After getting a new desk you need to get some hardware to finish dialing it in how you want. For me, after getting a new desk at home, one of those things that I needed was a way to mount my monitor. I spent more hours reading through product reviews than I’d like to admit, but the end result was something I’m happy with.

So heading into my search I had a few things in mind. First, I’m not against purchasing expensive items if their value is worth it. That said, I did not want to go spending a few hundred dollars on a new mount. I felt like there were so many Chinese knockoffs on the Amazon alone that I could surely find a good deal on something of middle-of-the-road quality. Ideally, I wanted to spend under $100 on it. The second thing I really wanted was a mount that would fit dual monitors The plan was to search for a dual monitor stand so I could have two screens running. The third thing I was looking for was for it to be a clamp-on style mount. Having a child in my house I wanted something that would be secured to the desk. Something that I wouldn’t have to worry about being top-heavy and toppling over if the little one was screwing around and “bumped” the desk too hard.

So now that I laid out my wants, how did I do, and what did I decide to get?

After reading a ton of reviews I decided to shift from a dual monitor to a single monitor stand. Having two individual arms would allow me better flexibility on the screen size. With my current monitors being two different sizes (32″ and 21″) this makes things easy and in the future, I don’t ever have to worry about the monitor size as a limitation.

I had lots of clamp-style mounts to choose from on Amazon. It ended up being pretty easy to find one that I liked. However, one thing that I hadn’t originally considered getting was a reinforcement bracket for the clamp. It helps to distribute the pressure from the mount’s clamp and protects the desk from stress fractures over time. It’s basically just a small steel plate that sits between the desk and the clamp. After looking at my desk and giving it some thought, I figured it’d be worth the few extra bucks it cost.

My final purchase was a fully articulating arm for up to a 32″ monitor. I spent $32.99 on it and I feel like I got a good deal on it considering how high some of the arms can cost. The one I purchased was the MountUp Single Monitor Desk Mount.

I paired that with the WALI Steel Reinforcement Bracket for $16.99

And because nothing can ever go smoothly, the VESA mount holes on the arm and one of my monitors were different sizes. So I ended up getting the Husky Mounts VESA adaptor for it for $10.95. It solved my issue no problem.

So I managed to get a solution that works for me all for $50 per monitor (not including the VESA adaptor). I think that I did alright getting everything I wanted for $100.

What sort of monitor stand or mount do you use?