The promise of a laptop is to let you work anywhere. But their dirty secret is that the "comfort" of being able to answer email from your favorite coffee shop often isn't that comfortable at all. If you've ever tried to type a long missive on a totally flat keyboard, bending your wrists weirdly to do so, or suffered a sore neck from titling your craning down to focus on the screen, you know what we're talking about.
Aviiq makes some well-constructed and handsome full-size laptop stands, but the new Portable Quick Stand is designed to go wherever the spirit takes you and your 'Book. When folded up it's 11 inches long, 3.25 inches wide, and not even 0.25 inches thick—not to mention a mere 5.5 ounces. So it takes up next to no space in your laptop bag, and you could even shove it into a laptop sleeve right next to your Mac.
Once you pick out your table at Peet's Coffee and Tea, the Aviiq pops up to a triangular shape, rising 2.25 inches high. This keeps your laptop's keyboard at a comfy 12 degrees, just right for typing with nice, straight wrists like your typing teacher (do they still have those?) taught you. Your precious 'Book is held stable by rubber caps on either end of the Portable Quick Stand, and Aviiq offers those in five colors: gray, black, green, blue, and magenta. They're glued on, so you can't switch them out, but who cares?
The bottom line. At first glance, $40 seems a little on the steep side for this relatively basic piece of hardware. But it works well, it's solidly made, and it's cheaper than Aviiq's Portable Laptop Stand ($59.99 original, $79.99 premium). If you took this one away from me now that I'm hooked on it, I would probably pay $40 to get it back. Maybe. Once my wrists started to hurt.
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Portable Quick Stand
13- to 17-inch notebook
Light and portable. Folds down thin. Angles keyboard to 12 degrees. Rubber bumpers come in five colors.
A little steep at 40 bucks, but it's well made and should last.
