Page 2 - Assembly
Once I got all the messy Styrofoam bits cleaned up and packaging material disposed, I laid out the tabletop, left and right X-style table legs, two banner poles, E-WIN banner, and the two horizontal support braces out on the floor to prepare for assembly. All of the assembly hardware and accessories are neatly organized inside a smaller cardboard box, which I appreciate.
I followed the manual for the installation procedure. The diagram in the manual were easy enough to understand, but it was littered with spelling and grammatical errors to no end. I struggle to understand how a manual could be so poorly written in 2021, considering a lot of these errors could have been easily resolved by simply running the spell checker in Microsoft Word. Thankfully, assembling a desk is not hard, and there are not that many parts to put together.
To begin, I inserted the two poles into the E-WIN banner. Four angle brackets, two for each leg, are each attached by a hex screw. I kept the angle brackets slightly loose so they can be properly aligned to the table top later on. The bracket screws can be tightened when installing the tabletop.
The next step is to insert the banner poles into the corresponding holes on both legs as well as attaching the horizontal support braces. This may require some help from another person, especially the banner since it is hard to keep in place. I actually managed to do this by myself by holding the left table leg against a wall and the right table leg against a large, heavy, and solid object. Attach and tighten the corresponding hex screws for all components per the manual. The frame assembly of the table is now complete.
You can now complete all the LED electrical connections by flipping the frame of the table around, so it is the correct side up. The main LED electrical connections are located in the upper horizontal support brace, where the cable guide will be covered and hidden once the tabletop is installed. We will discuss more on that in just a moment.
The wires that connect the LED strips on the legs to the controller are extremely poorly soldered and just poor quality in general. Out of the box, one of the three wire pins was already broken on each side. All of them broke on the left side during the assembly process -- it is not like I have pulled on them or anything, since the wires stayed mostly within the table leg during the assembly process -- and a second one broke on the right side soon after.
I could solder them back on, but only the right LED strip was removable to expose the pins. The left leg LED strip could not be removed because the frame was in the way. To add to the damage, it was unclear which wire goes on which pin where on the side that was completely broken, since there was no consistency in how the wires were coded. The copper strands inside the wires were also some of the lowest quality I have ever seen as they broke even when I was trying to strip the wires.
As such, the LED strips on the table legs will be disabled in this review.
It is important to note the cable pre-wiring in the upper horizontal support brace is incorrect, so you will need to take all the cables out and make sure the USB connectors are run correctly before attaching the tabletop. Otherwise, you cannot connect the tabletop’s USB power connection to the main controller, and the main controller will not be able to reach your computer. I think an AC wall adapter is better than a USB connector as well, since the RGB LEDs on the E-WIN 2.0 Edition RGB Gaming Desk are not software-controllable.
Once the rewiring is complete, the tabletop can be attached by attaching the four remaining screws to the angle brackets installed earlier. Connect the LED strips on both sides of the tabletop to the controller. Tighten all the screws on the angle brackets, including the four to the table legs earlier that we left loose.
Screw-in feet with plastic bottoms can be attached to the left and right X-style table legs for minor height adjustments. The above photo shows the feet closer to the user side, which is in its most screwed in position. This is consistent between the left and right sides, and the same as what the company's product photos show. E-WIN advertises the 2.0 Edition RGB Gaming Desk to have a 5-degree forward tilt for an ergonomic incline, but I measured the tabletop, and the tilt is closer to a 1-degree backward tilt. I have no idea where the 5-degree forward tilt comes from. I tried changing the position of the feet and even removing them from the leg completely, but regardless of what I do, the best I can achieve is a 0-degree flat top. That said, I do prefer a 0-degree flat top.
To finish everything off, I attached the cup holder to the left side. It comes with a stepped screw so the cup holder can swing around when you need it and hide under the desk when you do not. The step in the screw is a little too large though, so there is a bit of vertical play, and it feels a bit wobbly.
Overall, I found the E-WIN 2.0 Edition RGB Gaming Desk's assembly procedure was pretty simple and straightforward despite the poor manual. The assembly hardware and accessories were neatly organized, which helped the process significantly.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Assembly
3. Features and Usage Experience
4. Conclusion
