Just because you're in the office doesn't mean you might not still need to be on camera — so I guess it's not too surprising that some of the best webcams are made specifically for the office. Or that Dell is the one to make them.

Dell's new office-oriented 2K webcam, the Dell Pro 5 (WB526), is a small, lightweight webcam that records video at 2K QHD / 30fps, 1080p / 30fps, and 720p / 60 and 30fps. It sports a Sony sensor and has a 78-degree field of view, 2x digital zoom, and an autofocus lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.0. As for its "office-friendly" features, it's compatible with Windows Hello, and it has an "anti-theft interface" and comes with a lockable cable that you can attach to a loop on the non-detachable USB-C cable. It also has some intelligent features, such as smart auto-exposure, AI auto-framing, and face tracking, as well as a built-in omnidirectional microphone that doesn't sound quite as terrible as most built-in webcam mics. It's available now for $119.99, though it's currently on sale for $114.99.

Design

The Dell Pro 5 webcam is a small oval-shaped webcam with a non-detachable USB-C cable (which comes with a built-in USB-A adapter. It has a lightweight black plastic body, measuring about 2.28 inches (57.9mm) wide by 1.7 inches (43.18mm) deep, and is 1.4 inches (35.56mm) high. It's a fairly small webcam — not quite as small as the YoloLiv YoloCam S3, but close. It also has a physical lens shutter, which you can open and close via a small switch on top of the device. It's not the most elegantly implemented lens shutter we've ever seen, but it does the job perfectly well.

Like many lower-cost webcams, its cable is not detachable — it's a 5-foot (1.5m) rubber USB-C cable with a built-in USB-C to USB-A converter attached to one end. It's not a particularly thick cable, but it's stiff enough (and the webcam is lightweight enough) that it does influence the webcam's position, and bumping it can cause the webcam to accidentally move and mess up your framing.

The Dell Pro 5 comes with a sturdy detachable monitor mount that attaches to the bottom of the webcam via a strong magnet. (The webcam also has a standard tripod mounting point, should you want to use it with a different camera mount.) The mount is surprisingly hefty — it weighs about 4.7 ounces (133g), which is nearly twice the weight of the webcam itself, which weighs around 2.57 ounces (73g). It's a pretty standard monitor clip mount, with a lip that goes over the edge of your monitor and an adjustable, rubber-coated "foot" that sits on the back of your monitor to hold the webcam in place.

The mount allows you to tilt the webcam forward up to 90 degrees, which will probably be useful for the webcam's document-reading feature. It also allows you to swivel the webcam almost 90 degrees in either direction, so it's actually pretty flexible for a mount included with a more budget-friendly webcam. It does not have a tripod mounting point on the bottom, however, so you won't be able to take advantage of this flexibility away from your PC.

In the box, the Dell Pro 5 comes with its detachable monitor mount and a locking mechanism for those of you who work in insecure office environments (or, I suppose, for those who might travel and work from co-working spaces, I guess). The locking mechanism is designed to slide through a loop on the cable.

Specs

Well-lit Performance

The Dell Pro 5 is a 2K webcam that outputs video in 2K UHD at 30fps — it's not 4K, but it should give you more detail and better image quality than a standard full HD 1080p webcam, even if most streaming and video conferencing services limit your outgoing stream to 1080p or lower.

For our well-lit performance test, I tested the Dell Pro 5 webcam in a fully-lit setting. From the front, I have two professional lights (a ring light on the right side and a key light on the left side), as well as four monitors (three 27-inch monitors and one 34-inch widescreen monitor), plus ambient lighting from various peripherals, including my desk. Behind me, there are two desk lamps, and overhead I have an arching floor lamp. There is no uncontrolled light in my home office, and it's a pretty bright scenario. (All of my test photos are taken with Windows' native camera app for consistency, but please note that test photos are mainly for illustrative purposes and the conclusions drawn are based on extensive testing.)

The Dell Pro 5 performed pretty well in our well-lit scenario, though the color balancing seemed to wash me out slightly and the picture wasn't quite as crisp as I would have liked. That said, this is exactly the kind of picture I look for in an office-oriented webcam — bright and evenly-lit, if a little flat, for a more "professional" appearance (and so it can do things like read text and scan documents). It's not the most cinematic, dramatic, or flattering image from a webcam, but it should work very well in a professional setting.

Low-Light Performance

For our low-light test, I turned off all of the lights in my home office except for one 27-inch monitor, on which I had a window open with Google's homepage (mostly white) filling half the screen and the Windows 11 Camera app filling the other half. This is basically a completely dark scenario with only my (admittedly, relatively large) monitor for lighting.

The Dell Pro 5 performed about as well as I expected in this scenario — it was able to pick up more detail in the dark than most 1080p webcams, though its low-light performance is far from what I'd call "good." This was more noticeable in moving video, however, as the video was extremely grainy with large artifacts (this photo actually makes it look much better than it was). The Dell Pro 5 does have HDR, but this didn't seem to make a significant difference in the low-light picture quality.

By comparison, the Dell Pro (WB5023) webcam did a better job with balancing light in the low-light scenario, though it picked up the same amount of detail. The Elgato Neo, which is a budget 1080p webcam, did a much better job of balancing light in this scenario, but its picture was also extremely grainy.

Overexposed Performance

For our overexposed performance test, I turned off most of the lights in front of me (save for one 27-inch monitor) and left the lights behind and above me turned on. This is actually one of the most likely scenarios for webcam users, as offices tend to be generally well-lit environments, but without dedicated camera-focused lighting aimed at the user.

The Dell Pro 5 performed adequately in our overexposed performance test: it managed to balance light fairly well (every webcam struggles with this), but its auto color balancing was definitely off. Both the Dell Pro (WB5023) and the Elgato Neo did a much better job with color balancing in the overexposed scenario, especially with the default settings.

Features and Software

The Dell Pro 5 is configurable via Dell Display and Peripheral Manager, which lets you adjust the webcam's image settings and toggle on various features such as face tracking, HDR, and auto exposure. You can also set up features such as gesture control and Windows Hello from this app, as well as Document View, which can be configured to automatically turn on when you tilt the camera down at least 60 degrees and show a rectangular document.

While the Dell Display and Peripheral Manager does have a lot of settings you can adjust, including brightness, sharpness, contrast, saturation, and vibrance, I found that adjusting the settings didn't actually seem to do much for the picture. Turning the saturation down to 0%, for example, gave me a slightly desaturated image — not a completely black-and-white one. I also found it frustrating that there was no way (at least as far as I could see) to minimize the app to your system tray.

The Dell Pro 5 has a built-in omni-directional microphone for when you have absolutely no choice other than to use your webcam's built-in mic. The mic wasn't the worst I've heard on a webcam — it managed to pick up my voice pretty clearly, and didn't make me sound like I was yelling through an underwater tunnel — but it wasn't great, either. It should work fine if you've got nothing else on hand to speak into, but it's not a microphone I'd recommend.

Bottom Line

The Dell Pro 5 webcam is definitely designed for office use — and for an office-oriented webcam, it's not bad. But if you're looking for something easy to use and cheap enough that your coworkers aren't going to try to steal it, I'd probably recommend the Elgato Neo over the Dell Pro 5 — after all, the Elgato Neo retails for $60 and can currently be found for about half that, which means the Dell Pro 5 is more than four times as expensive.

The Dell Pro 5's 2K resolution might come in handy if you're the type of person who's constantly showing documents over video calls, but Razer's Kiyo X also has a 2K resolution and retails for $100 (and can currently be found on sale for around $75). The Dell Pro 5 isn't a bad webcam, but you don't need to pay $120 for similar quality.

Libernovo is still basically brand new to the gaming chairs market — the company just released its first chair a little over a year ago. But the original Libernovo Omni was impressive: lightweight, dynamically ergonomic, and comfortable enough to supplant my ride-or-die Herman Miller Aeron for several months. Now Libernovo is branching out (sort of), with variations on its original Omni. There's a cheaper, less-techy version (the Omni SE), a fancier version with a built-in fan (the Omni Pro), and a sturdier version for people who are between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet 7 inches, weighing up to 399 pounds (181kg).

We're taking a look at the Libernovo Omni Pro, which is the more premium version of this already fairly pricey chair. It's got a few upgrades from the original Omni, including a reinforced aluminum alloy base and more durable fabric, as well as a built-in seat ventilation fan that works... surprisingly well, considering it doesn't blow air toward you but rather draws it away from you. As the fanciest Omni variation, the Omni Pro is, of course, pricier than the original Omni, but not by too much — its retail price is listed at $1,299, but that seems to be permanently discounted to $1,109. That's for just the chair itself; Libernovo also sells it bundled with a corresponding StepSync footrest for $1,183 (MSRP: $1,497), and with an extra battery for $1,247 (MSRP: $1,596).

Assembly

The Omni Pro does require some assembly: It's more complicated to assemble than most gaming chairs, as it has some electronics built-in. But it's also easier to assemble than most gaming chairs, as it's fairly lightweight and none of the pieces are oversized or unwieldy.

The chair comes with everything you need to assemble it, including work gloves (not really necessary, but a nice touch, I suppose), a hex screwdriver, and hardware packaged in individually-labeled bags. The instructions are printed on a giant box insert, which is fairly easy to follow (though I still felt like the illustrations could have been explained slightly better). The chair also comes with a separate user manual and a setup manual to help you calibrate the chair for the first time.

The chair took me about 20 minutes to put together on my own.

Design and Construction

The Omni Pro looks very similar to the regular Libernovo Omni — it's a compact, lightweight office chair with an articulated backrest that's designed to move with your body as you move and shift your weight in the chair. It's a pretty compact chair, relatively speaking, but it does have a “spine” that holds the backrest together, as well as a headrest that can be moved forward/backward, and so it takes up more space (at least, behind you) than you initially expect.

The Omni Pro comes in two colors, graphite (dark gray) and glacier (light gray, almost white). Our review unit came in graphite, with dark gray upholstery, a dark gray frame, a black wheelbase, and silver (plastic) accent buttons / knobs. The Omni Pro features new fabric upholstery — Gabriel Atlantic fabric, which is more durable and (I guess) breathable than that of the original Omni. The fabric does look and feel more durable and premium, but it's slightly more abrasive than the original fabric. It didn't cause me any real discomfort, but I also didn't sit on it for very long with bare skin.

The upholstery and the wheelbase — which is made of hefty aluminum alloy — are the main noticeable design differences between the Omni Pro and the original Omni. The aluminum wheelbase does add some weight to the chair, bringing its total weight up to 55.8 pounds (25.31kg), which is heavier than the original Omni's weight of 48 pounds (21.77kg) — but still isn't particularly heavy for a chair, let alone a gaming chair.

The Omni Pro also has an extra button under its left armrest, to control the underseat ventilation fan (tapping the button toggles through the fan's settings — slow, fast, and off).

Specs

Comfort and Adjustments

The Libernovo Omni Pro is a surprisingly comfortable chair — just like the original Omni — thanks to its dynamic, ergonomic articulated backrest and various adjustments. It's more of an office chair than it is a gaming chair, but it does offer a full 160-degree recline — though it's an active recline, meaning you need to be sitting in the chair for it to happen (as opposed to many gaming chairs, which are similar to car seats).

The Omni Pro's adjustment levers are mainly located under the seat on the right side. There's a dual lever / switch that controls chair height and recline position — pulling up on the front side of the lever lets you adjust height, while pulling up on the back side of the lever locks the maximum recline. While the original Omni had four recline positions, the Omni Pro has five — and believe it or not, this makes a big difference. Whatever fifth position they added is the position I wanted on the original Omni, I guess (the recline positions lock at 105, 115, 125, 135, and 160 degrees).

Under the dual lever / switch, there's a knob that controls tilt tension, which is how much tension you'll feel when you recline. Turning the knob clockwise increases tension and turning it counter-clockwise decreases it. There seems to be a pretty wide range of tilt for this chair, so you may need to turn it several times to get the tension to your liking.

There's also dynamic, adjustable motorized lumbar support, which is controlled via the buttons on the inside of the left armrest. There are two arrow buttons for making the lumbar support firmer (forward) or... less firm (backward), and there's also a spinal massage button that triggers a five-minute spinal massage / stretch (using the chair's lumbar support) when pressed. While I like the Omni Pro's lumbar support, and found it very comfortable, it's worth noting that it's not vertically adjustable — so while it worked well for me, it may not work quite as well for someone with different body proportions.

Speaking of which, I'm about 5 feet 7 inches and 130 pounds, and the Omni Pro seemed perfect for me — not too big or heavy, and easy to adjust and move around in. The chair is rated for up to 300 pounds (136kg), and it seems sturdy enough — though I'm not sure how well the electronics will hold up if someone who weighs closer to that is using the spinal stretch feature regularly. My husband, who's 5 feet 11 inches and around 180 pounds definitely seemed a little too big for the chair (he has very long legs, though, and the chair's maximum depth of 18.9 inches (48cm) was still a little short for him).

In addition to the lumbar support, the Omni Pro has a ventilation fan under the seat. Unlike the other chairs we've seen with built-in fans, such as DXRacer's Martian Pro Red Triangle or Cougar's NxSys Aero Chair, this fan doesn't blow toward you to cool you off — instead, it removes hot air (I guess?) from around you by blowing away from you. I was skeptical, too, but it actually seems to work... pretty well. I guess there's a lot of heat trapped in the seat, because it instantly felt cooler even on the lower setting.

The fan runs on the same battery pack as the motorized lumbar support, and Libernovo says you'll get up to 9 hours of continuous fan usage on the higher setting, and up to 36 hours on the lower setting, and there's also a built-in sensor in the seat that automatically switches the fan off if you stand up (and switches it back on again when you sit back down). I could definitely hear the fan on both the high and low settings, but it faded pretty quickly to background noise on the lower setting. Also, the fan definitely seems to take up some space, because the seat on the Omni Pro is less padded than the seat on the Omni. I could feel the chair's frame through the seat, which wasn't a problem for me but may not be quite as comfortable for someone who's heavier.

Like the original Omni, the Omni Pro has 4D armrests that adjust four directions: up/down, forward/back, left/right, and angle in/out. There's a lever under the outside of each armrest that you can press to adjust the armrests up/down. To adjust the armrests forward or backward, you just slide the tops (no button/lever necessary); same with adjusting the angle. Bringing the armrests closer to you involves pulling them inward, tilting them toward you. I don't love the way the armrests end up angled toward your body as a result of this, but I also don't ever find it necessary to adjust the width of my armrests so it wasn't an issue.

The Omni Pro also has an adjustable head/neck rest, which is curved to fit the curve of your neck/spine. The neck rest is height-adjustable and can be moved forward/back to suit your needs (or removed entirely).

Libernovo also sent us the corresponding StepSync Footrest, which is a dual height footrest with both a bottom shelf for resting your feet on when you're sitting upright and a padded upper shelf for when you want to recline. It's not a particularly high-tech footrest, but it's sturdy enough and it matches the chair, and it's a nice addition to the entire setup if you snag it in the bundle.

Bottom Line

Libernovo's Omni Pro managed to surprise me — I already liked the original Omni, and the Omni Pro's seemingly gimmicky seat ventilation fan worked better than I expected it to. The Omni Pro is a comfortable ergonomic chair that will fit pretty easily into most gaming setups (especially if you don't have the space for a giant racing-style behemoth), but the issue of longevity that we had with the original Omni carries over.

The Omni Pro has even more potentially breakable technology inside it, and the warranty on electronics is a mere two years — and remember, if the electronics in this chair stop working then you can no longer adjust the lumbar support. The chair itself has a six-year warranty (up from the original Omni's five years), which is on par with other gaming chair companies, but is still only half that of Herman Miller's 12-year warranty.

And while the Herman Miller x Logitech G Vantum has been fluctuating in price, it's still less than the Omni Pro.

Fractal Design is determined to be on, under, and in front of your desk — the PC peripherals company best known for its designer PC cases has just released the Fractal Refine 2 — the second generation of its minimalist, "refined" take on the typical racing-inspired gaming chair.

The Fractal Refine 2 is very similar to the original Fractal Refine, but it's been... refined... just a bit further. It still features a subdued but unmistakable "gaming chair" silhouette, as well as a fairly high level of adjustability and a large, hefty frame. Fractal has definitely made some changes — the 4D arm rests now lock in place, and the tilt limiter, which I found to be way too strong in the original, has been pulled back a little (but not quite enough). The price has also been adjusted — all variations retail for $640, which is on the higher side for a typical racing-style gaming chair. We did like the original Refine, but its scratchy mesh fabric kept it off our list of best gaming chairs — but this time we're taking a look at the fabric version.

Assembly

The Fractal Refine 2 comes in a heavy box that's so large you might think the chair is already assembled — but it isn't. It's well-packed: all the pieces are individually wrapped and/or boxed, and there's plenty of eco-friendly packing material keeping everything in its place.

The chair comes with all the tools you'll need to assemble it, though there's admittedly not too much assembly. It comes with an allen wrench and several screws — six longer screws for attaching the armrests, two shorter screws for attaching the backrest, and a handful of extra screws, just in case.

Assembly is pretty straightforward and is pretty easy to accomplish alone — unlike most of the traditional racing-style gaming chairs, the backrest of the Refine 2 is quite a bit lighter than the base, and is easy to put into place alone. It also has two pre-placed screws that slot into two holes and slide to "lock" in place, so you don't need to somehow hold the two pieces together and screw them into place simultaneously. (This might not sound that noteworthy, but trust me — many chairs are virtually impossible to put together without a partner because of this.)

I was able to assemble the Refine 2 by myself in about 15 minutes, and the most difficult part was unpacking everything (because the box really is huge). The Refine 2 comes with a large illustrated instruction panel, as well as an information booklet with more detailed instructions.

Specs

Design

The Refine 2 comes in three upholstery options — fabric, mesh, and hybrid (fabric seat, mesh back) — and two colorways — light and dark. Our review unit came in the dark colorway, a dark slate heathered gray with a black frame, with full fabric upholstery. The fabric feels like soft brushed cotton and is much more comfortable than both the mesh and the fabric of the mesh version of the original Fractal Refine that we reviewed two years ago.

Fabric aside, the Refine 2 looks very similar to its predecessor, with the same "refined" racing-inspired silhouette. It sits on a sturdy, five-spoke metal base with large, hollow plastic casters and a class 4 pneumatic gas lift. It features a glass-fiber reinforced frame with a thick, padded seat that has slightly raised sides — not quite a bucket seat, though it does have the traditional forward hump that bucket seats have. The seat width is approximately 17 inches (431.8mm) between the sides; with the sides included it's closer to 20.5 inches (520.7mm).

The chair has a tall, racing-style backrest with slightly winged shoulder support and a headrest. The chair measures 18.75 inches (476.25mm) wide at the shoulders, and is approximately 53.7 - 58.5 inches (1365 - 1485mm) tall overall. The backrest consists of fabric stretched over a plastic frame for firm, suspension-style support. The chair also features manually-adjustable lumbar support, which presses through the backrest and can be moved vertically and adjusted for strength.

The Refine 2 is not a bad-looking chair, but it is big, heavy, and difficult to maneuver once it's been assembled. It weighs almost 80 pounds (36kg), and is fairly bottom-heavy, which I suppose is good for those who want to spend a lot of time tilting in this chair.

Comfort and Adjustments

The Refine 2 is highly adjustable, though it doesn't offer some of the traditional gaming chair adjustments, such as the ability to lie almost completely flat. There are two levers on the right side of the chair, just under the seat, that control seat depth and height. The front lever controls height, and works as expected — pulling it raises and lowers the chair's height via its gas lift. The floor-to-seat height ranges from 19.3 - 24 inches (490 - 610mm).

The back lever controls seat depth, which starts at around 16.7 inches (425mm) and can be adjusted to approximately 19.69 inches (500mm), which is pretty deep. Under the two levers there's a knob for adjusting the strength of the chair's tilt limiter — twisting forward (clockwise) makes it stronger, while twisting backward (counter-clockwise) makes it weaker. One of my main issues with the original Refine was that the tilt limiter was far too strong, even at its weakest setting. I'm pleased to see that the Refine 2 has toned down the absolute strength of the tilt limiter, but unfortunately it's still just a little too strong for me to be able to easily lean back. While I did manage to find a comfortable position with the Refine 2 by tilting back and locking the chair into a slightly reclined position, I would still prefer more flexibility in the seatback while I'm working.

The Refine 2 has adjustable lumbar support in the form of a moving lumbar pad that presses through the seat's suspension back. The lumbar pad can be moved up and down (you'll need to move it manually), and support can be dialed up by twisting the knob clockwise, or dialed down by twisting the knob counter-clockwise. The lumbar support now features dual pads on either side of your spine (instead of just one pad, like the original Refine had), which flex and adapt as you move to better support your lower back. The dynamic support was nice, though I think I still prefer vertically-adaptable support (like what's on the Herman Miller x Logitech G Vantum).

Like its predecessor, the Refine 2 has 4D adjustable armrests — you can adjust the height, width, depth, and angle. Unlike its predecessor, these arm rests do fully lock in place, as the depth (back/forward) movement is now locked to the small button (on the inside of the armrest, near the front) that also locks angle. There's a lever on the outside of each armrest for adjusting height, and a button on the inside (in the middle) for adjusting width. You can also adjust overall armrest width at the base, though you'll need to break out the hex wrench to do this.

The armrests have wide, padded polyurethane-covered tops and are fairly comfortable. I did find the depth/angle lock to be a little difficult to easily maneuver — especially when I wanted to adjust angle (there are only three angles — neutral/straight, and about 20 degrees inward and outward), but I suppose that's the price we pay for locking arm rests.

The chair has a built-in, detachable neck pillow implemented the same way it is on the original Refine — attached to the chair via two sturdy metal attachments that click into place. The neck pillow can be manually raised or lowered, or it can be removed completely by pressing the button at the top of the backrest. The neck pillow is very similar to the one in the original Refine — moderately dense fabric-covered memory foam with a bottom-heavy sloped shape designed to sit at the base of your neck.

The maximum recommended weight for the Refine 2 is approximately 300 pounds (135kg). However, the recommended weight range is 132 - 300 pounds (60 - 135kg) and the recommended height range is 5'5" - 6'7" (160 - 200cm). I'm right at the lower end of this range (I'm around 5'7" / 171cm and I weigh around 135 pounds / 61kg), and the chair still seemed too heavy for me. While the tilt limiter was weaker than the tilt limiter on the original Refine, I still found it hard to easily tilt back and ended up having to lock the chair into position for comfort. My husband, who's 5'11" (180cm) and weighs around 190 pounds (86kg) had a much easier time tilting and maneuvering the chair.

Bottom Line

The Fractal Refine 2 is actually a pretty nicely refined version of the original Refine. The company definitely took some feedback into account and made some adjustments — but are they enough? This chair is practically identical to its predecessor, and the relatively minor changes aren't really enough to warrant an upgrade if you already have the original. If you don't already have the Fractal Refine, the Refine 2 is a pretty nice halfway point between racing-style gaming chairs and pricier task/office chairs — and the price is about halfway, too. At $640, this is a little more than you'll spend on a typical racing-style chair, such as SecretLab's Titan Evo NanoGen, but it's significantly less than you'll spend on most office-style chairs, such as SteelCase's Karman.