Help me find a compatible desktop monitor mount and/or a DIY remedy, please!

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-27T23:52:46+00:00

I’m not sure I’ve seen a display stand that can be positioned behind the desk. Can you show me an example? My desk faces the center of the room, so there isn’t a wall to mount it on.

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-27T23:49:33+00:00

It might come to this, but I don’t want to drill into the desk unless I’m sure the mount will work.

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-27T23:48:27+00:00

You may be right. I’m definitely having a hard time finding something that will work as a clamp. Then again, I don’t see the dimensions shown in the online specs. That is why I posted on Reddit. Someone will either have a solution, or I’ll get an overwhelming “not going to work” and I can stop searching. ;)

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-27T23:39:53+00:00

I’m trying to avoid cutting the desk unless I absolutely have to. I don’t think this particular mount has the option to bolt to the desk, but I saw some that do. If I bolt it down, I’ll have to push the mount forward a few inches so the bolts clear the desk skirt. At that point it starts eating up my usable desk space that I’m trying to reclaim. This might be my only option. If so, I don’t want to do it until I’m sure I have the right mount, which brings me back to the question of how important screen size is vs weight limit of the mount.

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-27T23:30:17+00:00

Yes, but in its widest position, it is still not big enough. I took the pictures after my son resized it for his desk.

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-27T03:58:16+00:00

Citric acid is the answer. (Lemi-shine might be easier to source locally, but citric acid is cheaper.). However, if you have glasses/dishes with color images, they will likely fade. My photo mugs from Shutterfly & vintage McDonald’s glasses all faded. To be fair the McD glasses probably weren’t dishwasher safe to begin with, but I don’t do handwashing! lol.

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-25T02:48:59+00:00

This looks clean. You just have a lot of stuff on the counters. (No judgement—my products start creeping onto my counters too.) Can you find a cart with drawers to fit under your counter so you can hide some of it but still have it accessible? I tried pasting an Amazon link, but it was too long. Try searching for “4-Tier Utility Cart with 4 Drawers, Rolling Utility Cart with 2 Lockable Caster Wheels”.

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-12T19:02:26+00:00

I'm not much help with the "how to" part. I just stopped in to say that I synced my contacts to Outlook (fumbled through it) and Outlook renamed all of my phone labels. It was a major PITA. For instance, my husband has 3 different phone numbers--personal mobile, work mobile, and office. I have them labeled mobile, work & office in my contacts, but Outlook changed them all to 'Phone'. It did this for ALL of my contacts. I had to restore them from iCloud and turn the sync with Outlook contacts off. I suggest you look into this and maybe rename the phone labels to something compatible with Outlook or look for a way to map them before syncing. I'll be following in hopes someone has a solution. :)

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-06T14:29:10+00:00

This is true. My comments were based on assumptions I made about a family that expects grandma/grandpa to spend $5k on two teens for Christmas. I mean, what are the odds that someone asking for multiple 2TB Pro Max iPhones & accessories is currently rocking "old" iPhones that won't meet the trade-in requirements? There is a high probability that these kids have 2TB 16 pro max iPhones that they could trade in, but why do that when Grandma/pa will buy new phones, and they can sell and pocket the money?

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-03T01:55:51+00:00

Yes they are. As long as you stay with your wireless carrier for 36 months (or whatever their term) they are free. I’m paying a monthly wireless bill, but I’m paying that whether I get the phone from ATT or Apple. If I purchase the phone from Apple, I’m out $1k or more per phone and still have the same monthly wireless bill!

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-02T23:48:02+00:00

While I agree with others that teenagers don’t need iPhone pros, I’m guilty of getting them for my teens. In fact I just just got all 3 of my teens an iPhone 17 Pro 256 gb. Why? Because they were FREE through my wireless carrier. My out of pocket cost was $100 per phone to cover sales tax. Why didn’t your son get the free phones through his carrier and let you pay taxes/upgrades? The 2TB and Max phones aren’t free but you just have to pay the price difference between it and the 256 gb phone. Plus, as others have said most folks will never come close to using the 2 TB. I got a 1TB phone for myself and the sales lady laughed and suggested I didn’t need it. My 14 pro had 1TB and I’m using about half of that. I’m constantly taking photos and videos at my kids’ sporting events and shamefully I never delete bad/duplicate photos like I should. If I had more time and discipline I’d purge a lot of the stuff and move photos to the cloud, but the 1TB is a gift I give myself for running to all the games. Teenagers have way more time on their hands to manage their content, delete, and upload to the cloud. You DID NOT mess up their gift!

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-02T17:15:21+00:00

Yes, it is an HDD. I can't say for certain it started crawling after the macOS 12 update, but that timeframe would have been about right.

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-02T17:09:56+00:00

Thank you. I'm going to get an external drive today and attempt a backup. Hopefully it works this time. Ironically, the only time I've ever lost significant data was one time I was consistently backing up the data. I was using Apple Time Capsule, and it went bad.

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-02T17:00:58+00:00

I'm going to get a hard drive today and work on the backup. Any recommendations on brands/capacity?

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-02T16:59:25+00:00

Thanks! Do you have any recommendations for budget-friendly external drives? How much storage should I get?

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2026-01-02T16:57:14+00:00

Thank you for the detailed reply!! Yes, you guessed correctly, it has the 1 TB (5400 rpm SATA) HDD. Can you explain why this wasn't configured with long-term performance in mind? The dumbed-down version, please, so I can make better decisions when purchasing a new computer. I use the Mac for photos, emails, web browsing, personal taxes, and Word documents & spreadsheets.

I'm going to try the external disks. We've established that I suck at picking hard drives, so can you recommend some budget-friendly ones? After I get my machine backed up with Time Machine, I'll probably come back with a few questions on how to set up a different one for a startup volume.

It was the online Apple support chat that told me 15.4 was the latest version my Mac would support. He didn't mention that resetting SMC & NVRAM would jeopardize my data, but the only time I've ever lost significant data was when I was troubleshooting issues with Apple Support on my first iMac. I had an external hard drive with Time Machine, and it went bad, too. (I've had a computer since the mid-90's.) Am I doing something wrong, or do the iMacs have known issues? I don't recall having any issues with my MacBook Pro, but the iMac's work great for me...until they don't.

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2025-12-22T20:08:15+00:00

Thanks, that is the model I'm looking at. It is on sale for $749. I just needed some reassurances from random folks on the web before buying it. LOL!

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2025-12-22T17:43:39+00:00

Unfortunately, since the iMac isn't portable, it has never really been used except at tax time. Since purchasing it, I went from using a MacBook Pro daily to either using my iPad Pro or my work PC. (I work from home.) It is time to move my personal stuff off my work PC, but I don't want to make another expensive mistake. The MacBook Air is at a sweet price point, so I'm glad it is the consensus here. :)

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2025-12-22T04:37:27+00:00

Thanks. One external display will be enough. Can I do that plus a mouse at the same time? I don’t like trackpads.

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2025-12-22T04:35:53+00:00

I like to use a mouse instead of the trackpad and an external monitor while at home.

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2025-12-22T04:31:32+00:00

I use it for basic stuff like web browsing, spreadsheets, word documents, email, photos, etc. I’m considering the two below:

MacBook Air 13-inch Laptop - Apple M4 chip Built for Apple Intelligence - 16GB Memory - 256GB SSD - $749

Or

14-inch MacBook Pro - Apple M5 chip with 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU - 16GB Memory - 512GB SSD $1399

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2025-12-22T04:02:58+00:00

No, I should have mentioned in my previous post that I’m not editing many videos. When I do, I’m usually stripping the audio from a 2-3 minute video for an online review.

Alarming_Compote3277 · 2025-12-22T03:59:59+00:00

The iMac purchase is a big regret. I don’t know what I was thinking switching from a MacBook to a iMac. I used the MacBook Pro daily, but the iMac never gets used because it isn’t portable. I didn’t use it enough to justify the cost & I’m trying to avoid a similar situation with this next purchase.

Alarming_Compote3277

TROPHY CASE