Humanscale M8.1

This is fantastic. This is one of those things that you think is an unecessary and expensive luxury, until you have one. I got a Humanscale monitor arm for free at work and after just a week I liked it so much I went out and bought one for home.

Compared to a monitor stand, this arm is drastically more adjustable. I have my computer desk in my bedroom. I can move the monitor to the rear of the desk for work, move it closer to my face for gaming, or swing it off the side of the desk and lay on my bed to watch movies.

A monitor arm saves a lot of desk space. This frees up space for my large mouse pad and keyboard. It also gives a more minimal and clean aesthetic.

I previously had the humanscale monitor arm rated for 16 lbs, which is hardly more than my 14 lb monitor. This meant that regardless of how I adjusted the springs, the monitor would droop 2 inches below maximum height. Not with this arm. It holds at the peak height without dropping. The monitor tilt and rotate action seems to have improved in the M8 over the older enterprise M2 I first bought.

The swivel action at the base and connection between the 2 arm-pieces is incredibly smooth and low-friction. The black matte finish and base are sleek and match the frame of my monitor.

The only concern with this is there isn't a built-in way to keep cables from slipping 3-6 inches down and off the bottom. This resulted in the DisplayPort plug getting yanked hard to the side as I rotated the top of the arm and almost broke it. After I used the velcro ties to keep it up, that hasn't happened again. However, I'd prefer some internal mechanism. This is a very minor quibble though and easily worked around.

This arm is worth every penny.