Laptop stands have been around for a while now. They are still a very popular workspace accessory today, and that is for good reason.
They have a ton of inherent benefits. Because there are so many, we’re only going to talk about the main benefits that you should care about. Let’s get started.
If you’re in the market for a laptop stand, you might be interested in a laptop arm as well. Check out our article comparing laptop stands vs laptop arms.
Key Takeaways
- Laptop stands offer a ton of benefits for a relatively low cost. Here are the main reasons why laptop stands are worth it
- Lift screen to ergonomic height & improves posture
- Cool your laptop a bit better
- Frees up desk space underneath the stand
- Protects your laptop from desk level risks
- Forces the use of ergonomic dedicated peripherals
- Holds up to 8.8 lbs.
- Fully aluminum body
- Clean design with centered support
- Large front lip with grippy base
- High friction hinge is still easy to adjust
- Not stable to type on
Five Major Benefits of Using a Laptop Stand
1) Lifts Laptop Screen To Ergonomic Height
Laptops are computers primarily designed around portability. Users want the most functionality out of the smallest package. This means that ergonomics does not play a meaningful role in any laptop’s design.
So when we use a laptop at our desks, we pretty much have zero ergonomic features. You can physically feel the lack of ergonomics when using a laptop on a desk for very long hours.
Your neck quickly gets tired of looking downward. Your hands start feeling the hard front edge of your laptop. It really isn’t that pleasant.
How Do Laptop Stands Help With Ergonomics?
Laptop stands offer a huge improvement in ergonomics by simply raising our laptops off our desk surfaces. This puts our laptop screen at level with our eyes. Instead of looking downwards, we can look straight ahead.
Here are some sources that mention the importance of proper screen positioning:
- National Institute of Health
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- The University of Virginia
All of these sources mention the following important:
- Looking forward to your screen
- Proper upright posture
- Monitor distance an arm’s length away
Increasing the height of your laptop helps with each of these ergonomic goals.
The Besign LS10 Laptop Stand is adjustable, sturdy, and compatible with laptops up to 13 lbs. Its ergonomic design helps reduce neck fatigue, while the aluminum body keeps your laptop cool and stable.
Laptops are pretty thin these days and the screen is just above your hands. When placed on a desk, you have no choice but to look down at your laptop screen as you work, which goes against our ergonomic goals.
Lifting your laptop with a laptop stand gives you a much more comfortable viewing angle that doesnt strain your neck.
Do Laptop Stands Help With Posture?
When you look straight forward to your laptop instead of downwards, your posture naturally improves.
Looking down at a computer makes you tilt your neck and your spine follows that very easily. Soon enough you’re in a slouched position.
Viewing a laptop on a lifted laptop stand instead keeps your neck straight and promotes better posture. Even if you don’t buy a laptop stand, putting your laptop on a stack of books to improve your posture.
If you want to learn more about what can help you stay comfortable at your desk, check out our articles on making your chair more comfortable and how to minimize feet discomfort.
2) Laptop Stands Can Help With Cooling
If you are a power user, this will be an important feature of a laptop stand.
When you make your laptop word hard, they get pretty hot. As a result, they start limiting the performance, also known as throttling. Throttling tells your computer to stop working so hard so it can keep itself cool.
Laptops with some cooling assistance will result in your laptop not throttling performance as much.
Fortunately, laptop stands can offer exactly this. There are two ways a laptop stand can help with cooling down a laptop: ventilation and heat conduction.
If you are interested in how laptop stands compare against cooling pads, check out our dedicated article here.
Laptop Stand Ventilation
When you put your laptop on a laptop stand, it naturally gives your laptop more breathing room underneath. If you are thinking about using a vertical laptop holder, we take about vertical laptop stand safety here.
Most laptops have fans and vents on the bottom side of the laptop. Take a look at the bottom of my Dell XPS 15 for example, its all vents.
Manufacturers usually put feet under your laptop so there is a gap with tables and desks. That way your laptop vents are not suffocating.
When you place your laptop on a desk, it pretty much has the minimum acceptable breathing room.
When you place your laptop on a laptop stand, you increase the potential breathing volume. Your fans don’t have to work as hard, and your laptop is getting cooled a bit more efficiently.
Heat Conduction
The second method is direct heat conduction. This is where heat is transferred from your laptop to the laptop stand.
This is most effective if your laptop has an aluminum body and your laptop stand is also aluminum. Both aluminum surfaces have to be in contact for this to work though.
If your laptop’s rubber feet are resting on the laptop stand, then this won’t be a benefit.
Aluminum is a great conductor, which means it can carry heat away. If your metal laptop gets hot, and is placed on an aluminum laptop stand, it will immediately transfer heat to the laptop stand and reduce the heat in the laptop.
These two cooling methods means you are able to push your laptop a bit harder than normal. You won’t get these cooling advantages by just placing your laptop on a couple of books.
3) Free Up Desk Space With Laptop Stands
Did you know that a laptop stand can give you more space on your desk? It’s pretty counterintuitive. You would think adding an accessory to your desk would reduce space.
Laptop stands lift your laptop off of your desk and simply give you usable space underneath.
This is a very versatile amount of space. There is enough room for keyboard storage, book storage, or even some type of desk organizer. It functions similarly to monitor shelves.
A laptop stand makes use of vertical space, which is so important for optimizing storage space.
Here is the laptop stand I currently use, as seen in my photo above:
- Holds up to 8.8 lbs.
- Fully aluminum body
- Clean design with centered support
- Large front lip with grippy base
- High friction hinge is still easy to adjust
- Not stable to type on
If we combine all the laptop stand benefits, so far we have more space, better ergonomics, and a cooler laptop. Not bad for such an affordable accessory. But wait, there’s more!
4) Protects Your Laptop Through Elevation
Lifting your laptop from your desk surface actually protects it from all the commotion that can happen on a desk surface.
If you are active at your desk, your laptop can be at risk of random dings or spills. If you are flipping through books, organizing papers, drinking coffee, juggling pens and pencils, it can be a little scary to have your precious laptop in the middle of all that.
Almost everyone has once knocked over a cup of coffee or an open drink on a table. You don’t want to accidentally knock a beverage onto your own laptop!
A laptop stand lifts your laptop away from the ‘danger zone’ of a very active desk surface. The risk goes way down if your laptop is a bit more elevated than the other items at your desk.
5) Laptop Stands Force Use Of Dedicated Peripherals
The last major advantage of laptop stands circles back to overall ergonomics.
When you place your laptop on a laptop stand, the keyboard and trackpad are now at a horrible position for ergonomics. This forces you to use an external keyboard and mouse.
This is definitely a good thing. Laptop keyboarda and trackpads are far from efficient. A dedicated keyboard and a dedicated mouse will give you a much more comfortable workflow.
This also opens up the possibility of using a ton more ergonomic accessories!
The wireless keyboard offers a 10m range and features a curved, split keyframe for improved typing posture. A pillowed wrist rest with memory foam offers 54% more wrist support and 25% less bending. The keyboard features perfect stroke keys that match the shape of your fingertips.
The MX Vertical Mouse offers a natural handshake position that reduces muscular activity by 10%. The unique 57° vertical angle reduces pressure on your wrist and thumb. Tested and approved by leading ergonomists, the mouse reduces muscle strain and wrist pressure. The 4000 DPI high-precision sensor results in 4x less hand movement and reduces fatigue.
If you buy a laptop stand and pair it with ergonomic peripherals and accessories, it will be a night and day difference in comfort.
You will be able to work much longer without feeling as fatigued. Do yourself a favor and take some steps to make your workspace more ergonomic!
Are Laptop Stands Worth It?
So after all that, is a laptop stand worth it?
The short answer is YES. You get better viewing ergonomics, better laptop cooling, more space on your desk, laptop protection, and you are forced to use dedicated peripherals which are much more comfortable. All that for a relatively low cost.
If you feel discomfort after long hours of using your laptop alone on your desk, you should certainly consider a laptop stand.
If your neck feels strained or your back is slouched, this could help. Same is true if your hands don’t feel great after long hours of typing on that laptop.
Is A Laptop Stand Really Necessary?
Is a laptop stand necessary? No, they are completely optional accessories. Your laptop is still completely functional without one.
I would only consider it necessary if you spend long hours on your laptop. Bad ergonomics for long periods of time can have long term consequences. Things like carpal tunnel syndrome, aching neck and back due to posture are all possible.
Think about your future self, and strongly consider increasing the ergonomics of your workspace. A laptop stand is a great step to take here.
If you don’t want to spend any money, just place your laptop on a set of books until they are at an ergonomic height. You can also find dirt cheap wired keyboards and mice at any thrift store or Facebook Marketplace.
Disadvantages Of Laptop Stands
Is it all sunshine and rainbows? Are laptop stands a slam dunk? Not completely. Here are some of the disadvantages of laptop stands.
1) Need Dedicated Peripherals
We did note this as a benefit of laptop stands, because of all the ergonomic options that become available to you.
However if you are tight on a budget, then when you buy a laptop stand, you also have to buy a keyboard and mouse. That is more than just the cost of a laptop stand.
Depending on the keyboard and mouse you want, that cost could add up and be out of budget.
Here is a pretty affordable wireless keybaord and mouse combo from Logitech:
The MK270 combo wireless keyboard and mouse features a plug-and-play USB receiver, a comfortable typing experience, a spill-resistant design, durable keys, sturdy tilt legs, and a comfortable compact wireless mouse with long battery life.
2) Increases Viewing Distance
Increasing viewing distance is good for your eyes. That was another benefit of the laptop stand ergonomics.
However, laptops have pretty small screens compared to dedicated monitors. The average dedicated monitor is around 24 inches. Laptops on the other hand are anywhere between 11 and 17 inches. 13 and 15 inch laptops are the most common.
When you use a laptop stand and distance your laptop from yourself, this can make things on your screen a bit smaller than you would like.
Of course you can simply bring your laptop closer to you. Just decrease the brightness as much as feasible to protect your eyes.
Take Laptop Stands To The Next Level
Lastly, I wanted to give you some ideas on taking your laptop stand to the next level. There are a ton of different workspace configurations out there, so here are a few ideas.
Pair With External Monitor
Using an external monitor can be a game changer. More screen real estate means better mutitasking by showing more than one window at a time.
A standard 1080p monitor can easily be found for around $100. It’s a small price for a huge productivity boost.
The 21.5-inch Full HD IPS display with Radeon free sync technology provides a zero-frame design, ultra-thin body, and 4ms response time. With a 16:9 aspect ratio, 16.7 million colors, and 250-nit brightness, it's perfect for business or personal use. HDMI and VGA ports are available.
You can also get a dedicated monitor and laptop stand combo that clamps on your desk. This really maximizes desk space and productivity.
Check out some of our articles for dedicated monitors:
–How To Mount Monitors Without VESA Mounting Holes
-The Best Desk Size For Dual Monitors
Desk Clamp Laptop Stand
If you want even more desk space, try out a desk clamp laptop arm.
This uses a very small area of your desk for a clamp, and an arm extends to hold your laptop. This gives you way more desk space compared to a traditional laptop stand.
The laptop arm mount saves space, keeps your workstation organized, and promotes efficient multitasking. The 360-degree rotation feature provides complete flexibility to achieve the perfect viewing angle.
- Low profile design
- Gas spring actuated
- Laptop side supports
- 12-17" laptop compatibility
- High cost