The day gaming desks were renamed to battle stations, I knew marketing targeted to my demographic was always going to be just a touch batshit. Now you can get desks complete with RGB lighting, standing desks, desks that are actually a bed and much more. While undeniably cool, that’s not always what a fair chunk of gamer people are looking for in a desk. In fact, I’d argue a lot of us just want something that does the job of holding up our stuff while looking smart and not being uncomfortable to sit at at a reasonable price.
IKEA’s Utespelare gaming desk absolutely nails that brief, but adds a few extra features that I’d argue are more battle worthy than an inbuilt rave experience.
The Utespelare comes in two colour options, an all black which feels very gamer chic, or a breezier grey with light wood look top. Both are otherwise identical so i grabbed the lighter colour way to match my setup. Unsurprisingly it arrived as a flat packed box ready to end relationships in its assembly.
Because the table top is largely one piece, it’s quite a large unwieldy box and you need a bit of room to set it up. This includes flipping the desk after installing the table top which was a mighty effort, but that’s to be expected for a desk this size.
That’s the first thing to hit me about the Utespelare gaming desk, it’s really pretty big. Coming from standing desks, having a 160 cm by 80 cm workspace is actually huge.
You can easily fit a full sized PC, a couple of monitors, routers, your mug printing gear, and that old iMac you rescued out of the rubbish and have been working on getting up and running for fun without any trouble. Plus there’s a decent amount of space under it for more stuff thanks to the relatively small space taken by the legs.
The official site says it has a 50 kg max tolerance but I’m a mystery number over that and have sat on it for science while feeling pretty safe. I can even lay on it if I’m a bit curled up. I could probably put curtains around the bottom and rent it in this dystopia.
There is just so much room for activities on this flat surface of opportunity.
While putting the desk together there are a couple of choices to make. One is how tall you’re looking to have your desk—which is decided by the leg height. This can be adjusted from 66 cm to 78 cm which is an important feature for ergonomics.
You’ll want to choose your height fast though, because it’s not so easy to adjust once everything is all set up. It’s a little weird if you’ve come from the flexibility of a sit stand setup, but with all the space on this desk it would be perfect for one of those desktop raisers added later down the line.
The other choice is where to place the metal mesh portion of the desktop and how that relates to the cut out in the wooden piece. After consulting the ancient Swedish hieroglyphics, I went with having the cut out backing onto the metal, giving me a really tidy way to hide my cables when pared with the hammock solution included.
It’s one of the easier cable management options to actually use I’ve seen built into a desk as I can keep a power board there, that’s easily accessible for swapping things while still hiding all of my mess.
✅You’re on a budget: The favourable price tag makes the sturdiness and practicality even more impressive.
✅You want a good, big desk: With a tabletop space of 160x80 cm, dedicated cable management, and plenty of space underneath, this desk has a lot of room.
✅You’ve got lights: I know a cool RGB lit battle station is where it’s at but you might be better off attaching your own aurora to this one.
❌ You’re short on space: This desk took me by surprise with its dimensions once placed in reality so do your measurements carefully before deciding on this one.
While being a helpful cable tidy, the metal portion of the desktop is also perfect for all my hot running gamer stuff. It’s a great place to put your PC knowing it’ll have all the airflow it could possibly want accessible to it. I’ve also used it as a place to stick things like routers and other hot-running electronics. It’s great because they’re out of the way at the back of my deep desk but I don’t worry about them overheating or being covered in dust.
While the Utespelare is billed as a gaming desk it feels like a much more sensible product made with gamers in mind than the usual affair. It’s simple, smart, sturdy, and clean. When I walk past it sometimes I just look at it and smile, thinking to myself what a decent desk that is for AUD$199 and how useful it is while still looking quite good in my home.
I know that means I’m getting old, but it’s also a pretty clear sign that IKEA has delivered with this stealth battle station.
