Did you know that using your laptop sitting flat on the table in front of you means that your neck, back and shoulders are hunched down like a smooshed mushroom? Well, they are.. A couple of years back I started working from a place other than my regular home office, I have a stand up desk, and a monitor riser for my dual monitors, I have an ergonomic chair, too… We only get one back! (I wish I realised this when I was younger and waaay more stupid!)
Working on the dining table at this other location for a couple of weeks really made me realise just how bad it could be if you don’t sit correctly or view your laptop correctly! After a couple of days I was all sorts of aching and had to make a change.
Initially I whacked together a makeshift stand from some old plywood I had laying around, it certainly wasn’t a work of art, but it did the trick in the interim.
The problem with a pile of books or, if like me you’re a DIY kind of guy, the home made plywood laptop stand is that you can’t adjust it to sit exactly where you want it. Sure, I built the wooden one for me, I’m 6’3″ and so my 9yo can’t use it because it means the screen will be on a super weird angle. That said, I think that any stand is better than no stand – look after your bodies people.
Jump forward, as I usually do in reviews, and here we are with the Bonelk Elevate Gamer RGB laptop stand, and while I’m not a gamer, my 13yo thinks he’s one and so that’s the one we asked for to review (Thank you, Bonelk!) I actually really like the RGB LED lights just as a soft backlight when I’m working in a dimly lit room, it helps, if only a little, with eye strain.
Both my 13yo and my 9yo have tried the Bonelk Elevate Gamer RGB laptop stand and the ability to adjust the laptop to be in precisely the right position from as low as 40mm right up to 200mm was a complete win! You can see the variation in setup above and below.
I’m getting ahead of myself! unpacking the laptop stand I was immediately impressed with how solid the laptop stand was! It’s constructed with some super solid aluminium with no nonsense pivot points making it a stiff and strong laptop stand that folds down for easy travel. The stand fits easily into the front of my rolling suitcase along with my Macbook Pro in a sleeve. We tested the stand with a 13″ MacBook Pro, the stand will accommodate from an 11″ laptop right up to a 17″ laptop.
You can see just how solid the laptop stand is, above, with feet high enough to keep any laptop from sliding to an untimely demise. The stand has soft rubber pads where you need them to keep your laptop from scratching against the stand, and it also has pads underneath to protect the surface you’re working on. When you’re working on a lighter coloured bench or table the RGB lights are much more visible. There’s a single press button that allows you to choose between solid colour or breathing effects from 7 different backlit LED colours, as well as the USB plug point to plug in the included USB-A (Male) to Micro USB (Male) power cable.
With the exception of two minor snags, we love everything (Including the price! currently half off on the Bonelk website)
- When the laptop stand is fully collapsed for transport, if you lift the front of the stand up, the back can scratch the base of the stand – not a big deal, but it happens.
- I’d really like to start seeing USB-C adopted more into devices like this, and maybe even build in a hub (the options are endless)
For a super sturdy laptop stand at this price point, the Bonelk Elevate Gamer RGB laptop stand ticks all of the boxes. Well worth your hard-earned.
