The best dual monitor arm is rated for each monitor's real weight without its stand, fits your desk edge or grommet hole, and reaches your eye height. Check the weight per arm first, then screen size and VESA pattern, then the base. Decide early between one dual arm and two single arms, and between side by side and stacked.
5 checks before you buy
- Weight per arm. Weigh each monitor without its stand, or find the "without stand" weight in its manual. Ratings are per arm, so each monitor must sit inside its arm's range. Gas spring arms also have a minimum: a screen that is too light will drift up. The MI-4882 heavy duty dual arm, for example, is rated 4.4 to 44 lb per arm.
- Screen size. Check the arm's screen size range for both monitors. For two wide or curved screens side by side, also check that the arms reach far enough apart that the screens do not touch.
- VESA pattern. Find the hole pattern on the back of each monitor, for example 75 x 75 or 100 x 100 mm, and make sure the arm's mounting plate matches it. A monitor without VESA holes needs an adapter.
- Clamp or grommet, and desk thickness. A clamp grips the desk edge; a grommet mount bolts through a hole in the desktop. Each arm lists the desk thickness it fits: the MI-1882 clamp fits desks 0.4" to 4.53" thick, and the MI-4882 clamp 0.39" to 3.3". Measure your desk, and check there is room behind it for the base.
- Arm type. Gas spring arms let you move each screen with one hand, which suits people who change position during the day. Mechanical spring and fixed arms are simpler and suit screens you set once. One dual arm on a single pole keeps the desk tidy; two single arms suit monitors of very different weights or screens you want far apart.
Compare dual monitor arms on these five specs, not on how they are ranked.
Side by side or stacked?
Side by side is the usual layout. Put the screen you use most straight in front of you and the second one to the side, angled toward you. If you use both equally, center the gap between them in front of you. Keep the top edge of each screen at or slightly below eye level.
Stacked, one screen above the other, saves desk width and suits coding, reading long documents, or a laptop below a monitor. It needs an arm with enough height range that you are not looking up at the top screen all day. The vertical dual monitor mount (MI-1768) stacks two screens from 13" to 32", up to 17.6 lb each, with 16.5" of height adjustment per monitor.
Setting up two screens next? Read our dual monitor setup guide.