The AndaSeat Mask 2 gaming desk is functional, colorful, and costly

When you think of AndaSeat, you likely think of seats, such as the T-Compact gaming chair. After all, it’s in the name. However, the company also produces other products, such as gaming desks, including the RGB-adorned Mask 2.

The Mask 2 is an expensive bit of hardware for your gaming space, and its subjective value will likely boil down to how much you like the idea of RGB desk legs. Beyond that, it’s a somewhat typical, if perfectly capable, platform for your keyboard, controllers, laptop, and whatever else you see fit to pile on top of it. It has a few extra bells and whistles to help differentiate itself from the competition, though the overall experience is a comfortable, familiar one.

AndaSeat’s Mask 2 gaming desk runs $450 when at its standard MSRP. There’s only one version of it, so you don’t need to worry about price differences depending on what color, material, or size you go with. Really, the only price difference you do need to keep in mind is the price of the desk when it’s on sale. At the time of this review, it’s at a massive $210 discount, being sold for $240. That brings a quality, arguably overpriced desk right down to a sweet spot where it’s easy to recommend.

AndaSeat Mask 2 gaming desk: What’s good

The Mask 2 is a straightforward gaming desk when it comes to its positive aspects. For starters, it’s sizeable (120cm x 60cm x 74.5cm) — not to the point of being a space sucker, but it’s big enough to fit a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and plenty of additional items on either desk wing.

Beyond the smartly chosen size of the desk, there’s also its pleasant assortment of bonus functionalities. It features two cable slots with which to thread wires through the table, two headphone hooks, a cupholder, and a cable management bucket, as well as a handful of plastic hooks for suspending cables, which are optional and can be placed anywhere.

The desk also has aesthetics going for it. It has a sleek black finish, modeled after the appearance of carbon fiber. Most of the desk follows this black coloring, and the overall unit looks better for it. And if you want a bit of life injected into the hardware, you can turn on its RGB-infused legs, the likes of which can light up in colors such as red, green, blue, cyan, and purple.

The desk is listed as supporting up to 330 pounds. I weigh around a third of that and plopped myself down on the desk to see how it handled me, and though it wobbled ever so slightly — likely as a result of the desk prioritizing weight support in the back (for monitors) rather than equally across its entire surface — it felt sturdy. Ergo, if you plan on placing bantamweight humans on this desk rather than, or in addition to, gaming hardware, rest assured, you’ll be okay.

AndaSeat Mask 2 gaming desk: What’s not good

The material makeup of the desk may disappoint some people. The carbon fiber texturing is just an exterior aesthetic finish, with the innards of the main desk being wood. Furthermore, there’s a lot of plastic in the exterior detailing atop the metal supports. These materials do not equal $450 in value.

There’s also the issue that the black texturing of the desk gobbles up fingerprints, making it a smudge magnet. Not only that, but the desk’s single-hue color palette is minorly disrupted by blue floor buffers and strange orange-ish red arms on the cable bucket. And given the somewhat cheap material composition of the desk, scuffs and scratches are all too easy to make.

Speaking of the cable bucket: Due to its out-of-reach placement at the back of the desk and its narrow slats that are too thin to thread many cables through, I find myself unlikely to ever use it. I’d much rather it have been placed on the inside of one of the desk’s sides as a miscellaneous item storage compartment. Admittedly, while not a complete substitute for the bucket, the optional attachable hooks included do make up for some of this particular issue since you can choose where they go.

There are also limitations with the RGB functionality. You can’t control the colors’ pulse speed or light emission patterns, and the color options are good but not terribly expansive (where’s my TRON orange?). Make no mistake, the RGB action that is present is fun and will likely fit in well with your existing setup, but it could stand to be a bit more robust.

That sentiment goes for the desk as a whole. It’s a fine desk on its own, but for the cost, the features present miss the necessary “wow” factor and don’t capitalize on their potential.

AndaSeat Mask 2 gaming desk: Competition

The issue with the Mask 2 is the price range it’s in. At a standard MSRP of $450, it’s going toe-to-toe with the Secretlab Magnus desk. That thing has magnetic legs (four of them, too, for even balance), a stronger material composition, a craftier design better optimized for cable management, and much more. Even the headphone hook on the Magnus is superior, designed to better support accessories.

However, at the Mask 2’s discounted rate of $240 (or any sale price below $250), it fares far better against the similarly priced competition. Check out our roundup of the best gaming desks to see what alternatives are on the table. In that lower price range, the Mask 2’s RGB gimmick and features are enough to help it stand apart from the crowd. It still may not be the best value in town, but it’s at least competitive in that bracket.

AndaSeat Mask 2 gaming desk: Should you buy it?

You should buy this if …

• You crave more RGB in your life
• You like gaming desks that aren’t overly gaudy
• You want a competent, sturdy gaming desk

You shouldn’t buy this if …

• You want unique features besides RGB desk legs
• You dislike visible smudges and scratches
• You want the best value for your money
• You want your desk made of the finest materials

The Mask 2 gaming desk is good but not great. Much like with AndaSeat’s T-Compact gaming chair, the company has delivered a competent product that fulfills its base promises to consumers but does so at a cost that’s too high for what’s being presented. The fundamentals are all here, and the item is solid — now it’s time for AndaSeat to iterate and present something truly outstanding.

3.5
out of 5

With that being said, when on sale, the Mask 2 becomes a worthy purchase and sidesteps the aforementioned “wait for the next iteration” disclaimer. If you’re an RGB enthusiast who needs a stylish black desk for under $250, the Mask 2 will hit just right.