Gaming-branded chairs tend to get a bad rap, but within this stereotype there’s a grain of truth. While it’s not always the case that “gaming” chairs are poorly designed and lead to a sore back, a healthy degree of skepticism is always smart. The Steelcase Amia side steps that entirely, standing among the best gaming chairs by offering a seating experience that’s as comfortable as it is understated. It’s not a gaming chair pre se, but after using it in my rotation for the last couple of months, there aren’t many gaming chairs that I would pick over it… so long as you consider a chair an investment, because it doesn’t come cheap.
Few names in the office furniture industry carry the same weight as Steelcase. There are some, such as Herman-Miller and Haworth, that compete at the top of their class and carry both a pedigree and a premium. And no pure gaming chair manufacturer has been able to approach the high regard Steelcase has earned, but it’s only recently that the company has begun to target gamers.
Even in that, however, it hasn’t actually released a special model dedicated to gamers. Its case seems to be along the lines of emphasizing what you’d need for gaming: focus, support for different postures and arm positions, the ability to sit for long periods of time without back pain. Steelcase’s history and testimonials back that up, but this isn’t exactly a budget-minded endeavor.
A ready to ship model of the Amia will set you back a cool $1,000, and if you want to customize it to your exact specifications, the price can reach as much as $1,478. As a reviewer, it’s not my job to sell you on this chair over any other, especially at such a price premium, but a proper chair is a worthy investment for those who spend a lot of time at their PC and want something they know is designed for their body and not just good looks.
The Amia does look good, mind you, but no one is going to confuse it with a gaming chair. Rather, its understated design looks every bit the modern office chair. There’s no headrest, or ability to attach one (which is too bad because other regions do have this ability), and its mid-back design is understated and minimalist. This is by design, however, as Steelcase aims for simplicity, hiding the lumbar system behind its plastic back, while still looking modern and stylish.
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If you can afford to pay a little extra to customize it yourself, I would encourage you to go that route instead of the ready to ship models. They’re fine, but the custom route gives you a whopping 30 different fabric colors across three fabric types to choose from, premium leather in five different shades, and three colors to pick for the chassis. You can also select casters for carpet or hard floors to protect either surface in your gaming space. Since there are so many options, the site allows you to preview your changes before making a decision.
One of the highlights of Steelcase chairs is that they’re very durable and usually last many years and are made to be repairable. The wheel base, tilt base, lower back frame, and armrest frame are all made of metal. The rear of the backrest is plastic, but is also removable, so should a repair ever be necessary, it’s possible without needing to scrap the whole chair. This has also allowed the Steelcase aftermarket to remain strong and its chairs to retain greater resale value over time. The company also backs the chairs with an impressive 12-year warranty.
The Amia wasn’t made to be a gaming chair – it was made for office workers and PC users who spend all day at their desk and need to do so in comfort. It’s designed for ergonomics and adjustability to match a wide range of body types, including users from small to above average. Steelcase doesn’t provide an exact height recommendation but does illustrate users who are 5’0” and 6’1” both seated properly, and it’s able to support up to 300 pounds.
Ergonomics is woven throughout its design. Its contoured seat is wide and scooped to guide you to its center, and is thickly padded with a resilient foam that’s soft enough to be comfortable but firm enough to support your legs and not deflate over time. The frame is deliberately positioned underneath, so no matter how you sit, you won’t have any hard edges pushing against you. It ends in a waterfall edge and can be adjusted for depth. These features allow you to make sure that there’s space behind your knee for blood flow to your legs and also adjust the angle that your back meets the backrest for comfort.
Hidden behind the backrest panel is the Amia’s LiveLumbar system, which is meant to be more reactive to how you’re actually sitting in the chair. Instead of using a pillow, an internal bulge, or a chair’s natural curvature to support your back, the Amia instead uses three flexible panels (pictured above). Each panel can move individually, so whether you’re leaning or completely twisting in your seat, the backrest will flex to match your movements and pressure. This is mainly for the mid- and upper-back, however. The lower back uses flexible horizontal panels to provide sturdier support and has an adjustable slide to adjust how high on the back the curve begins. This is how the Amia is able to support both smaller and larger users at the same time.
The armrests are also very adjustable, and although the company calls them “four-dimensional” like many gaming chairs, they offer more range and better comfort than any gaming chair I’ve tested. While the basics are the same – adjusting them for height, depth, angle, and width – the width and angle adjustments work together to provide greater range, so whether you’re typing or holding a controller, you can easily adjust the armrests to accommodate. They also raise up higher than I expected, but unlike the Gesture, the company’s more expensive flagship, you can’t completely move them out of the way, which is a disappointment.
Beneath the chair, you’ll find its other adjustments. Each is clearly labeled and easy to access from the seat. You can adjust the height, raising the chair from 16 to 21 inches, and adjust tilt tension from completely loose to locking it upright but there are no lockable steps. The seat depth slider is also under the seat while lumbar adjustment is done with the two tabs on the back.
Assembling the chair is fairly streamlined. The seat comes pre-assembled, so the only thing you have to do is place the gas piston in the wheelbase and set the chair on top of it. A single person can do this within five minutes after it’s unboxed.
One of the things you’re paying for here is the convenience of having the chair ready to use out of the box. Everything was well padded and made safe travel. Some of the casters came loose in transit, however, and were rattling around in the bottom of the box (safely in a cardboard enclosure for this kind of situation). Steelcase made a smart decision by mostly using cardboard for packing, so the vast majority of it is easy to dispose.
Steelcase Amia – Performance
I have to admit: I had my doubts going into this one. The Amia is so simple, so unassuming, that I expected it to be the same as any other office chair. If ever there was a sleeper PC chair, however, this is it.
Like any ergonomic chair, it needs to be adjusted for your body before you’ll really feel the benefits. But thanks to its sensible design, I found this to be a fairly simple and straightforward process. By exploring the controls, I was able to get my height, seat depth, tilt tension, and lumbar set within just a few minutes. I didn’t need to adjust these often but depending on what you’re doing and how much you change positions, you might have to. For PC gaming sitting upright, one or both legs crossed under, however, I was pretty much able to set it and forget it.
The backrest is fantastic – I’ve been testing a lot of competing, high-end ergonomic chairs, and from my experience, the Amia comes in second only to the Steelcase Gesture, topping the Haworth Fern, Steelcase Think V2, and Herman-Miller Embody. The contour is more pronounced, naturally providing more support while the adjustable band for the lower back allows you to shift it slightly to match your back precisely. It might almost be too pronounced, but the flexibility of the LiveLumbar system allows it to form properly so the support it provides is matched to the pressure applied to it. I was able to sit in this chair for hours and feel totally supported and was free of the usual fatigue that comes with your muscles shifting to accommodate less capable backrests.
The seat cushion strikes a good balance between support and softness, and it doesn’t feel airy like cheaper office chairs using lower quality foam. Since the Amia has been out for upwards of 17 years, but updated over time, there are plenty of long-term use reports that show how well it holds up in the long term. It took over a month or so to break in and it never became overly soft or non-supportive. The upholstery is also very nice and soft to the touch – I went with Cogent: Connect but you can choose two others for more or less softness and texturing.
The armrests are my favorite part of the chair since they have soft cushions that easily form to your elbow, making it easy to lean on them painlessly. The range of motion is exceptional as well, and I loved being able to move it between desks in my workspace because I could always adjust them to match the height and whatever I needed to do. If I was playing games with a controller, I would raise them high and angle them in to support my shoulders. Their extended range allows them to tuck in closer than any gaming chair I’ve used but I could also shift them out when I returned back to mouse and keyboard, aligning them with each desk at varying heights.
It’s not perfect, however, and the office-versus-gaming design shows through in a few ways. The lack of a headrest is a real bummer – it doesn’t need one if you’re getting work done at a desk and sitting in an upright posture, but sometimes when you’re gaming, it’s nice to lean back and put your feet up. I felt the lack of a headrest acutely in these moments. I would be willing to pay extra for a third-party headrest, but its design lacks mounting points to attach one (a headrest is available in the Steelcase web store, but the North American version of the chair is incompatible).
It also lacks the ability to lock the recline angle. Unlike the Gesture or Think V2 and many competing chairs, the Amia’s backrest can simply lock or unlock, and you can adjust the tension. When properly dialed in, you should be able to recline and have the chair hold you at different positions, but I found it harder to find the sweet spot on the Amia – I got it close, but it always felt a touch too loose or too strong.
My overall takeaway on the Amia, however, is very positive. It’s a much more comfortable and versatile chair than its understated design implies. It takes some time to dial in the right adjustments, but once you do, it puts the average office chair to shame and works very well for long sessions of gaming. There’s still some room for improvement, and I can see a future iteration or dedicated gaming version truly shining.
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