Unless you wear bifocals and have to tip your head up to read the monitor to begin with. Having the monitor too high leads to neck pain....I know...I bought the VESA adapter and an Ergotron heavy duty stand to mount my 24" iMac on (had to be heavy duty to hold the added weight of the iMac over a "normal" 24" monitor). Why Apple won't make a height adjustable stand for iMacs and monitors is beyond me.
I use regular reading glasses that have been set-up for using with computer displays. Specifically, the prescription distance is farther away than it would be for glasses used for reading.
My computer desk and chair are typical: there is a keyboard and input device shelf that is slightly below the desktop. To make it work with my 24" iMac my chair is raised as high as it will go, which fortunately still allows my knees to fit under the shelf. If I raised it any higher my knees would not go under the shelf. My keyboard and trackball are raised on books to compensate for my chair height.
Even so, my eyes are still slightly below the top third of the display. To make it workable I must lower windows on the display so they appear in the lower half of the screen.
When I looked at the specifications of various computer furniture such as the pricey Anthro and Biomorph lines, I could not determine any advantage to switching to them. Computer furniture is constrained by the current state of the human body; perhaps if we wait a million years or so evolutionary forces will alter humanity so that our torso and necks are longer so this will no longer be a problem.
Enter my NEC display with its vertical adjustment option. I can raise or lower the display with one hand; if I switch from a chair to a kneeling chair it takes a couple of seconds to adjust the display. When my 5'4.5" wife uses the display she can lower it to suit her height. The display can also be tilted, which is not a critical adjustment in my experience except when showing something to a person who is standing beside me.
The NEC display is actually quite substantial. It weighs about as much as my iMac, which surprised me. (Someone told me that it essentially has a computer of its own to allow for the extensive calibration tweaking that is accessed via its front panel and built-in menu options.) But the stand is sturdy and the displays stays put. There is a detachable cover that hides cables connected to the rear of the display.
It is also anti-glare. While it isn't quite as "fine grained" in appearance as my Apple matte displays, I quickly became accustomed to it and I stopped noticing it within an hour or so after I started using it. I have worked on glassy Apple displays and the NEC does a better job of showing shadow detail, which is an important distinction when working with digital images (I'm a pro photographer with over 30 years of experience). Glossy LED displays tend to compress the dynamic range so that shadow areas appear darker. Images are more vibrant for lack of a better term and that impresses many people, but it isn't very helpful when you are trying to accurately assess an image during the editing process.
It would be a simple thing to add height adjustment to iMacs and Apple displays. Why Apple has chosen to ignore this most basic ergonomic function is beyond me.
BTW, here is a long discussion on the Hard Forum about LED backlighting that includes links to additional articles:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1528230
