mStand
Company: Rain Design
Price: $49.90 ($5 off special pricing- $44.90 through December 25th)
http://www.raindesigninc.com
I’ve been using my MacBook (late 2007) more and more lately but I found myself getting tired and the edge of my palms getting sore from the sharp edges of the MacBook. I put a foam wrist rest up against the edge of the MacBook and that alleviated a lot of the problem but I wasn’t satisfied as I still found myself looking down at the display. Now with all the typing I was doing, I found myself stretching, getting up and moving around more before I resumed typing. Rain Design and their mStand to the rescue.
Made from one piece of aluminum, Rain Design’s ergonomically designed laptop stand is stylish, solid and built for the MacBook and MacBook Pro, though it will take any other laptop if you happen to use another manufacturer’s laptop. (Trust me, as I actually used it with a Dell laptop,not mine, to test it out) The mStand is designed to match up with the sand blasted and anodized look of a MacBook or a MacBook Pro but it still looks great with an older white or black MacBook. The mStand is tilted which brings the screen up about 6 inches and now allows one to view the screen on a more level height than just resting it on a desktop or your lap. You don’t feel as tired when you are working with it as you do when the laptop is down lower.
As you can see by the pictures below, the mStand does a really great job of improving your use of your laptop. On the back of the stand, there is an opening to allow any cable to go neatly through it, cleaning up the appearance on your desk. The aluminum acts as a heat sink, drawing the heat that may be generated away from the unit. Another nice feature of raising your laptop up is that you can now hook up a regular keyboard and place it directly below the laptop and type more comfortably than you could before. I used a Mac keyboard, plugged the USB wireless receiver for my mouse into the keyboard and I was off and running at full speed. The hole in the back of the mStand permits me to bring the AC power adaptor cable through it and the same for the cable to my external USB hard drive that I back up my laptop to, making things a lot neater on my desktop.
I tried pulling the mStand forward while my MacBook was open on it to see if there would be any problem with the stand not being balanced, it didn’t budge. There is no problem in opening your MacBook while it is sitting on the stand as there is a notch in the aluminum where the you would place your finger to open up the MacBook. The design of the stand also allows you to place your external keyboard underneath it, providing more desktop space when you’re not using your laptop. Another nice feature is that there are rubber pads on the surface where your MacBook (Pro) will rest, keeping the bottom of your laptop from being scratched and also holding it in place so it won’t slide. Now to be honest, you’re not going to be able to fold this stand up and take it with you on a business trip. Some may be turned off by the price, but you’re getting a sturdy, solid, all-aluminum stand that provides better ergonomic use of your laptop. But, if you are looking to work more efficiently and not feel as tired when you are working, then check out the mStand.
Specifications:
mStand weight – 3 pounds
Fits all 13″ MacBooks, 15″ and 17″ MacBook Pro’s, and will also fit most 14″ laptops with a depth that doesn’t exceed 10″
Made from one piece of aluminum
So to review:
Pro: Well designed, stylish, solid and built to last, the mStand is what you really need if you are a laptop user. Excellent quality.
Cons: Nothing major that I could find. (Unless you want a laptop stand that swivels, which the mStand does not do)
Highly recommended!
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A good place to start is a large office supply store that has dedicated knowledgeable staff members purposely working in the computer department. Often, these employees are computer gurus; they tend to be honest and forthcoming about the better brands, and readily share their tried and true favorites. These stores do have sales, and many have a clearance board as well of more pricey models that just need to be moved for new inventory.