When a MacBook Pro perched his Studio Display on a generic stand and then asked for recommendations for alternative risers for Studio Display, some Apple users reacted a bit brusquely. That’s simply not done, they seemed to say, presumably because Apple provides adjustability options as part of the purchase process. But plenty of commenters responded to the question with practical advice, below.

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Studio Display stand recommendations: Yea or nay?

Redditor CaptainBromo showcased the clean and tidy setup in a post entitled, “Riser recommendations?” He runs a MacBook Pro in clamshell (closed) mode on a vertical laptop stand driving a Studio Display. The 27-inch 5K monitor sits on a metal-and-glass stand. His primary question for commenters is the title of his post. And right away he ran into some dissent on the very concept of putting Studio Display on a stand.

“I feel like an Apple display on a riser is criminal,” a commenter said. “You’ve got it on there for ergonomics, right?” They added that they thought the riser looks too small and yet seems like it may raise up the display too high.

“You « can’t » do this with an Apple display,” another person bluntly stated.

And to that “can’t” above, another user replied, “You certainly can. You can take it to Apple and get them to put the VESA adapter on it, and mount it that way.” So there. Although the “can’t” person noted if you don’t have Apple add the VESA adapter for free when you buy the display but decide to have Apple add it later, you will, of course, have to pay.

Riser recommendations for Studio Display

But not everyone took affront to the very idea of an Apple display plopped on a monitor riser. Other commenters offered recommendations from the likes of Twelve South, Etsy, Grovemade, and Balolo, plus other practical advice. And you can find more great options here.

Check out [Twelve] South. They have some good risers.
I like it. But then, it’s just like mine. It’s unlikely you’ll find one that truly matches the desk unless it’s made by the same company. If you don’t love it. Use that one and keep casually looking.
I’d try to find one that matches your little plant pot there! Etsy has loads of lovely wooden risers and often customizable sizing, too.
Small standing desk converter? Smaller standing desk attachments are great for WFH to switch sitting/standing all day options, but would undo that nice minimalist setup you got going there.
You can get a great desk riser from Amazon that looks like the Grovemade one.
Grovemade desk shelf or one by Bololo would look epic! Etsy also has some great ones.
Just got my Balolo about 2 weeks ago. It’s really well built and I love it. I bought the large cockpit and two large trays, and the MagSafe iPhone holder. All of which I highly recommend. To save some money, I bought some of the tray organizers and pencil holders etc from Amazon and it fits like a glove and the walnut happened to match perfectly so it saved me about 80% on those items. Overall, there are definitely cheaper options but I can for sure say the Balolo riser is really well built and if purchased, you would happy.
It seems like you like a clean minimal look — I’d get a monitor arm/mount which will make the monitor just float, and gives you more options for height and placement!

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