What to Look For in a Laptop Stand in 2022
When buying a stand, you want to ensure it can sustain the size of your laptop without failing. If you use a smaller device, you shouldn’t have trouble getting a good option. However, things start to get dicey if you have a large 17-inch laptop. Make sure you know how big and heavy your laptop is, and you can start your search from there.
Aside from size and weight, adjustability is another important aspect of choosing a laptop stand. This simple but important feature will ensure you can set your device at the perfect level regardless of torso or table height. Some stands can even reach considerable heights, making them perfect as a standing desk replacement.
Alongside adjustability is portability, as this will determine if you can easily move the stand between your home and workplace or take it on a journey. If you’re planning on keeping the stand in one place, this isn’t a concern, but if you need a stand use your laptop wherever you go this is one of the most important factors to make.
While not the most important, you should look into the material and finish of a stand before making a purchase. Most options are made of metals like aluminum, but wooden and plastic builds also exist. Metal will be more durable but heavier, for the most part, so make sure the material is ideal for your use case.
Once your criteria are sorted, it’s time to start looking at the stands that could be propping up your laptops or PCs.
Pros
- ✓ Sturdy, stylish design
- ✓ Effortless adjustability
- ✓ Can hold most laptops
Cons
- ✗ Small range of height adjustability
- ✗ Not portable
Kicking off the list is the Rain Design iLevel 2. Its simple and sturdy anodized aluminum build allows it to hold up a range of laptop body types measuring up to 15-inches easily. Even with a heavier laptops, you can rest assured that it will remain in place and not wobble, thanks to the rubber stoppers across the four corners and an innovative front hinge design that isn’t susceptible to toppling backward.
The Rain Design iLevel 2 is not the most adjustable laptop stand. But its resting height is roughly 6.5 inches above the desk surface, and it features a tilting mechanism that props up the rear end of your device another 2.5 inches so you can get that extra height when needed.
While the range is nothing exceptional, the adjustment itself is one of the easiest on a laptop stand. It only requires sliding a knob from left to right, making it one of the device’s strongest selling points.
You don’t have to worry about ruining the look of your existing setup, as the ergonomic design and silver finish make the laptop stand to look nice sitting on a desk. And if you don’t have any form of cable management, the space behind the stand could serve as a nifty makeshift hiding spot for unsightly wires.
The one downside of this stand is that it’s not portable. The mostly fixed design means that it cannot be folded into a simpler structure to be carried between your home and office setups.
Best Laptop Stand Overall
Rain Design iLevel 2
Rain Design has an exceptionally sturdy and stylish laptop stand that can sustain most laptops. Plus, you would hardly find an alternative that’s easier to adjust.
Pros
- ✓ Very cheap
- ✓ Sturdy, stylish design
- ✓ Suitable for most laptops
Cons
- ✗ Not adjustable
- ✗ Not portable
If you want a simple stand to raise your laptop, but don’t want to spend too much, the Nulaxy Laptop Stand is the one for you. It’s an ultracheap option that lifts the rear of your laptop by 7 inches, allowing you to reach or get close to an eye-level setup.
Despite costing less than everything else on this list, it can easily hold between 10 and 16-inch laptops. And if you want a color-matching workspace, you’ll like that it comes in many tones, including blue, red, and purple.
One downside of the Nulaxy Laptop Stand is its lack of adjustability. This is a fixed stand with a fixed height. This also means that you won’t be able to collapse the stand into a more portable form. However, at this price point, these are understandable compromises to make.
Best Budget Laptop Stand
Nulaxy Laptop Stand
Need to save a few dollars? This basic laptop stand supports most laptop sizes. Plus, it’s stylish and comes in many colors.
Pros
- ✓ Exceptionally sturdy
- ✓ 20-inch height reach
- ✓ Super easy adjustability
- ✓ Two-tier design
All the other stands on this list have a specialty, causing them to compromise on other aspects at times. But if you want an absolute all-around laptop stand for your desk, you should consider the Ergotron WorkFit-T Standing Desk Converter.
Its mini desk-like design gives it the same level of sturdiness as your normal desk. Add to that the oversized footprint, and you have a tool that can handle even your most hefty office or home setup (up to 40 pounds).
As the name suggests, the Ergotron Laptop Stand is the ideal alternative to a standing desk because it can lift your laptop up to 20 inches. The stand also has enough space for a full-size keyboard and mouse underneath, thanks to a two-tier design. It’s also easy to elevate and can be operated by one person, thanks to its spring-loaded mechanism.
When collapsed, it’s still at least 5 inches high, and it doesn’t compromise that much-needed keyboard space, so it’s far from portable.
The major downside of this stand is its cost. At almost $500, it’s at least six times more expensive than anything else on this list. If that’s too much, you can get the lower-priced Ergotron WorkFit-Z Mini Standing Desk Converter, which is slightly smaller, holds less weight, and doesn’t rise as tall—but has a smaller price tag for those compromises.
Best Laptop Stand for Desks
Ergotron WorkFit-T Standing Desk Converter
If you’re not looking to move your stand, the WorkFit-T is super sturdy and adjusts easily. Plus, it can extend up to 20 inches making it an ideal standing desk alternative.
$462.20 $750.00 Save 38%
Pros
- ✓ Portable when folded
- ✓ Lightweight
- ✓ Sturdy enough for most laptops
If you need a laptop you can effortlessly move between the home and the office, the Nexstand Laptop Stand is the best option. It can hold laptops weighing up to 20 pounds at anywhere from 5.5 inches to 12.6 inches high.
The front part of the stand has a pinch mechanism that only allows it to fit laptops with front edges measuring less than 0.75 inches; however, that should be sufficient for most modern laptops.
The stand can be adjusted between eight different height settings. However, the process can be tricky as you need to tug on the two latches on its legs simultaneously to lower or raise the stand. It might seem annoying, but it’s easy once you get the hang of it.
Where the Nexstand excels is in its compactness and portability. When folded, it takes the shape of a stick measuring 14 by 1.5 by 1.5 inches and weighing only 8 ounces—an easy fit for most backpacks and laptop bags.
One downside of the laptop stand is that it’s made of plastic, which makes it feel cheap compared to the other picks on this list. However, this is more an issue of form over function, as the Nexstand is sturdy despite the four-legged base.
Best Portable Laptop Stand
Nexstand Laptop Stand
Nexstand offers a portable, lightweight laptop stand that can fit in almost any backpack while still supporting most laptops.
Pros
- ✓ Great for sitting and standing
- ✓ Very sturdy even at max height
- ✓ Can hold 17-inch laptops easily
Cons
- ✗ Hard to adjust
- ✗ May topple at max height
The Lifelong Upryze Ergonomic Stand is our adjustability pick, thanks to its suitability for both sitting and standing positions. It takes the form of two metal plates, one on the base and the other up top for the laptop, separated by an extendable arm to give a Z-shaped design.
The arm can reach 13 inches at maximum length, just above the Nexstand’s 12.6 inches. However, the stand can extend a further 7 inches to reach 20 inches in total by tilting the upper plate.
Overall, the Upryze Ergonomic Stand can accommodate a wider range of heights. It can even be cheaper than an adjustable desk if you like to switch between standing and sitting while working. Of course, you can’t hit a mouse or keyboard on this stand, but it’ll work.
While a 20-inch tall stand would typically struggle to hold a heavy laptop, the same can’t be said of the Upryze stand. It’s one of the sturdiest options on this list, capable of easily holding up bulky 17-inch laptops—most other stands would sink under the weight.
One downside is that the small base doesn’t seem to provide enough leverage at maximum height, putting the stand at risk of toppling backward if accidentally bumped into—typing on the laptop keyboard at that height is also not a good idea.
Another pain point is the stiff hinges that require a fair bit of effort to adjust. This makes sense as it helps prevent the stand from sinking, but it still makes it difficult to adjust.
Pros
- ✓ Affordable
- ✓ Two USB ports
- ✓ Triple fan configuration
Cons
- ✗ No controls for fan speed
- ✗ No rubber stoppers for laptop
Whether gaming, running graphic intensive software, or opening hundreds of Chrome tabs simultaneously, your laptop will likely warm up a little under heavy strain. So, it would help if you had a cooling pad to cool things down, and we recommend the Havit HV-F2056 Cooling Pad.
It features three fans capable of reaching around 1,100 RPMs to draw away heat from your laptop. The fans, alongside the on/off switch, have LED indicators, so you know the working status of the pad, even at night.
As far as laptop stand capabilities go, the Havit HV-F2056 has two foldable legs you can prop up to adjust the height and angle of your laptop for more comfort. Just don’t expect to get any decent height from it—this is a cooling pad first and foremost.
The price makes the Havit HV-F2056 Cooling Pad better than most other options on the market. It costs only a few dollars more than the Nulaxy stand, our budget pick, making it the second cheapest device on the list. For this price, you get two USB to USB connection ports for peripherals, external storage devices, and even a power switch for the fans and LED lights.
The cooling pad can easily accommodate up to 17-inch wide laptops. Plus, you get a decent amount of color flexibility, as it comes in the black version with blue or red LED lights and a blue version with blue lights.
Best Laptop Cooling Pad
