Herman Miller sells gaming desks
Herman Miller, the company known for their high end chairs, has a gaming lineup. I was not aware they had gaming chairs, turns out they also have several gaming desks.
The new model is the Coyl, listed on Herman Miller’s US store at a whopping $1,495 for my ideal configuration.
Herman Miller’s own intro reel for the Coyl | Credit: Herman Miller
If you have spent any time researching office chairs, Herman Miller is the name that sits at the top of every “best chairs” list. Expensive, well built and long lasting. The benchmark everyone else gets compared to. They have a long catalogue of desks already, so the surprise for me is not that they make desks. It is that they have a dedicated gaming line within it.
What is the Coyl?
The Coyl is a height-adjustable sit/stand desk with a few gaming specific touches: cable management with power cord built into the leg, a textured work surface, and integrated mounts for monitor arms and accessories. Frame in steel, surface in a matte laminate, the usual programmable presets for sit and stand heights.
There are not that many options I am aware of at the very high end of the desk market. At the low end you start with an IKEA top that you bolt a set of standing legs onto, and you can build something genuinely usable for very little money.
Above that sit the office desks aimed at the professional market. In Norway these typically land around 8 000 NOK for something like the ones I have at work: solid build, proper sit/stand, 80 cm depth, 180 cm width. Good desks, just not pitched at gamers.
Then at the top you have the Secretlab Magnus and Magnus Pro, which until now has owned the gaming high end on its own. A clever alternative to a traditional office desk, and still coming in cheaper than the Coyl in the configuration I would want.
Herman Miller is clearly continuing to sell into the very high end, which is on brand for them. The open question is whether the gaming segment actually has enough customers who can afford a desk at this price. The chairs already proved that audience exists. I am not yet convinced the desk side does.
Finishes
The Coyl comes in four finishes: beige, white, black and walnut, and you can mix the frame colour with the top. The obvious pick, for me at least, is the black frame with the walnut top. It is the one configuration that does not read as office furniture or as a beige rental flat, and the walnut grain is always the option to choose for me.
The red detail on the cable pass-through is a nice touch, it screams contrast and is a real eye piece. I think it looks cool, but it is very bold and might not be for everyone. There is also a clever little support that catches the cables when the desk is raised so nothing dangles or strains, something I have not solved with my DIY solution.
All four Coyl finishes side by side | Credit: Herman Miller
But, where do you place your PC?
The one thing Herman Miller has not solved is mounting your computer under the desk. Secretlab’s Magnus has a decent under-desk PC mount that travels with the surface as it goes up and down. The Coyl does not.
To me that matters a lot, and I would expect a solution to this at this price range. On my desk I have made a metal under desk mount out of 3mm sheet metal screwed onto the desk, cheap and effective.
If your tower lives on the floor and the desk goes up, the cables get pulled and stressed every time you raise the desk. The only realistic alternative is to put the case on top of the desk, which I personally don’t want to do.
For a desk this expensive, an integrated PC mount or a solution for your computer would be expected.
Europe is left out
The Coyl is US-only at launch. No listing on the European Herman Miller stores (not even the press site), no announced rollout date for the EU. I have reached out to Herman Miller to ask if this thing comes out there.
Who is this for?
I am the wrong customer for this desk. At ~$1,495 plus shipping plus whatever import VAT lands on it, the Coyl is well outside what I would spend on a desk. For that money you can buy a custom-sized top in whatever wood and finish you actually want, bolt it onto a pair of electric standing legs from IKEA or a frame from a local supplier, and end up with something more personal at a fraction of the price.
Who is both a gamer and has the money for a desk at this price? I know people have more money than I do. I still struggle to picture the buyer here. The Herman Miller chair audience makes sense, an Aeron lasts a decade and earns its price in a desk job over time. The desk does not have the same story. A solid sit/stand from any office supplier in Norway lands at around 8 000 NOK and does 95% of what the Coyl does, with little to no DIY required.
So either there is a slice of the gaming market with serious disposable income that I am underestimating, or the Coyl is really aimed at the same people who want a luxury desk. That is a thin market to design a product line around, and it will be interesting to see whether Herman Miller treats this as a one-off experiment or commits to a real lineup.
Either way, more high-end entries push the whole category forward, even when the desk itself is out of reach and the launch quietly skips the continent I live on. Now do Europe.
Coyl in its other finishes: beige, white and black, plus a closer look at the cable pass-through detail | Credit: Herman Miller
Sources: Herman Miller Coyl product page
