REVIEW – I recently decided to refresh/update my office which was originally remodeled not long after we moved into this house back in 1999. As luck would have it, the fine folks of balolo in Germany offered to send me their Setup Cockpit modular monitor stand to review. I selected some of the accessories, they sent them, and here are my thoughts.
What is it?
The balolo Setup Cockpit is a wooden monitor stand that has a modular design that lets you decide what you need and where it will go.
What’s in the box?
What you receive from balolo depends entirely on what you order as there are choices in wood (American Walnut, Oak, or all black), there are also choices when it comes to the accessories that you can add. So what you see here, is what I picked. Make sure you visit balolo’s site for all the options.
- Oak large shelf
- Tray
- MagSafe Holder
- Cable Organizer hooks
- Catch-all tray
- Assembly hardware
Design and features
The shelf is made of CNC’d wood and it’s really nice! The top is smooth and the sides have a nice bevel. On the bottom of the shelf are many threaded sockets for all of the accessories. Since there are so many sockets spaced out around the edges, it allows you to place the accessories wherever you like.
Assembly
With everything laid out, I sat on the floor and assembled the balolo Setup Cockpit. I’m happy to report that putting this modular monitor stand together is relatively quick and painless.
I started with the feet which are black for a nice contrast. Each foot has the screws already inserted so all you have to do is position them over the two threaded sockets on the bottom of the shelf and use the Allen wrench to tighten them.
It would be nice if the Allen wrench was longer as it is a little awkward to tighten the screws when you can’t grip the wrench very well. But that’s a minor gripe.
Once the two outer feet were attached, I attached the middle “foot”.
Next up was the felt-lined laptop tray that is large enough to accommodate up to a 14 inch laptop or tablet. The tray is made of steel like other accessories, making it very robust and sturdy.
As with the feet, attaching the tray is just a matter of using the included screws and Allen wrench to tighten 4 screws to the bottom side of the shelf.
The next step was to attach the MagSafe charger holder. One screw and done.
To tame any potential cable clutter, I attached 2 cable organizers.
One screw per hook.
Assembly complete!
After setting the shelf on the desk, I grabbed a MagSafe charger and inserted it into the MagSafe charger holder.
All that is left to do is to route the cable through one of the Cable Organizer hooks. Nice and tidy, just the way I like it!
I did run into a problem when I sent to set my 49-inch Dell Ultra Wide monitor on top of the balolo Setup Cockpit shelf. The screen height was higher than was comfortable for me to view. So I decided to place the shelf under the monitor.
At which point I ran into another issue with the center foot.
The foot rested on the Dell monitor’s existing base which caused it to raise the back of the balolo shelf. So what did I do? I just removed the center foot. I didn’t need it anyway since I wasn’t going to place a heavy monitor on top.
Voila! It looks awesome! It provides additional storage space that I can use for my 13-inch Macbook Pro, my journal, nick-nacks, etc.
I also like that that you can swivel the MagSafe holder left or right so that you can still view the screen while charging for watching video, Facetiming, etc.
balolo has great attention to detail. The laptop tray has an open slot in the sides for easy power cable routing for your laptop or tablet.
What I like
- Great craftsmanship with high quality materials
- Modular design
- Easy assembly
What I’d change
- Nothing
Final thoughts
I always appreciate well-made products where a lot of thought has gone into the design. I feel that balolo fits this description very well. The Setup Cockpit provides a lot of functionality while looking great. I can’t find a single fault in it except for maybe the length of the Allen wrench 😉 Seriously though, if you want one of the best monitor stands you can find for your desk, you need to check out balolo. I know you’ll like it as much as I do.
Price: $396.23 (shelf, laptop tray, catch-all tray, cable organizers, and MagSafe charger holder)
Where to buy: balolo
Source: The sample for this review was provided by balolo.
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Is the laptop shelf for a 14″ (diagonal) screen laptop, or a 14″ wide laptop?
The dimensions are 13 x 8.6 x 1.7 in. / 33,5 x 22 x 4,5 cm
What is the thickness of the steel of all the add-ons? It does not seems to be very thick which makes me a little apprehensive about the sturdiness.
Xavier, it’s very sturdy, the steel brackets are about 1/16 in (2cm) thick.
Hey Julie!
Do you know what is the angle used on the beveled edges?
It is 45 degrees?
Gabriel, I don’t have a way to measure the angle, but it’s close to 45 degrees. You could also contact Balolo and ask them.
Hey!
Do you know which size spec are the allen screws and wood inserts used in their System?
Mauricio, I don’t know that level of detail but I bet they will give you that info if you email them.