IKEA BEKANT Sit/Stand Desk (2016 Update)

I purchased an IKEA BEKANT Sit/Stand desk back in late 2014 as an update to my old GALANT desk and it has worked great over the last 2+ years. I've updated my desk a bit since then and wanted to post a quick update for 2016.

Current Setup:

• IKEA BEKANT Sit/Stand (Black-Brown/White)
• IKEA SIGNUM Cable Management
• Mount-It! MI-773 Triple Monitor Mount
• (3) Dell UltraSharp U2415H
• Dell AX510 Stereo Soundbar
• APC Back-UPS 550

IKEA BEKANT Sit/Stand Desk

I purchased my desk in late 2014, before the initial recall for an electrical UL label that IKEA forgot to include with the desk. Since then I have had no issues whatsoever. I've since purchased a second desk, post recall, which I've had to return 4 times due to the power supply/legs failing to move. This has been a chronic issue for a lot of BEKANT owners for the last year or so, just search for "IKEA BEKANT issue". Luckily IKEA offers a 10 year warranty, so replacements have been more of a time waste than a financial burden. The last replacement has been working great for 6+ months now, so hopefully that issue is behind me.

Monitor Stand & Monitors

I'm a supporter of multiple monitor setups (at least for me!) as I find them much more efficient than a single monitor, regardless of size. For my current setup I chose the Mount-It! MI-773 stand. I found it to be much easier to use than the MI-753 I had previously. The MI-773 had fixed arms while the MI-753 had articulating arms, which never lined up correctly or level. The MI-773 also sits back a couple of inches compared to the MI-753, providing a bit more desk space and viewing distance.

The Dell UltraSharp U2415H was my go-to for this setup due to their price, thin bezels and 16:10 (1920x1200) aspect ratio. For work, I find the 16:10 ratio better than the more common 16:9 as it gives you a little extra screen height which I find useful for my work applications. They also support (5) USB 3.0 each, DisplayPort MST, and have a wide set of digital inputs.

To make the cabling a bit cleaner, I ran a single 3-port extension cord to the mount and used 1ft, 2ft, and 3ft power cords to power the monitors. This freed up space for the other cables that run through the mount and provided a simpler, cleaner setup. The monitors are setup in a DisplayPort MST daisy-chain for devices that support it (not macOS...) and also individually cabled for HDMI access (for macOS...). To take advantage of all the USB ports these monitors provide, I connected the USB uplinks on monitors 2 and 3 back to monitor 1, then monitor 1 to my computer. This provides 13 USB 3.0 ports over a single USB cable.


Power & Cable Management

With the goal of avoiding a rat's nest of wires, an APC Back-UPS 550 was installed on the underside of the desk to supply power to everything and provide some basic battery backup and surge protection. This was one of the few UPS's I could find/confirm that had mounting holes on the chassis that would allow for under desk mounting. A white 3-port extension cable provides power to the UPS and is a little less noticeable than the black power cord the APC uses.

An IKEA SIGNUM cable management tray keeps most of the wires up and out of the way. The SIGNUM was cheap and easy to install, a must-have in my opinion.