Heat Reducing Ergonomic Notebook Stand
Bruce Von Stiers
I had just bought a new notebook, an Ispiron 1720 from Dell. But I was not able to view the screen very well with the unit sitting on my desktop. I guess I was too used to my 17” monitor from my old mini-tower computer.
Well, a solution came about in a way I hadn’t thought of. I was about to evaluate a brand new product from LapWorks. This is a company that makes laptop and desktop stands for notebook computers. The brand new product from LapWorks is the Attaché Laptop Stand.
Earlier products from Lapworks included a tray / stand that allowed you to use your notebook computer on your lap. Kind of like a breakfast food tray. They also have multi-positioned stands for using your notebook computer on a flat desktop surface.
This new product, the Attaché laptop stand, takes things quite a bit further than Lapworks’ earlier stands. There are four distinctly new features on the Attaché that won’t be found on the earlier products.
The Attaché Laptop Stand (the stand’s official name) was designed to be used when you need your notebook screen to be at eye level and you are using an external keyboard and mouse for data entry or other computer activity. The stand is also ergonomically friendly when typing on a notebook’s built in keyboard.
As I mentioned above, the Attaché is a bit different than the earlier stands. The Attaché has a concave design for the surface that the notebook computer will be positioned on. This exclusive design allows for a small cushion of air space between the bottom of the computer and the stand surface.
The stand also has two built-in fans. These fans blow air into the space between the computer and the stand surface. This provides an additional cooling effort to dispel heat from the notebook computer. The fans are powered through a USB patch cord that connects to your computer. There is an on / off switch at the side of the stand so you can turn off the fans if they aren’t needed or wanted. The fans automatically switch off when the computer is shut down. And there is a blue light on the left side of the stand used as an indicator that the fans are on. The fans themselves are really quiet. I had to lift up the unit just to peek and make sure they were working.
The Attaché also has an aluminum face plate. This plate helps displace any heat that the space cushion or fans couldn’t get rid of.
Getting back to the fan connection, some of you may be saying to yourself, yuck, another piece of equipment using up my limited USB ports. But not to worry. The stand has a 4-port USB hub built into it. So even though you lose a USB port on the computer itself, you actually gain three by using the stand’s ports.
The stand has four locking elevating positions. Unlike the company’s earlier stands, the Attaché has a spring loaded push button for positioning. Simply push in the button, move the stand support leg to one of the four elevation positions and then release the button. The support leg is now locked in position and won’t move until you change things again. You can have the stand at basically a horizontal position or change the position to about a 45 degree angle. The higher the angle, the better the viewing is. I know, for me, the 45 degree angle gets the computer screen about eye level. This does allow for better viewing, and gives my wrists a bit of support by resting below the keys on the computer.
The stand does have two flip-down arms at the bottom of the unit. These arms will hold the computer in place so it won’t fall off when the stand is elevated. And not to worry, the stand has been built to accept even the widest notebook computers that are on the market today.
The Attaché was a really good solution to my viewing problem with my new Dell notebook. It also relieved stress on my wrists by using the elevated angles. I had noticed a lot of heat surrounding the computer during usage. But with the concave design, the fans and the heat absorbing aluminum face plate, the notebook doesn’t seem to have any excessive heat.
You can buy the Attaché through amazon.com, other online retailers or directly through the manufacturer, LapWorks.
The Attaché retails for $69.95 US. LapWorks does offer a less expensive version of the stand for $ 49.95. This stand is called the Envoy. It has all of the same features of the Attaché except the aluminum face plate.
For more information about the Attaché Lap Stand, visit www.laptopdesk.net
© 2008 Bruce E Von Stiers