut desktop to pair with the Flexispot Odin E7Q I reviewed back in April. This wasn’t a default option, which meant that none of the pre-drilled holes matched the frame.
The desktop arrived well packaged. It comes in a large cardboard box with reinforced corners. There’s also thick cardboard material across the front and back sides of the desk. My desktop had clearly taken a few bumps in transport but there were no dents or scratches at all on the surface.
I started by taking a picture of the underside of the desk for reference on all of the fasteners. Then, I screwed the old top and put it to the side.
Next, I positioned the new desktop. This was slightly challenging without pre-drilled holes since you need to center it yourself. I wound up measuring the distance on both sides from the frame and making small adjustments until it was as close as I could get it.
Then, I crawled underneath with my drill. Since the frame itself isn’t changing, you can simply drill through the holes in the frame where the old fasteners were. Because you can’t see how far you’re drilling well when underneath a desk, I highly advise using a piece of masking tape on the bit to mark out exactly how deep to go. Also be sure to use an appropriately sized bit for the screws you’ll be driving in after.
With that in mind, you simply drill holes to match every mounting point on the original surface. In my case, that meant around each leg, several across the frame, and several to mount the power supply on the bottom. This part of the process took about 15 minutes.
Then it’s as simple as driving in the fasteners and you’re done.
Impressions of the Final Product
Before
Even with the repetition on the veneer, I think the upgrade went over very well. It wasn’t all that difficult once it was centered and the desk looks very nice. The repetition in the patterning pretty much becomes unnoticeable once you have a monitor, peripherals, and other things in place. The resilience of this surface is also better in the limited scratch and dent testing I’ve done and my own testing with a previous model using an identical top.
After
Overall, at only $99 for a 48x24 top and very reasonable prices up the scale, this is an excellent way to breathe new life into your desk. It’s not difficult and doesn’t take exceptionally long. Best of all, it’s way cheaper than buying most new desk that can utilize a replacement like this. If your frame is still in good shape, I can recommend this as a way to save cash and labor putting it together.
