Buying the right monitor arm can make a big difference to how you work.

Properly designed and set up, they can put the screen exactly where you need it, reducing back ache and eye-strain, they free up valuable desk space and make it easier to keep your desk tidy and clean.

But buying the wrong one can be an expensive mistake

As with most things in life you get what you pay for.

Expensive monitor arms ( some cost over £300 each) are well designed and beautifully constructed works of art, with multiple articulation points.

They are well balanced, and securely fit to your desk top.  They will give you years of trouble free service and will require no adjustment or maintenance.

At the other end of the scale are the cheap Chinese manufactured items, which have really been designed with selling price in mind. In certain circumstance they perform adequately, but the problem occurs when these products are not used as intended.  You don’t have to pay £300 to get what you need, but you do have to be careful to avoid paying too little for something which won’t do what you want.
Most of the cheaper monitor arms are really designed to be fitted to a wall or other vertical surface, and fixed in that one position.

Information or tv screens for instance, would use this sort of bracket as adjustable positioning  is not a requirement.

It was never designed to be used on a desk, as the screen cannot be easily moved into the correct position for the user.

Once fitted, the bracket allows the screen to be tilted backwards and forwards, and left to right,  but not much else.
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The mid range monitor arms have an addition section and articulation point which allows the screen to be moved up and down as well, which means it is suitable for users of different heights.
The additional swivel point and link arm means more cost, and necessitates a better design if the articulation is going to be trouble free.

The top end monitor arms usually have 3 articulation points; the additional one allows you to move the monitor to the left or right of the fixing point, as well as up and down, and backwards and forwards.  Once again all of these joints have to be very well made, in order to be reliable and trouble free.

These units are available at reasonable prices, but their form is fairly basic, even though their function is fine.  If you spend more then you will get something which does the job as well, but also looks like a piece of art rather than a swivel bracket.

All of the monitor arms described above are designed to be fitted to the desk top, either with a screw clamp which fixed over the edge of the desk, or screwed through the desk top itself. Some will even fit to your existing cable port if the diameter is a standard size.

Monitor arms which fix to desk tool bars or screens with integral tool rails are covered in a separate article, as there are other factors to take into account when considering this type of monitor arm

As always the choice is yours but please do get some advice as to the suitability of the product for your purpose