This ultra-light stand is going places

More precious than practical, laptop stands once seemed like an affectation to me. Then I started using a MacBook Pro as my daily workhorse, and the questionable ergonomics of working from a laptop started taking their toll. But I was hesitant to invest in a stand. Most are bulky and not terribly portable, leaving me torn betweeen traveling light and killing my wrists or lugging around a bulky piece of extra gear that nuked my MacBook’s portability. Then I stumbled upon Aviiq’s Portable Laptop Stand, which both saves my wrists and is light and compact enough that I don’t have any excuses for leaving it behind.

The Aviiq stand folds into a 12.67x2.75x.19-inch bundle, so it easily slides into even a stuffed laptop bag. At a svelte 5.3 ounces, it’s not adding much heft, either. It’s made from Hylite, an extremely light but strong composite of aluminum and polypropylene, which allows the stand to fold origami-style for travel. But don’t cringe at the idea of tossing a thin sheet of metal in your bag with your precious MacBook—the included microfiber bag shields your stuff from scratches and also doubles as a cleaning cloth.

Deploying the Aviiq is a simple matter of unfolding it and tucking the end into slots to create the 12-degree incline. Small rubber feet keep the stand in place and prevent your laptop from sliding off. Using the stand eliminates the bent wrists that ergonomists warn against, and when you’re standing, you can rotate your laptop, using the stand “backward” to correct your wrist positioning.

The bottom line. Even with its high-tech construction, 80 bucks feels steep for such a simple laptop accessory, and the incline angle isn’t adjustable. But if you work from a MacBook and space is at a premium, Aviiq’s Portable Laptop Stand is the lightest and most portable we’ve seen yet.