Monitor Stands

Monitor Stands

What should you look for in a computer monitor stand?

If your monitor is a CRT type, look for massive carrying capacity; if your monitor is a LCD type, look for easy adjustability. With a LCD type monitor, because one needs to be looking at it very straightforwardly, you may find you will need to twist it on its stand fairly often to show the screen to another person.

Position your monitor so that light and glare from inside lights or from windows do not reflect from the monitor, which usually means positioning the screen at right angles to the nearest window. If you use a document stand, ensure that it is in much the same position as your monitor, and only slightly off center, so that you can look at either without having to make much change in your own sitting position.

Ergonomically, the best fit between you and your monitor is that the monitor should be about arm’s length away and the top of the monitor should be at eye level, or just slightly below. This is necessary to let you read the screen without having to pull your neck forward or push it back. People who use bifocal glasses, whether progressive or not, will have to experiment a bit to find the correct distance, which will mean that you can read the screen best without having to twist your head out of its normal upright position.

When looking for a monitor stand you first need to determine how high it should be. That is, measure the height of your monitor itself plus the height of whatever furniture it will be resting upon, and then figure out how much it should be raised to meet the exact height requirements just mentioned. Only now will you be able to address the question of whether a particular stand will get the monitor up to the right height. Look at the stand’s detailed specifications, which should tell you whether the height is adjustable, and if so by how much. Do not part with your hard-earned money to buy a stand that will not meet your exact personal requirements.

Now, you could accomplish these relationships with a stack of old newspapers as your stand. So why buy a stand at all? One reason is esthetics. Another is to ensure that your monitor rests safely on a solid platform. The most important reason is to let you reclaim some storage space underneath the monitor, perhaps to store your mousepad and keyboard.

Think of what materials you use most often, and ensure that you store these close at hand, say no more than one foot away (call this zone 1). Materials that you use a lot, but less frequently than those in zone 1, you could store, say, two feet away, in zone 2. Materials and parts you use most infrequently you can store still further away, possibly even so far that you will have to get up from your sitting position to reach them, in zone 3. Zones 1 and 2 will help prevent unnecessary motion, while zone 3 will force you to abandon your fixed posture while you do a bit of stretching and give yourself a break that will help to prevent cumulative trauma to the back, neck and shoulders.

It is best if what the computer monitor stand sits on has rounded corners. Why, you might ask. Well, it has been scientifically determined and repeatedly proven beyond any possible doubt that, worldwide, the absolutely most perfect instrument for finding furniture in a dark room is the human shinbone.