[Macworld]

Post your comments for A stand for MacBook and monitor here

[NTropy]

Jeeez, Jason - did you have a spy cam set up at my place or what? I have gone through this same argument with myself in just the past several days. I have a great Princeton LCD that I use at home but thought it might be nice to actually have access to the camera that's built in to my MacBook. From the looks of things, this will be perfect. Thank you!!

[Jason Snell]

NTropy, you might want to have that mole checked out. ;-)

[Michael33rs]

I see you are also a Trackball fan Jason. I love my Expert Mouse Wireless!

[Jason Snell]

Yes, I started using Kensington trackballs back in the 90s and I will use them until they stop making them. Love them, and they keep my wrists free of pain. If I never use a traditional mouse again it will be too soon. (But hey, to each his or her own.)

[Michael33rs]

I am feelin' you Jason! I too have been using Kensington Trackballs for years. The Expert Mouse is my third (the other two being an Orbit and Orbit Optical which I use with my iBook). And Kensington's customer service is first rate! I had a problem with my Expert Mouse which I had past the warranty period and they sent me out a brand new one free of charge! I am a Kensington Trackballer for life! (Sorry for getting off topic).

[zensunni]

It doesn't really seem (from the pic) to free up any desk space, despite both screen and laptop being elevated. It wasn't clear from the article whether the height can be adjusted for both the monitor and laptop? If so, how adjustable (e.g., could it be adjusted so that the top of the laptop reaches the top of the monitor)? If not, seems quite expensive.
Also, maybe it's just because you went with a larger than recommended screen, but it looks really lopsided. What's the stability like when the laptop isn't in the stand? It looks as if all the weight would be centered just to the right of the end of the foot, which seems a bit precarious.
I'm quite happy with my much cheaper setup. I have a 20" Belinea monitor to the left of my 15" MBP, which rests atop a Logitech Alto Express. The stand is quite cheap at $30, is much better than the Coolpad for use on a desk because it actually raises the screen five or six inches off the desk, bringing the screen higher and closer, and it looks quite slick. :)
The Coolpad doesn't raise the screen appreciably, which keeps it too low and too far way--both no-nos for occupational health and safety. IMO, it should only be used on your lap.

[Jason Snell]

Zensunni: See all that open desk space on the left side of the picture? That was where the laptop was. My desk is quite a bit more open now.
You can adjust the laptop's height when related to the monitor to a certain degree, but not as much as I'd like (as I mention in the story). However, my laptop could be higher than it is in the photo, if I wanted it to be. Every individual has to make their own personal ergonomic decisions, definitely. The entire rig moves up and down together quite well, which is nice if you need to move your screens up and down.
The stability is great, I have to say, when the laptop is on or off the stand. It seems quite sturdy to me. The base is wide enough to spread that weight out and make it quite stable.
I admit the Alto would be a better option than the coolpad in terms of lifting up my laptop (although the podium coolpad comes with risers to raise and tilt), but its primary use for me was lifting my MacBook Air just high enough so I can use a standard MacBook MagSafe adapter with it instead of a MacBook Air MagSafe adapter. :-)
At less than $200 I don't think this stand is overpriced, but I also appreciate that it's not for everybody. There are lots of other solutions that take up more desk space and offer less adjustibility and flexibility, but are way, way, way cheaper. But despite my initial skepticism, I ended up liking the Ergotron. It's pretty cool. I do wish I could have my laptop on the left instead of the right, though...

[ghettochild]

Uhmm, how about just using the iCurve or Elevator and just spend $50 instead of $150? In addition, you can place your laptop to the left or right of the monitor.

[smax013]

ghettochild said:

Uhmm, how about just using the iCurve or Elevator and just spend $50 instead of $150? In addition, you can place your laptop to the left or right of the monitor.

I rather like my mStand. Works well and has room underneath it for the keyboard or such.

[rlav]

What surprised me with the picture was that your keyboard and mouse are down lower than everything else. Is that healthy? (As I suspect my question has revealed, I know next to nothing about ergonomics.)

[sporobolus]

i just put the laptop on a box next the monitor; i align the bottoms of the screen, which is much more practical than the middles; sounds like this stand isn't flexible enough that i could count on doing the alignment properly ...

[Jason Snell]

ghettochild said:

Uhmm, how about just using the iCurve or Elevator and just spend $50 instead of $150? In addition, you can place your laptop to the left or right of the monitor.

Uhmm, that's great if you don't want to adjust your monitors up or down or change the angle. For that extra $100 you get a rig that moves together, which can be very useful. YMMV, of course.

[Jason Snell]

rlav said:

What surprised me with the picture was that your keyboard and mouse are down lower than everything else. Is that healthy?

Generally having a keyboard tray so that your keyboard and pointing device are lower than desk height is considered more ergonomically sound, since desk heights are generally set too high. Also it saves on desktop space!