Apple's monitors are beautiful, but if you want an ergonomically correct setup, you have to screw a big, ugly VESA arm onto the back.

VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) is a great mount, but even the best mounts aren't good enough. I have an Ergotron mount, recommended by everyone (including Wirecutter), and the pivot points are either scratchy or too tight, and almost nothing is smooth. When I tilt the screen forward or backward, I feel like the screen is going to flex, and that's on the loosest setting with lubricant. Apple already does the fancy, expensive stand, so why not just make an overpriced VESA mount?

“A good VESA arm can increase productivity and efficiency in a workplace, solve posture issues and limitations, and save valuable space when the arm is not in use,” Anthony Martin, structural engineer and CEO of the company TotalShield, told Lifewire via email.

The standard VESA mount is officially called the Flat Display Mounting Interface (FDMI), but we all know it as a VESA mount. It’s a metal plate with four holes in a standard pattern and size. It fits onto the back of your monitor, which has matching holes threaded for machine screws.