The iMac and VESA: Pick the right option or press your luck

Once upon a time, Apple was all over the iMac VESA wall-mounting standard. With the iMac as the world’s premier all-in-one, it made perfect sense to offer buyers a post-purchase option if they wanted to clear space on their desk or use a stand that allowed adjustment of the height and horizontal viewing angle. Apple was a bit mercenary about it, charging a cool $80 for a very simple adapter, but it was a fairly easy operation to switch from a stand to a VESA mount and back again.

All that changed with the advent of the thinner-profile iMac that was introduced in 2012. The iMac’s set screws were rotated 90 degrees forward and were no longer accessible without disassembling the entire computer right down to the motherboard. That means that now you had to decide at your initial purchase to invest in an iMac with a VESA mount for an extra $40. The task of switching from a stand to a VESA mount