Accessories
Ergotron MX Mini Desk Mount & Universal Tablet Cradle Review
The Ergotron MX Mini Desk Mount is a versatile mount that lets you put a small monitor or a tablet on a desk for easy access. We’ve used this arm with the Ergotron Universal Tablet Cradle to use the iPad Pro as a monitor while we work for the last several months and love the flexibility it adds to our home office.
We connected the Ergotron MX Mini Desk Mount Arm to an Ergotron Workfit D, but it will mount on almost any desk that is an inch to two inches thick. The arm itself offers a wide range of motion so that you can put the screen wherever you need it, including tilt options for use while standing. There is a swivel mount so that you can use the monitor in landscape or portrait orientation without disconnecting anything.
The Ergotron MX Mini Desk Mount and Universal Tablet Cradle let us add the iPad as a second monitor, or a third.
You can connect up to a 24 inch monitor to the arm directly using a standard VESA mount, or you can use the Ergotron Universal Tablet Cradle to connect an iPad or Android tablet to the arm. It’s really up to your needs. We went with the 9.7-inch iPad Pro since we already had it in the office and it is easy to put in and take out of the mount.
When the iPad is mounted, you can use iPad apps to watch a movie, make a FaceTime call or stay connected to other important services all by itself — but the real power comes from using an app like Duet Display to turn the iPad into a monitor.
You can use this to make the iPad a monitor, or you can use the arm to hold up to a 24-inch monitor.
We use Duet to make the iPad Pro, in the Ergotron cradle and arm, a third display for our home office. Unlike other displays, we can take this one to the bedroom to watch a movie at the end of the day or grab it to go fly a drone after work. The Universal Tablet Cradle can hold tablets with up to a 10 inch screen and it connects to an arm like this or to the back of a monitor you already have.
You adjust the arms on the Universal Tablet Cradle to fit the width of the tablet and you can move the top part that locks the tablet into place so that it doesn’t block the camera on the tablet. It’s easy to set up and once you have the measurements dialed in you simply slide the tablet in place and secure it.
The mount and arm allow you to hold a tablet up to 10 inches in place at a variety of angles and heights.
Most of the time we use it with the iPad Pro in portrait mode so that we can keep Messages, Twitter or a website in place while we work. When working late we will often throw a movie up on it to stay entertained with the iPad in landscape mode. We can change the position and the orientation of the Ergotron MX Mini Desk Mount Arm and the Ergotron Universal Tablet Cradle in seconds to fit our needs.
This is a useful monitor mount that can hold a reasonably large screen and the Universal Tablet Cradle adapts to the iPad Mini, iPad Air and iPad Pro 9.7-inch easily. Alone or with Duet Display, these accessories are an essential part of our home office and the added monitor definitely helps with productivity on hectic days.
You can buy the Ergotron MX Mini Desk Mount Arm for $149.99 from CDW and the Ergotron Universal Tablet Cradle for $38.99 at CDW and other retailers.
