Caught my cheap monitor arm sagging an hour before a big presentation

I was at my desk in Detroit last Tuesday, getting ready for a client demo, when I noticed my left monitor was tilted way down. Turns out the gas spring in my $35 arm had been slowly failing for weeks, I just never looked at it straight on. I had to prop the screen up with a stack of textbooks (which looked awful) and barely made the call on time. Has anyone else had a budget arm literally give out on them mid-workday?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason.margaret3d agoMost Upvoted

Honestly I kinda disagree here. $35 for a monitor arm that lasted any amount of time is pretty good. You can't really expect gas springs to hold up forever at that price point, they're basically disposable at that cost.

anna_green483d ago

Had a $30 arm do the same thing last month during a late night editing session. The monitor just slowly dropped an inch over about 20 minutes and I didn't even notice until I tried to adjust it. Ended up holding the screen up with one hand while finishing my work. Those cheap gas springs are a gamble for sure, especially if you're relying on the arm for any kind of important task.