Monitor height: the top-of-screen rule

The rule

Sit back in your chair, look straight ahead, and let your eyes settle. The top line of text on the screen should be at or just below that line of sight. Not the top bezel — the top of what you actually read.

Most monitors sold with a stand sit lower than this. The stand is designed to be compact in a box, not to match your eye height.

Distance

About an arm's length. Reach out and your fingertips should roughly touch the screen. Closer than that and you track your eyes across a wide panel all day; much further and text size starts fighting you.

On a large monitor, distance matters more than height. If a 32-inch screen feels overwhelming, the fix is usually to push it back before it is to change anything else.

Raising it: books or an arm

Books are free and work. If the height is right and nothing wobbles, you are done — there is no prize for having bought something.

An arm earns its cost in a specific way: it clamps to the desk edge and frees the entire footprint the original stand occupied, which on a small desk is a meaningful amount of surface. It also lets you push the screen back for distance without pushing it off the desk, and move it out of the way entirely when you need the space.

• Check VESA compatibility — 75x75mm or 100x100mm on the back of the monitor. Some slim monitors have no VESA holes at all, which rules out an arm entirely.
• Check the weight rating against your monitor's actual weight without its stand.
• Check your desk thickness against the clamp range, and whether you need the clamp or the grommet mount.

The one that is not about height

A screen directly in front of a bright window is a contrast problem no monitor position solves. If you are squinting, the issue may be behind the screen rather than the screen itself — the lighting guide covers window placement.

What we'd buy

Books work. An arm works better and gives the desk space back.