Fit Three Monitors On Really Small Desks With These Two Methods

If you’re a triple monitor person, it’s really hard to go back to anything else. 

The boost in productivity and visual multitasking is fantastic on a triple monitor setup. If you have a small desk, don’t think you have to give up those three monitors just yet. 

If you don’t have three monitors, but are trying to join the triple monitor elite, don’t let that small desk stop you before reading this article. You don’t need to have these larger three monitor desks to enjoy those monitors. 

We’re going to talk about how you can get  a triple monitor setup on very small desks. We’ll also touch on optimizing your triple monitor arrangement if you are in a small overall space as well.  

Key Takeaways

• Aftermarket triple monitor mounting arms are critical to make three monitors fit on a small desk. 
• Triple monitor arms need to be paired with the space efficient triple monitor mounting arrangements we discuss below. 

Aftermarket Triple Monitor Mounts

The first step to fitting more items in a smaller area is to reduce the footprint. Fortunately, there is an easy way to reduce the footprint of monitors. This of course is with aftermarket monitor mounts.

Aftermarket monitor mounts are a perfect solution for small desks because they attach to your desk using a much smaller clamp or grommet mount. 

So instead of your factory mount taking up a whole square foot of your already small desk, they just clamp on an edge. This uses up a fraction of the space. 

This makes them very adaptable and able to be placed pretty much anywhere. Even if you want to mount that monitor for working in bed!

Not to mention these monitor mounts just make desks look way better. Something about removing the bulk of factory stands just makes a desk look cleaner. 

Swapping one monitor’s factory stand for a monitor arm clamp is a big savings. Swapping three factory monitor stands for a single clamp mount is For triple monitors, you reduce your footprint dramatically! 

The footprint reduction makes monitor arms a great solution for small desk organization. More space, and better function? Sign me up.

Here are a few things you need to know about triple monitor mount arms before buying. 

VESA Mounting Compatibility

Before you can mount any monitor, you have to check that it has mounting holes on the back. These are known as VESA mounting holes. It’s essentially a square hole pattern of 75x75mm or 100x100mm. 

If you look behind your monitor and see these holes, you are good to go! Sometimes they are hidden behind the factory stand, or a square plate on the back side of the monitor. 

If your monitor unfortunately does not come with VESA mounting points, you can use a VESA mount adapter. This adapter gives you the mounting holes while grabbing your monitor at four points.  

It’s not as clean of a solution, but that’s the main way to convert a non-VESA display into a VESA display. Here’s an example that has the smallest lips that are visible when mounted:

Learn more about how to mount non-VESA monitors here. 

Monitor Arm Types

After you get the VESA mounting holes figured out, it’s time to look at the different types of monitor arms out there. The main difference you will notice is the types of arms that hold your monitors. 

Static Height

This first option I call the “static height” version. Static height just means you need a tool to adjust the height. You can still adjust the height and tighten it down in place. 

These are the affordable mounts that just use some simple metal arms to hold your monitor. You can manipulate them left and right, in and out, along with some tilt. 

They are simple and get the job done for the most part. I started with one of these because of how affordable they are. 

Gas Spring

If you want to adjust your monitors anywhere, easily, and at any time, a gas spring monitor mount is absolutely the way to go. 

I currently use one now with my 34″ ultrawide monitor. It’s way more adjustment friendly than my previous static height mount. 

Here is the gas spring monitor mount I use in the image above. And this is how I got those monitor cables looking good.

These use a gas spring inside of the arm to support the weight of your monitor. That means you don’t have to “fix” your monitor in place. The gas spring can hold it. That means we can move our monitor anywhere with ease. 

Just make sure your monitor weight fits in the weight range of the gas spring mounts. Because they are designed to “hold” the weight of your monitor, it does have its minimum and maximum weight limits. 

Those are the main two types of monitor mounts you will see on the market. 

Space Efficient Arrangements

Now that we know a little bit more about monitor mounts, we have to pair our mount with a compatible arrangement that fits your space. 

There’s no use getting a monitor mount if the monitor arrangement won’t fit the area around your desk. Chances are you might have trouble with a triple side by side by side setup. But if you prefer that setup and it will actually fit, go for it! 

If your desk is small, you might also have some limited space above your desk. Here are some of the most space efficient triple monitor arrangements you can form with aftermarket monitor mounts. 

Of course there are more options out there, but these will be the most efficient use of your air space. 

Double Stack, Single Vertical

Apart from the last option on this list, this might be the most space efficient setup. If you have the same size monitors, that is. 

In this setup, we have two monitors on top of each other, and one placed vertically on the left or right side. 

Vertical monitors are great for scroll heavy windows so you can just see more and scroll less. Having two monitors stacked means the bottom monitor has to be pretty low. You don’t want to strain your neck looking up at the top monitor.

Here’s an example of what that looks like. 

Side by Side, Single Stacked

If you want at least one set of side by side monitors, this one gets you there. The third monitor is stacked above the bottom side by side monitors. This is also great for those that hate the idea of rotating a monitor 90 degrees to make it vertical. 

This is a great solution if you only have two identical monitors, or one monitor that is just larger than the others. The larger monitor can be the stacked one on top. 

Double Vertical

Here’s an example of what a double vertical monitor setup looks like. 

This setup consists of a normal centered horizontal monitor, but on either side you have a vertical monitor that is facing you.

 If you enjoy a clean and symmetric setup and benefit from vertical monitors, this is definitely for you.

Triple Vertical

Now this one is a little out of the box, and I don’t necessarily know why someone would like this setup. But lo and behold, people do it and here is an example of a triple vertical monitor setup. 

This might be one of the most space efficient setups. We couldn’t stack three normal horizontal monitors because we would just strain our neck all day. But three verticals? That’s much more realistic. 

You already know who you are if you are using this setup. 

Triple Monitor Arm Recommendations

Here are some arms that are recommended for setting up a space-efficient triple monitor arrangement on a small desk. We cover more desk space saving tips here.. 

Overall Best Triple Monitor Arm

Here’s a helpful review of the product above. It’s a gas spring mount that comes with a fixed center column. The middle monitor fixes to the center column, and the others attach to the gas spring arms on either side. 

This is the most flexible setup that will let you try different arrangements on the fly. 

Affordable Triple Monitor Arm

If you’re on a budget, I get it. This is why I got my affordable monitor mount starting out with my first “desk setup”. 

These will work just fine, you only have to deal with some additional setup time and fine tuning time. Here are two types of mounts that are more affordable and support different variations of the arrangements we covered above.