SilverStone ARM11SC Arm One Monitor Mount

While monitor arms/mounts are rather basic and not much to them, they're very practical. On my main L-shaped glass desk where I carry out most of my work for Phoronix, OpenBenchmarking.org, and the Phoronix Test Suite, are four 24-inch LCD displays on a quad-monitor arm, a 30-inch Samsung LCD display, a 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt Display, and connected to a portable cart are two additional 24-inch monitors on a dual-monitor arm. The large quantity of monitors is needed for intense multi-tasking with the large number of tests carried out continuously and for simultaneous benchmark development and other programming work. Without solid monitor arms, this monitor layout would be impractical. While I've tested other monitor arms/stands, my brand of choice for monitor arms is generally Tyke Supply monitor stands that I use for my dual and quad displays. Tyke Supply's monitor arms have proven to be very reliable, well built, and rather inexpensive (sub-$100 for the different stands I've bought to date).

I would have enjoyed having yet another extra monitor attached to my desk, but the glass desk is already rather weighted down and already had to be reinforced with custom modifications for handling the monitor arm mounts. With that said, I checked to see whether the SilverStone Arm One could accommodate the glass desk, which it could. After that, I turned to the kitchen for testing out the SST-ARM11SC.

An ASUS VE228 LED backlit LCD monitor was used for the SilverStone ARM11SC testing. Setting up SilverStone's interactive monitor arm was similar to other monitor stands I have used in the past. Assembly only took a couple of minutes and is mostly tool-free aside from the few areas where the included Allen wrench had to be used for ensuring everything was secure. The monitor arm was attached to the side of a rather conventional table.

Through the entire process, the only complaint I encountered or that of my better half came down to the cable manager. The SilverStone ARM11SC does support routing cables on the underside of the arms and along the side of the vertical pole. Routing the cables inside the channel on the monitor arms though requires unscrewing the cable guide, tucking in the cable(s), and then screwing the guide back into place. With other monitor arms I have dealt with, cable management is usually done using plastic grommets and similar tool-free cable guides, which have been good enough and are quick and easy to configure. It's not too much of an issue dealing with the screws, especially when the cable management likely only has to be dealt with once in the arm's lifetime, but if you clamp the monitor arm to the desk prior to routing the cables it's a bit of a nuisance.

Dealing with the SilverStone ARM11SC once setup was a pleasure. The SilverStone single monitor arm offers a wealth of flexibility for configuring the display for one's specific environment with its swivel, tilt, and rotate/pivot range. Having used the monitor arm for a few weeks now, I have yet to run into any problems with it during day-to-day use.

Aside from finding the cable management guide to be a bit of a nuisance, the SilverStone ARM11SC has been working out great and I have no other complaints about its functionality. The only other potential disappointing factor for consumers may be its price tag, which is $100~120 USD for the single monitor configuration. However, compared to other monitor stands like those from Ergotron, the price isn't too bad. The price though is more expensive than the Tyke Supply LCD stands that I also recommend, but SilverStone's design is more elegant and is freer with regard to adjustments.