RAM | Reseller Advocate Magazine: Issue 69

By Chris Angelini

Big, bulky CRT displays hold some notable advantages over LCD technology, despite the fact that they’ve been out of vogue for years now. Size aside, CRTs are comparatively inexpensive and remarkably crisp at any resolution. Even still, your customers are willing to pay more for LCDs because they’re ergonomically superior, they save energy, and they are proven to enhance visual work performance.

As a VAR, it’s your job to maximize each of those attributes. Getting the most out of an LCD display, for example, means optimizing the angle and distance from which you view it. Most of the monitors you sell feature stands that tilt, swivel, and even telescope up and down. But what happens when the best place for an LCD is up on a wall? Or how about the growing contingent of customers using multiple displays to literally expand their horizons? Dropping LCDs on a desk side by side has the same effect on real estate as a couple of clunky CRTs. Keep that clutter to a minimum and your customer will notice.

Learning a little more about display stands gives you a great opportunity to not only make additional margin on LCD sales but also to arm your customers with tools that maximize productivity and promote the most ergonomic environment possible.

Multi-Headed Desktops

Using a desktop with two or more displays is a lot like driving a luxury car—own one for a year or so and see how it feels when someone tries to stick you back into an econo-box. The powerful air conditioning, the leather, the acceleration—it’s all so nice. The extra desktop space you get from a second monitor, then a third, and a fourth is enough to spoil any productivity-oriented business user rotten. Best of all, there is no limit to who can make use of a multi-head configuration. Gamers, brokers, video editors—each one of your customers stands to gain from adding one more display.

A 2003 study sponsored by NEC-Mitsubishi, ATI, and the University of Utah showed that participants considered multi-screen configurations significantly more useful than single screens and preferred multiple monitor setups on every measure of usability. They found them 29% more effective for tasks, and 39% easier to move around sources of information.

The hardware requirements for multi-monitor are basic. Nearly every discrete graphics card you sell has two display outputs. Sometimes they’re both DVI. Other times, one is digital and the other is an analog VGA output. Software drivers included with those cards have no problem independently setting resolutions, rotating individual desktops, or adjusting height to compensate for differently sized monitors.

The real trick is putting two LCDs in front of your customer in a way that makes it easy to absorb the extra desktop space without causing neck cramps. Upselling a desk mount that supports two or three monitors helps clear up space while holding displays as close together as possible. The fit and finish is far more attractive than a pair of LCDs sitting side by side on their OEM stands.

Ergotron specializes in manufacturing mounts that put display information right where your customer needs it. The company’s most basic offering, the LX Dual Display Lift Stand, holds up to two 23” LCDs, giving them up to 5” of vertical movement and 20 degrees of tilt. By putting the displays side by side and at eye level, Ergotron is able to make the same increased productivity claims you’ll see in any discussion of multiple monitors. The LX Dual accommodates traditional landscape configurations and more text-oriented portrait setups. Integrated cable management helps keep the power and data cords hidden, adding to the professionalism of a purpose-built multi-head platform.

At $269, Ergotron’s LX Dual is a moderately expensive upsell. After all, there’s nothing particularly mind-blowing about two monitors sitting next to each other. Start playing around with larger desktop configurations and a solid stand starts making a lot more sense. Ergotron sells two larger desk stands, both with the DS100 model designation. One holds four monitors in a square configuration, the other side by side. Whereas two displays might be easy to place on a desk sans stand, three- and four-monitor setups are harder to get right. The horizontal DS100 holds 17” displays edge to edge, with just the right amount of curvature. Rather than the four stands you’d otherwise expect, the DS100 incorporates two low-profile bases. There are no lift adjustments, but the stand does feature pan/tilt.

The square-shaped DS100 Quad-Monitor Desk Stand is even more special since it saves loads of horizontal desk space by stacking displays two by two and resting on a single base. Each of the DS100’s arms holds up to a 24” LCD panel. Displays slide into place so that the edges on each align, delivering maximum screen space in the tightest array possible. Though the LX Dual might be a luxury at $269, business customers won’t bat an eye at the DS100’s $329 price tag when it comes to cramming four displays’ worth of data onto one desk.

Get Off My Desk

Display stands work really well for users sitting in one place all day. But what about more dynamic office environments where multiple users need access to an LCD? Or how about when desk space is in short supply and your customer simply can’t use a display with its OEM stand? Upselling a more adjustable mount gives your customer the flexibility to turn, twist, push, and pull.

Ergotron’s Desk Mount LCD Arm is one example of out-of-the-way display technology. The stand clamps onto the back of your customer’s desk, as far from the action as it can get. Support comes from two small feet counterbalancing the LCD’s weight and a variable-size vise underneath. Naturally, the desk’s surface is sandwiched in between. The stand’s telescoping arm extends or retracts with up to 24” of play and slides up to 13” off of the desk’s surface, keeping the LCD at eye level. With a full 80 degrees of tilt, 180 degrees of pan, and 90 degrees of rotation, the arm contorts to almost any angle.

The Neo-Flex LCD arm delivers even more flexibility and at a lower price. Sized to fit up to 20” LCDs, the Neo-Flex eight inches, tilts 180 degrees, pans 180 degrees, and rotates a full 360 degrees. Again, integrated cable management keeps things neat, even when the mount’s arm is fully extended.

Customers interested in combining the pliantness of a monitor arm with the utility of a dual display should look to Humanscale’s M7. The company focuses exclusively on office ergonomics. And while it is most famous for incredibly comfortable task seating, Humanscale doesn’t ignore the other facets of staying comfortable at work. Keyboard systems, specialty lighting, and chassis cradles complement the seating and monitor arm product lines. What’s ergonomic about a monitor arm? Adjustability, according to Humanscale. The M7 facilitates more natural multi-tasking by floating a pair of LCDs over the work surface. Being able to rotate, tilt, and tweak the arm’s depth gives your customer the same degree of personalization.

On the Road

A lot of companies with a mobile workforce are moving away from traditional desktops, instead arming their employees with a notebook to use not only on the road but also in the office as a workstation. Laptops, of course, are known for portability rather than comfort. And hunching over a cramped keyboard doesn’t sound like any way to spend a workday. Humanscale goes so far as to suggest that long-term use of a notebook’s keyboard and touchpad greatly increases the risk of of repetitive stress injury.

In an office environment, you want your customers using notebooks attached to docking stations that support more ergonomic I/O and a comfortable angle to view the display. The N2 Notebook Holder attaches to a handful of Humanscale’s monitor arms and puts the whole laptop up at eye level. Deployed in conjunction with a standard mouse and keyboard, the N2 helps replicate that desktop experience so often missed when businesses consolidate technology. If Humanscale’s notebook accessories cost more than your customer can afford, check out Targus’ line of ergonomically-minded notebook stands as an alternative.

Ergotron sells similar functionality with a twist. Not only does the company’s LX Dual Desk Mount Arm support the weight of a notebook, it also holds a second LCD up to 20” across. As with Ergotron’s other monitor arms, the LX can be adjusted in a number of different directions to fit almost any workspace.

Mobile Mounts

Most monitor arms can be tweaked in a variety of different directions, but they’re generally installed permanently. Mobile mounts, on the other hand, facilitate the convenience and flexibility of monitor stands in a form factor that gets around.

The Ergotron Large Display Cart sits on four casters, holding 50” LCDs weighing up to 90 pounds. Depending on whether your customer’s audience is sitting or standing, the cart features 20” of adjustable lift. According to Ergotron, buying one cart as the platform for a sharable presentation device is a great way to save money. Big screen LCDs are expensive, so keeping one mobile maximizes its use around the office. (If you’re dealing with an LCD projector rather than a flat panel monitor, consider the cart options from Datamation Systems mentioned in this month’s cover story.)

Chief Manufacturing sells a slightly more robust monitor cart able to telescope from four to six feet. The MFC-U Flat Panel Display Mobile Cart has a maximum capacity of 125 pounds, yet it’s collapsible. Integrated cable management and a modular design suggest this might be a good tool for businesses that do a lot of trade shows, where the clarity of an attractive, oversized LCD paired with an aesthetically pleasant stand/cart is as important as a quick setup and teardown.

From there, wheeled monitor stands only get more complex (and more expensive). The StyleView Dual Display Cart sits at the very top of Ergotron’s lineup, catering almost exclusively to doctor’s offices and hospitals. More than just a two-headed monitor stand, the cart sports its own power system based on Sealed Lead Acid Absorbed Glass Mat Deep Cycle batteries—the same ones found in golf carts and wheelchairs powering a trio of AC power outlets. Your customer gets all of the conveniences normally afforded to desktop users, like fully adjustable displays, cable management, a full-sized keyboard tray, gelled wrist rests, and a separate mousing surface. Priced in excess of $4,000, the StyleView is as good as it gets.

A non-powered version of the same Ergotron cart, just as mobile but designed to be plugged into an AC power outlet, sheds more than $2,000 of cost. Drop one of the display arms out of the configuration and you can save your customer another $300 on the non-powered StyleView LCD Cart.

Making The Most Of Stands

LCDs are stylish. They’re small, they’re light, and they deliver remarkably crisp picture quality. Functionally, flat panel displays offer a lot of advantages over yesterday’s bulky CRTs. The sky is quite literally the limit for customers eyeballing elaborate multi-display setups. After all, the hardware requirements are minimal—one desktop workstation card with four outputs from AMD or NVIDIA (a SKU from the FireMV or Quadro NVS lines respectively) buys loads of digital real estate. You upsell display stands because they let you organize all of that desktop space in a way that’s easy to absorb and without cluttering your customer’s physical workspace.

Given the proven productivity gains attributable to multiple monitors, never mind the reduction in potential employee injuries, every one of your customers should be in line for at least a dual-head configuration. But maybe some say they don’t have a large enough desktop. Others are stuck using notebooks. Take your monitor arms and multi-display notebook holders and introduce those as well. Once folks get some face time with more than one display, they won’t want to go back.