Mr IRONSTONE GT04 Desk: Sturdy and Roomy but Tricky to Assemble

First off, I'm really happy with the design of the desk. I'm actually using it for my home office rather than as a "gaming desk" whatever that is :) But, there are a lot of things to like about this as a general purpose desk. There is a curve in the front, you can see this in my photos. It is nice because it adds some room to either side for writing. But, at the same time, I can have my keyboard closer to my screen for better ergonomics. The desk surface is a good size too. I don't know if it's "huge" as it says on the box, but it fits my two monitors and my laptop, leaving plenty of room for accessories like mics, speakers, pencil pots, etc. And, there is room to put papers down to write on and books, which is one of the primary reasons I bought the desk, was to have a little more room than my previous desk. The "Z" cantilever design of the legs is fantastic. Most of the leg structure is at the very back of the desk, meaning there is nothing to interfere with your knees or feet. There is plenty of room for my PC cabinet underneath and I don't hit it with my legs. This is a big deal for me as I'm a fairly tall guy at 6'4". It's basically all open space. It's also very sturdy. There is no side to side motion. I was a little concerned when I opened the box and saw the construction, but I was proven wrong when I got it put together. It's rock solid and doesn't vibrate when I type or whatnot. I don't know that I'd want to sit on it, but it holds my gear well and feels pretty substantial. There are some nice amenities too. I really like the headphone hanger, and it's nice to be able to put my headset somewhere that doesn't take up desk room. Oh and the cup holder, hey why not? It's not something I really needed but it frees up some more space on the desk :) The instruction manual doesn't actually mention it but there are multiple places you can mount the hangar and cup holder, so you can choose left or right, front or side. They are solidly screwed in rather than just clipped on, which is also nice, as I've had back luck with clip on desk accessories falling off or breaking. Oh, and they are made of metal, which is also nice, they won't crack when I run in to them. They also provide enough screws for all the different locations rather than just enough for the included two accessories. This means I could add more things if I want and don't have to search for the right screws. That was a really nice touch. The cable holes are a good size and conveniently placed. Also, a benefit of the cantilever construction is that the legs and bracing at the rear of the desk become a sort of cable management feature, because you can run all the cables back there so you're not stepping on them or accidentally grabbing them with your feet when you stretch out. So, with so many good things to say, why did I only give four stars? It's because there was a bit sloppiness in how the nuts are fitted in to the desktop. Basically, the underside of the desktop pieces have holes with nuts in them. You run screws through the metal frame in to these nuts to hold the desktop pieces on. They were not put in with uniform precision. The worst was one nut was in at a very slight angle, making it extremely difficult to get the screw threaded. I spent about 15 minutes of my assembly time trying to get it in, and was close to giving up and ordering a new part when I managed to get it threaded by loosening all the other screws and holding the piece up enough where I could get it set. A few of the other holes with nuts were not aligned very well, making it difficult to get the screws through the frame and in to the desk. This is especially annoying as you're basically doing this all blind as you can't see where the screws are going. All in all, it meant it took just under an hour to assemble the desk, the vast majority of which was trying to get the desktop pieces attached to the frame. If the manufacturer put a little more precision in to the holes, or perhaps added some better way of aligning the frame holes with the desktop nuts (a small guide shank or something?) it would probably have only taken about 20 minutes to assemble. I wish I could give 4.5, but chose to give 4 because although the desk is great, assembly is a bit painful. I wouldn't want to have this review stop you from purchasing, but it's also not quite "perfect".