Mediaberry

I’ve built enough desks and chairs by now to generally know what’s coming, and even so, putting together the Secretlab MAGNUS Evo was far from a five-minute job. That’s not to say it’s difficult, and it didn’t take that long either in the grand scheme, but it’s a noticeably heavy desk once every panel and leg is put together and a fair lump to navigate.

I’ve been testing the black version of the Epomaker HE75 V2, which pairs a matte case with smoke-tinted, Cherry-profile PC keycaps, though there’s a white version with frosted keycaps available too. Those semi-transparent caps are a nice change of pace, they let the per-key RGB show through with a soft glow that lights up the whole board, rather than a harsher direct underlight.

As you’d expect, Logitech hasn’t strayed far from the formula that got the G305 this far. It’s still very much the classic egg-shaped shell, symmetrical enough to pick up with either hand, though the two side buttons live exclusively on the left and there’s no alternate option for southpaws.

The pair both use a 1500R curved Fast VA panel running at WQHD resolution (3440 x 1440), and both carry DisplayHDR 400 certification with a peak brightness of 450 nits. Where they split is speed. The CU34G4CA tops out at 180Hz with 0.5ms MPRT, connecting via two HDMI 2.0 ports and a single DisplayPort 1.4. The CU34G4ZCA runs natively at 240Hz, with headroom to overclock to 250Hz, dropping MPRT to 0.3ms and swapping in two HDMI 2.1 ports for the extra bandwidth.

I didn’t expect to be saying this about a keyboard, but the Keychron K3 HE cuts a handsome figure in the black variant I’ve been testing. It’s finished with real dark rosewood accents running along the side edges and a colour-matched pair of highlight keys on Esc and Enter that lift it above the usual sea of all black keyboards. I dig it, it’s restrained rather than showy, but has plenty of character for a mature setup.

When I first got my hands on the RS Pure wheelbase originally, I was seriously impressed by the build quality Nacon had managed, particularly given the price it was being offered at. It felt professional, upmarket almost, and it was built like a tank. Nothing’s changed with these new additions, they carry the same metal construction, all-black finish, and proper heft. The RS Pure Hybrid Shifter is a relatively chunky unit that’s doing the job of two gearboxes at once.

Here’s some of our favourite deals from the Independence Day Sale. The E7 Standing Desk is one of Flexispot’s staple offerings and it’s down more than 40%, starting from just £249.99 in the UK and $289 stateside. That’s a serious drop and a genuinely strong price for anyone who’s been putting off the switch to sit-stand working.

I’ve been testing the black version of the G316 x 98 with tactile switches, which, if you’re in the UK like I am, are the only switches available at launch. It’s a pretty understated board for the most part, with a translucent purple escape key and media dial providing the only break from the plain black outfit. If you opt for the white board you’ll get teal accents, and you’re stuck with using them as unlike other brands, Logitech doesn’t include any less-outlandish caps in the box.

Keychron offers the G3 in two flavours that share identical internals. The Frosted Gray has a retro translucent polycarbonate shell while the Black Carbon Fibre model I’ve been testing wraps things in a matte finish with a fine, almost sandpapery texture that feels pleasant under your fingers. Scattered across the body is a random assortment of engraved waves and animals that seem to serve no particular purpose beyond decoration.

Before you start messing around with the phone mount, the SteelSeries Stratus+ looks like a perfectly generic controller. It’s the sort of thing you’d spot in the background of a film where the set designers didn’t want to pay licensing fees to Microsoft or Sony. It borrows PlayStation’s symmetrical thumbstick layout and pairs it with Xbox-style ABXY buttons wrapped in an all-black shell. It’s inoffensive, unremarkable, and if you saw it on a shelf you probably wouldn’t look twice.