Author Topic: looking for monitor arm advice  (Read 5868 times)

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Offline BunnyLake

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looking for monitor arm advice
« on: Sun, 02 March 2014, 14:01:36 »
hey there

looking to get a monitor arm set up for either 2 or 3 monitors, not to fussed which

but i could do with some advice as ive never bothered with them before

a couple things to note, i have a tempered glass desk, its very strong, but is also kinda thin, id guess a bit thicker that a cm, and im also in the uk and would like something i could buy online within the uk

thanks
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Offline naasfu

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Re: looking for monitor arm advice
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 02 March 2014, 14:24:51 »
I bought two of these Ergotron about 3 years ago, and they've been working very well for me.  These clamp onto the back of your desk.

No experience glass desks though.  Might be ok as long as you don't have kids or anyone that are going to hang off those arms. :)  At least you'll probably want to add something on the bottom side of the clamp to prevent it from scratching the glass.

Be sure to compare the weight capacity on their site with your monitor.  I'm using these with 24" and 21" displays.

http://www.ergotron.com/ProductsDetails/tabid/65/PRDID/351/language/en-US/Default.aspx
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ergotron-Desk-Mount-LCD-Arm/dp/B00358RIRC
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Offline squarefrog

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Re: looking for monitor arm advice
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 02 March 2014, 14:37:08 »
Another vote for the ergotron. It's not cheap but you get what you pay for. It comes with a clamp or if you had a wooden desk you can drill a hole through and fix it more permanently.

I know they do dual arms, not sure about triples. They also allow routing your cables through the inside of the arm so it looks super neat.

Offline Brummell

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Re: looking for monitor arm advice
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 02 March 2014, 14:51:47 »
I have two dual arm Ergotrons and two singles.  I can't imagine anything being a whole lot better than Ergotron. 
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Offline naasfu

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Re: looking for monitor arm advice
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 02 March 2014, 15:01:59 »
Yeah, when I did research for arms back then, the reviews for any cheaper brands said they were not very adjustable or stable.

With these Ergotrons, you can just move your displays around the fly, and they'll just stay there.  The ones I have can also rotate so you can do portrait vs landscape.
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Offline squarefrog

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Re: looking for monitor arm advice
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 02 March 2014, 15:21:33 »
And each movement joint has a screw so you can completely adjust the force needed to reposition the monitor. I really can't speak highly enough about them.

Offline RabRhee

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Re: looking for monitor arm advice
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 02 March 2014, 15:49:43 »
Yeah, another vote for Ergotrons, the only real downside I found about them is the cost, and occasionally a trade-off between height and reach. If you want to move your screens around a lot, for example swapping between computer use and a room monitor. Normally you just set them up for one situation and its perfect.

I have used wall mounts instead of desk mounts when the desk was a bit fragile, plus you can get wall mounts to reach quite far out. Generally wall mounts are more annoying if you ever want to move your room about without leaving a trail of bullet holes across everywhere you move, and having to break out the power drill and anchor bolts.

I personally wouldn't risk the glass desk, although it would probably be 99.9% ok. It will be hardened and very durable, but the monitor brackets put an unusual strain and the momevent is akin to grabbing the edge of the desk with pliers and pulling up or down, and any minor flaw in the glass or unusual jolt on the bracket could just snap a chunk off and take your screen with it. Monitors are lighter than they used to be though, so if you do decide to risk it, I would put some wood tiles between clamps and glass  to spread the weight out even more than the bracket does normally.
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Offline daerid

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Re: looking for monitor arm advice
« Reply #7 on: Sun, 02 March 2014, 15:57:52 »
The Dell arms aren't all that bad, although for 30" screens they're just barely adequate.

Offline Lanx

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Re: looking for monitor arm advice
« Reply #8 on: Sun, 02 March 2014, 22:02:00 »
i have 2 ergo tron on my glass desk right now, thickness? size of microsd card length wise? sorry i don't know where i put my caliper, or any form of measurement.

Offline berserkfan

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Re: looking for monitor arm advice
« Reply #9 on: Fri, 14 March 2014, 15:20:51 »
hey there

looking to get a monitor arm set up for either 2 or 3 monitors, not to fussed which

but i could do with some advice as ive never bothered with them before

a couple things to note, i have a tempered glass desk, its very strong, but is also kinda thin, id guess a bit thicker that a cm, and im also in the uk and would like something i could buy online within the uk

thanks

Bunny

Some things to consider:

do you want a clamp or do you want a stand? Stand takes up foot print but I believe is more mobile and secure. No matter how strong you say your desk is, I just don't like the idea of the shear force that a clamp of relatively small surface area needs to support for 3 monitors, say, 15kg for many years.

2 or 3 monitor stands are quite different from one another. Are you thinking of a horizontal array or a vertical? 3 won't be vertical; it'll be one middle and two side arms.

You need to think about what you want to look like. EG usually having two side by side monitors isn't that nice for gaming since your eyes will rest on a center point which happens to be the black bezel between two monitors. 3 is better for all-round surround sound blasting and firing away.

Most office work can be done on two vertical monitors. Flick your eyes up to read something and down to type a report, or whatever.

If for some reason you need to rotate a monitor from time to time for graphics work, you will need a horizontal array. Rotating the top monitor in a vertical array is very uncomfortable as it makes the monitor too high.

Did you consider how much horizontal room there is on your desk? A 3-array is practically 6 feet with 24" monitors.
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Offline Wildcard

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Re: looking for monitor arm advice
« Reply #10 on: Sun, 16 March 2014, 23:26:25 »
Ergotron +1

I use Humanscale arms at work and they're crap. My home setup uses several Ergotron arms and works perfect.

Offline CommonCurt

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Re: looking for monitor arm advice
« Reply #11 on: Sun, 16 March 2014, 23:39:41 »
Bunny,

I don't know what size monitors you are using, but this is what I have been using with two 25in.

It's expensive, but it's built like a tank.

https://www.doublesight.com/shop/product.asp?idx=44

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ACC-DUAL-MONITOR-FLEX-STAND/dp/B0026MRTN6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395030615&sr=8-1&keywords=Doublesight+DS-224STA

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