A Hasbeen (Targus Universal Monitor Stand)

Member Name: Donf18

Product:	Targus Universal Monitor Stand
Date:	08/03/09 (218 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none anymore

Disadvantages: too bulky

I have a Targus monitor stand, but it isn't used for the purpose for which it was designed. This is no fault of the stand it is simply for one reason at least that I don't really need it with my current monitor. I now use it as a little table for my printer and it serves this purpose very well, as indeed it did when it was used in its proper capacity.

The unit is quite large when seen against comparable products, being that it stands roughly 6 inches high and has a top surface of roughly 1.5 ft by 1 ft. The two surfaces are separated by four peculiar looking feet. I use the word peculiar because; well they don't really seem to fit in with any normal PC set up. I have considered them in various scenarios and they do still appear quite odd. This said they are the feet supplied with the unit and they do do a good job in keep the bottom of the Targus stand firmly attached to the top. Incidentally on sizes the bottom portion is slightly larger than the top portion, which is perhaps part of the reason for it looking a bit odd.

They currently retail at anything from around £15 to an extortionate £26.99. At the end of the day this unit is just two slabs of plastic stuck together by funny feet, so this price range is a bit steep. Mine was free from work, it was getting thrown out, and to be perfectly frank if I wasn't using mine as a printer stand then it probably would have had the same fate months ago if my wife had anything to do with it. I guess that they were pretty handy in the good old days of CRT monitors, they'd raise your monitor up to a height where you weren't staining your neck to read my reviews. With todays all adjustable singing and dancing LCD monitors there really isn't much of a market for these any more. As a printer stand it is great. The printer stands neatly on the top and the gaping space where all the junk of the day used to be stored is now a very convenient place to store the paper for the printer. It looks more at home as a printer stand than it ever did as a monitor stand.

The main problem basically was its size, and I appreciate that in its duty it would have to partake of supporting some pretty heavy monitors, but it was just too bulky. The other reason that I briefly touched on was the fact that the space in between the two main surfaces. This space was open and hence was available to dump all the nick knacks and bits of office equipment that were not currently in use, making the area look like a tip.

I guess all in all they were a good thing in their day, but that day is well gone, and I can't see these huge eyesores staying around much longer given that the LCD monitor has taken over and the good old CRT has drifted into PC obscurity along with floppy disks and shortly Cd's.

Summary: A bit of an antique these days

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