NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article, January 2007
Laptop Desk
Simple Accessory Provides Comfort and Ease of Use

By Gabe Goldberg,
Columnist for CompuKISS.com; APCUG Advisor;
Program Coordinator & APCUG Rep, Capital PC User Group, Inc.

http://www.compukiss.com/
gabe@gabegold.com (click to email author)


It's the rare simple device that hitches a ride on multiple trends simultaneously. How simple? Three moving parts. Which trends? First, folks downsizing living quarters as their nests empty; second, increased use of laptop PCs as primary, only, or secondary computers; and third, laptop computers operating hotter as they become ever more powerful. The device? The Laptop Desk from LapWorks.

It's an elegantly simple laptop stand. My wife calls it, "a seemingly insignificant piece of plastic, which I love". Before she had it, she was constantly trying to find things to put under her computer to prop it up. She tried books of varying sizes, pieces of wood, parts from other office equipment, TV remotes, whatever came into view. None of them worked and the laptop's utter flatness drove her crazy.

Now, she takes it everywhere she takes her laptop. "It's great!", she says. She props it up at varying angles, depending where she's working...on her lap, a table, a desk, wherever she moves, and she moves around a lot. Folding flat and sliding into the laptop case, it's not in the way when she's on the move. It allows customizing the keyboard angle for easy typing. And because of the elevation, our cats no longer walk across or lie down on laptop keyboards.

The stand consists mostly of two sturdy hinged plastic pieces with raised rubber pieces that hold the laptop in place. A smaller third piece fits into slots providing five different elevation options.

The hinged pieces, rippled in design with raised rubber pieces, hold the laptop in place and allow air to circulate underneath it. So the computer's heat is well-vented, avoiding discomfort from resting the laptop on your lap or major damage to the computer.

Three models of The Laptop Desk are available: the UltraLite, for newer/lighter laptop computers; the Laptop Desk 2.0, for heavier PCs; and the Laptop Desk 1.0, a simpler version not providing elevation, intended for human-lap use only.

Costing less than $30, the Laptop Desk is a handy addition to portable PC computing. And unlike most computer accessories, it needs no assembly or installation, doesn't require reading instructions, and includes no software that will become obsolete. Manufacturer: LapWorks
http://www.laptopdesk.net
Retail: About $30

This article from the CompuKISS Web site, http://www.compukiss.com, is copyrighted by Gabriel Goldberg. It may be reproduced, for single use, or by nonprofit organizations for educational purposes, with attribution to CompuKISS. It should be unchanged and this paragraph included. Please e-mail gabe(at)gabegold.com when you use it, or for permission to excerpt or condense.

There is no restriction against any non-profit group using this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given the author. The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.

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