Product Review: iLap Laptop Stand

Every so often comes a product that I fall in love with at first sight. Rain Design's iLap laptop stand is such a product (compare iLap prices at PCPrices/Mac). Even before I got my hands on one at MacWorld last month, I was struck by photos of its simple, cool design. While I wasn't so sure that iLap would be all that useful, I wanted one just the same. Now that I've been using one for the past few weeks, I can confirm that it is actually quite handy and that I'm still pretty much gaga over it.

iLap is essentially a sheet of sturdy, lightweight brushed aluminum fitted with two velvet cushions by way of a curved lip in the metal at one end and a swiveling, hinged foot at the other end. Your laptop rests atop the aluminum sheet and said foot serves to prop your machine up at a suitable angle for typing and looking at the screen. The removable front cushion adds both leg protection and a wrist pad when you're working with your computer in your lap. When using iLap on a tabletop, you take the cushion off to acheive a more ergonomically correct setup for your wrists.

iLap's main benefits are twofold: First, the stand really does help promote better working posture whether you're working at a table sitting in bed, in a chair, or on a couch. Second, the aluminum construction serves as a heat sink to help cool your computer down. This benefit is particularly noticeable with hot-running machines like Titanium and Aluminum PowerBook G4s -- while I didn't notice that much of a temperature difference using my iBook on iLap, I tried a friend's Aluminum PBG4 and sure enough, the computer's fan did seem to come on a little bit less often. Of course, iLap also keeps all that hot running metal off of your lap, which is nice.

I really like iLap for working in bed or on the couch. The stand's angles help prevent me from hunching my shoulders over, which does wonders for my neck and upper back muscles. Feeling iLap's velvety cushions on my legs is also much preferable to the plastic or metal bottom of a computer, as well. While I wish that Rain Design had somehow been clever enough to build enough additional flexibility into iLap to allow it to take the place of my desktop laptop stand, I can't really fault them for that -- I prefer to use an external keyboard with my iBook's screen raised up to eye level (which iLap can't accomodate), but many people don't and that's not iLap's purpose, anyway.

If you like to use your laptop as a laptop and are tired of hot legs, cramped shoulder and neck muscles, or both, iLap is the perfect solution for you. It's simple, it's beautiful, and it works - what more could you want?

iLap is available direct from Rain Design and comes in five sizes to accomodate various sizes of laptops. The 12 inch model sells for $49.90, the 14" and 15" (standard or widescreen) are $59.90, and the 17" widescreen model is $69.90. The stands are also available from select retailers.

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Noah Kravitz runs the Technology and Culture blog Threebase.com. He is an educator, musician, and writer who lives in Oakland, CA and is the author of Teaching and Learning with Technology.