A good desk mat is worth its weight in gold. This is especially true if you decide to purchase a custom desk mat, which can really enliven the aesthetic in your work or gaming space. An improved aesthetic does wonders for increasing your level of productivity as well.
For the better aesthetic alone, it’s more than worth it to get a desk mat. A good desk mat also gives your keyboard and mouse a little added protection, removes the need for a separate mousemat, and it keeps your keyboard from sliding around.
You might assume that desk mats are a dime a dozen and that all of them are relatively the same. However, desk mats provide you with various benefits depending on the quality of the material. As we mentioned above, they also improve the looks of your desk area, which has a phenomenal effect on your work or gaming productivity.
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What Are Desk Mats For?
It’s easy to sit back and wonder, what is the point in a desk mat? The primary purpose of a good desk mat is to provide you with a cleaner and more organized work surface.
They are designed to rest your peripherals on, such as your keyboard and mouse, while keeping them from sliding around the surface of your desk.
For the mouse, a desk mat is simply an extended version of a mouse pad, so it serves the same purpose in helping your mouse track better. A mouse just doesn’t work as effectively when it’s resting on the surface of your desk.
While those are the primary purposes of a desk mat, there are many secondary reasons to have one as well. It helps keep things organized since your keyboard no longer slides around on your desk. You can rest all manner of items on it and they’ll stay in place better.
We’ve mentioned the aesthetic value a few times already and that’s because it simply cannot be stated enough. If you are a gamer and have a nice, glossy setup, a custom desk mat can really extend the liveliness of your chosen theme.
In short, a desk mat is there to provide a better surface for your peripherals while also looking very cool. Getting a desk mat is definitely worth it.
Desk Mat Benefits
The most important thing to know about the benefits of a desk mat is that there are no real drawbacks. Purchasing one is a win-win scenario and even the customized versions can be relatively inexpensive.
- They protect your keyboard
- It improves the sound of your keyboard
- You won’t need a separate mousepad
- They look great, even if you don’t customize it
- Better grip
- Improved cleanliness and organization
The primary benefit is keeping your peripherals in place and keeping your keyboard and mouse from sliding all over the place. One benefit that we haven’t focused too much on yet is the fact that it deadens the sound of your keyboard as well.
If you happen to love mechanical keyboards along with the tactile and auditory feedback, you’ll find that a desk mat smooths the sound and feel out, making it much more attractive and addictive to just sit there and type.
Custom desk mats offer an extra level of personalized aesthetic to your setup. Personally, I will always go for a custom desk mat and I think a custom desk mat is 100% worth it. I have found the custom desk mat becomes a centerpiece of the setup, and can really drive forward the aesthetic you are going for.
You can find a bit more about how you can get a custom design in the ‘Design’ Section below.
Are Desk Mats Necessary?
There is nothing necessary about a desk mat. You can own 6 or 7 generations of desktops or laptops over the years and never own a desk mat and never have a need for one. It’s not a required accessory for you to properly run your desktop.
There’s nothing technological about a desk mat, aside from the material that goes into it. It‘s not going to improve your desktop’s or laptop’s graphical capability. It’s not a power source and it won’t recharge your wireless keyboard magnetically.
So, while there are a lot of good reasons to purchase a desk mat, it’s definitely not necessary to have one, whether you are at work or at play.
So why should you use a desk mat?
While you certainly don’t have to use a desk mat if it’s simply not something that you want to spend money on. A desk mat simply helps all your peripherals out. It also happens to be one of the cheapest additions you can make to your setup with arguably some of the best aesthetic value.
Whether you’re a hardcore gamer, work as a graphics design artist, freelance writer, or just use your computer for the occasional web browsing, a desk mat is an overall improvement in every way.
Besides, a mouse pad can get awfully irritating if you keep a lot of peripherals on your desk and you have that one, square lump that’s getting in the way when you shift things around. A desk mat is much larger, essentially replacing your desk’s real estate with a grippier, organization-friendly alternative.
What To Look For In A Desk Mat
There are two primary things to focus on when looking for a good desk mat. They are:
- The material the mat is made from
- The size of the mat
- Design
Although desk mats are definitely worth it and can offer a lot of value to your setup. Without ensuring your desk mat is the right size and material for you, you could be limiting the benefits of your desk mat.
While all desk mats are a lot larger than mousepads, there are size differences to choose from, depending on your needs.
Material
The material choice boils down to what you like and the tactile response you get from the material. It also needs to stand up to long use, with multiple devices, pens, paper, pencils, and all of the other detritus causing wear and tear on the fabric.
Fortunately, most desk mats have pretty durable surface areas, whether it’s made out of leather, vinyl, or plastic.
However, felt-top desk mats are not a great idea if you are pretty hard on your desk. The felt will wear down over time and end up looking pretty ugly in my experience. However, felt is also a fantastic aesthetic and it feels soft under the hands, so is still a good option for users who do light work at their desks.
Other than that, the material is mostly a matter of choice and what you like to feel. Although it might be easier to clean a desk mat that is plastic than a leather alternative.
Checking the reviews of a mousemat is a great way to get a perspective of what others think about the material.
Size
The second factor is the size of the mat. It does matter a lot, as the size variety in keyboards and mice out there is pretty extensive. Some people like to use gigantic mechanical keyboards, loaded with key mapping features and extra keys for dedicated gaming tasks.
The extra large desk mats will work wonderfully for that kind of keyboard, but you don’t need a gigantic one if your keyboard is a mini wireless keyboard. For that, you should go with something much smaller than can still support your small keyboard and your mouse.
A mouse can be pretty large as well, especially when you are talking about gaming mice. When you have a large keyboard and a large mouse, the problem usually arises with the overall length of the desk mat, because it’s not long enough for both.
You’ll have your keyboard set up on top of your desk mat and your mouse will constantly flirt with the edge of the mat, which is highly frustrating. If you need to sit down and measure everything out, do so. That way you will have the best size desk mat to accommodate your entire keyboard and mouse.
Design
It’s easy to find lots of cool designs available everywhere. However, you can also custom design your own desk pad very easily. Whether you create a design in photoshop (like in the video below) or simply upload a cool image you took or found online, it is very simple and cheap to get the exact design you want.
Obviously, the design you want is all down to you. But I found that the video below made it very simple to understand the process of ordering a custom desk mat and it might also give you some design inspiration.
In Summary
There are a lot of good reasons to own a good desk mat and no bad ones. Desk mats are one of those rare products that really don’t have a downside unless you pick one that is too far or too small for what you need.
They’re definitely worth looking into, if for no other reason than to brighten up your desktop aesthetic and add a little organization to your setup.
If you want to look after your keyboard in a similar way when you are not playing at your desk, you should consider taking a look at some lap trays. Lap trays big enough for a keyboard and mouse can offer a great way to take care of your peripherals and often has a desk mat built into their surface.
