ZLD Performance Series 1.1 Performance L-Desk (Hardware)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
Gaming = RGBs.
The ZLD Performance Series 1.1 Performance L-Desk is a multi-feature desk designed to provide ample space for all your gaming peripherals and accessories, while looking badass, too. The ZLD 1.1 features a built-in dual outlet with 2 USB ports, a wireless charging pad with built-in USB port, integrated mouse pads on each side of the desk, height adjustable shelves with RGB strips underneath, and a built in storage tray and cup holder, to hold your Doritos and Mountain Dew during those intense gaming sessions.
Putting the desk together is pretty simple, mostly using the standard hex head bolts and cam lock screws. There are only 14 steps required for installation from start to finish in the fairly easy to understand instruction booklet, and parts are labeled well enough that you can tell what pieces go where in the correct orientation. Total installation time clocked in at 2 hours for me, but only because I was also wrangling a babby who, quite frankly, was no help at all! For a DIY amatuer, with no babby helper, I’d probably clock it in at a quick 30-45 minutes max. I was a little disappointed that the extra features, like the cup holder and outlet, were not optional pieces; if you didn’t install them as instructed, you would be stuck with two large holes in your desk. But that’s not really that big of an issue, all things said and done, since you likely bought the desk precisely because of these features. And speaking of buying, price-wise, unfortunately, is a more difficult thing to narrow down. While ZLD’s latest desk in the Performance line (the 1.6) is readily available online at OfficeMax, the rest of their older series is a bit harder to track down. Fry's is the only retailer I can find that has the desk in stock and available, for a hefty $400. The 1.6 version of the desk offers a majority of the same features, minus one shelf, and is a more reasonable $250. Is an extra shelf and RGB strip really worth that extra $150?
The desk itself measures 54”W 54”D 36”H (or 30”H, without the shelves, and 28.5” to the bottom edge of the desk top) and weighs just short of 100lbs, which gives the desk a hefty, durable feel as you’re sitting there...but unfortunately, I can't say the same thing for the paint. After using the desk for just a couple of days, I found I was able to severely scratch the edges of the desk where my chair sits, which only slightly rubs up against the edges. After some fiddling, I found the paint is easily scratched off with just a fingernail, which tells me that the paint job for this desk was not given much thought on quality. ZLD handily includes a grey surface repair pen with the installation materials, which I intially thought was just a helpful bonus in case of the rare small scratch, but seeing how easily the scratches come I can see that it's really a necessity with this desk. The integrated mousepads on top of the desk are hard plastic with a carbon fiber design, and measure to 24” on the right side, and 31.5” on the left, providing ample room for accurate mouse movements (babby for scale). The height adjustable shelves have 3 positions they can be installed in, with the highest position giving you a 6” boost for your monitors, and a 4.5” gap between to store whatever you feel like underneath. The RGB strips underneath these shelves are fairly bright, with 50 MAYBE individual LEDs under each shelf providing an ample amount of GAMING goodness. The RGBs have 6 DIY programmable modes, along with 7 difference pre-configured effects including: Static, Flash, Auto, Fade3, Fade7, Jump3, and Jump 7. As expected, Static displays just one chosen color, Fade cycles through 3 or all 7 major colors, Auto will cycle through all the colors and will alternate between flash and fade7, etc etc. You can configure the speed at which the effect changes, and you can pause/play the color effects at whim. While this may seem like a fairly high amount of customization, I do wish more effects were available so I could match the rest of my gaming PC setup.
The built-in outlet and wireless charging pad is located on the left-hand side of the desk, providing easy access to power for whatever accessories you may need at any time. The wireless charging pad works with the majority of wireless charging-enabled products, which does include my Galaxy S8, and if your device doesn’t have wireless charging capabilities there’s a third USB port handy underneath the pad, so it’s still useful and not a waste of space. The USB ports on the outlet and the wireless charging pad push out a standard 5W 1A, which will charge your controllers and other wireless accessories no problem, but will struggle with higher demanding products like the Switch. This may not seem like a big problem, since you have two whole outlets there for higher power chargers, there is however a rather glaring issue: The outlets themselves are so close together that larger power adapters can take up space on both outlets, like a lot of cheaper power strips these days.
Verdict
- Built-in Outlet and wireless charging pad.
- RGBs for GAMING.
- Easy to put together.
- Solid materials.
- Outlet's could be further apart.
- A tad more customization for RGBs would be welcome.
- Price point is a tad high compared to successor desk from ZLD.
- Paint scratches way too easily.
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