Why you should invest in a monitor arm.
While a monitor is often an essential part of your (home) office you don’t have to sacrifice half of your deskspace for it. An easy way to tackle this is by getting an adjustable monitor arm. Luckily most monitors these days can be adjusted in height. They still have big clumsy feet though. A monitor arm can give you back your space and clean your desk up. On top of that they can add some ergonomic benefits.
Space
On your desk you probably have a mouse and keyboard, maybe some speakers like the Razer Nommo Chroma. Or maybe a picture of you spouse or cat…. Now look at your monitor…Chances are the monitor stand takes a lot of precious deskspace. With a monitor arm you can take back a lot of that space! Most monitor arms also come with a cable management system which will further help you clean up your desk.
Ergonomics
Sitting behind your desk, especially for prolonged hours can cause some serious issues. While more and more feet that come with monitors offer things like height and swivel adjustments a monitor arm also lets you change the distance between the screen and your eyes. It will also help you adjust for things like conference calls or meetings in front of your webcam. No longer will you need to maneuver yourself in awkward positions. With a monitor arm you can easily adjust you monitor to give you the center stage.
Important things to consider
Height adjustment on a monitor arm
Most monitor arms offer on the fly height adjustments by using a mechanical spring or gas cylinder. A mechanical spring monitor arm will usually last longer. On the other hand a monitor arm with a gas spring will operate more smoothly and silent. Gas spring monitor arms are the most commonly used by people who want to easily adjust their monitor. There are also monitor arms that don’t use either but instead use a screw mechanism to adjust their height. This is most suitable for people who tend to leave their monitor at a fixed height.
Size and weight
Knowing what size and weight your monitor has is important. Most monitor stands specify the maximum weight they are able to hold. Check if both your monitor and arm are VESA compliant. The VESA standard is there to ensure a monitor uses a standard hole pattern on the back. There are different sizes here so check is your monitor and arm offer the same options. For example 100 x 100 or 75 x 75 are sizes commonly used.
Mounting to your desk
Mounting the monitor stand itself can be done by clamping or a screw-in hole. If you don’t mind drilling a hole in your desk the latter is usually the most secure option. Clamping gives you more flexibility though if you want to change things up.
Here’s are some great options
Arctic Z1 (Gen3)
The Arctic Z1 is a good option for those who need a set and forget solution. This stand offers easy rotation and tilt options. It comes with an USB 2.0 hub for pass through of your keyboard and mouse for example. There is no gas-lift mechanism though so adjusting the height is something you wont be doing on the fly. Arctic also offers models with usb 3.0 hubs, without USB hubs and multiple monitor support.
The Arctic Z1 (Gen3) supports up to 34″ monitors or 38″ Ultrawide models with a maximum of 15kg.
You can check the current price on Amazon.nl here
Iiyama DS1002C-B1
The Iiyama DS1002C-B1 is a dual monitor stand which supports up to 10KG monitors. The stand doesn’t come with an USB hub but instead offers a clean looking desk solution. Monitors up to 30″ are supported. Iiyama also offers a triple monitor version which can be found here.
The Iiyama dual monitor arm supports monitor of up to 10kg per monitor and supports both the VESA 75×75 and 100×100 standards.
Amazon Basics Monitor Arm
The Amazon Basics monitor arm is a great bang for buck option. Its sturdy, has a built in cable management system and takes up little space. The Amazon basics arm is actually a rebranded Ergotron monitor arm. You can also buy a laptopstand to mount on the arm instead of the monitor backplate. So if you want to have both you will need to buy either two arms or a dual monitor arm with it.
The Amazon basics monitor arm supports up to 32″ monitors with a maximum of 11kg.
Dell Single monitor arm MSA20
The Dell MSA20 isn’t cheap but it is a very solid option. It is very sturdy and very adjustable. For those people who own a Dell monitor this is a very convenient option. For most Dell monitors you can just click the backplate right on the back of you monitor just like the original stand that came with you monitor does. If you don’t own a Dell monitor you can still use a normal screw-in connection thanks to its support for the VESA 100x100mm standard. The dell also offers a visual scale which will tell you if the monitor is too light or to heavy with your current adjustment settings.
The Dell arm supports monitors from 19″ to 38″ with a maximum weight of 10kg.
Final words
So there you have it, some examples to improve your ergonomics and take back your deskspace. There are of course more ways to achieve this. You could consider going with a wireless ultralight mouse and wireless compact keyboard for example. There are also ergonomically shaped keyboards like the Akko Alice and mice like the Logitech MX Vertical.
