Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JongnoGuru]

This isn't a rant against laptop computers, and I don't want a pitched battle between the desktop & laptop factions, or a discussion of the pros & cons of one or the other. Rather, I want to discuss and hear user opinions on... Laptop Risers. Could be a good name for a geek-oriented lapdance club. But I mean the accessory you might use if you're feeling the neck strain of long hours using a laptop computer.

This illustration is worth a few hundred words of boring detail:



So that's me in the Before illustration, and it has to stop. But with so many people using laptops, often as their only system, it can't be just me who's having to deal with the neck strain. So, what are the rest of doing about it?

Ideas I've already tried or thought of (so don't bother suggesting them):

1. Put a big phonebook-sized book or other prop beneath the laptop.

Tried it. Problem? The screen height is still too low. Lay on another book? Done that. The screen height is okay, but then it becomes cramped and uncomfortable to type because the keyboard is too high.

2. Lower the height of my chair seat. (Or, throw on the books and raise the seat height)

Tried that, too. Doesn't work for several reasons. First, I'm using a desktop system on an adjacent (main) work surface (L-shaped desk config.) plus I often print loads of illustrations which I tack up on a bulletin board, also at eye-level. The height of my chair seat is ideal for everything but the laptop. I can't be raising and lowering the seat constantly to accommodate that painfully-low laptop screen.

Second, proper seating posture is when your thighs are parallel to the floor and your feet are resting flat on the floor (not dangling above it like you're on a barstool). The only seat height that could bring the laptop screen up to proper viewing level would have me sitting so low that my knees would be poking upwards.

3. Then just buy a blasted laptop riser, like in the one in the After illustration, and stop wasting our time.

Yeah, I'm planning to do just that. Before I do, I wanted to hear what other people are using, if anything, and how well it works. Another problem, or limitation I'm dealing with is, the laptop is on a very shallow (side-)desk surface. It's the "leg" of the L-shaped desk configuration, and is really only intended for a printer or other peripheral, not as a dedicated work surface. It is only 40cm deep, in fact. That's plenty of space for a laptop, but for a laptop riser AND the external keyboard I'd have to be using -- it's going to be impossibly cramped, with the back leg of the laptop riser slipping off the back of the desktop or the keyboard tumbling off the front.



The After illustration shows 18" (nearly 46cm) depth, which is 6cm more than I have. What to do?

Here is another type of laptop riser. But I can't tell exactly how much front-to-back space it needs. Have a look.



If anyone's got one of these, could you measure the depth of the riser (I know it's adjustable, so perhaps measure the range) and then guesstimate whether the riser plus an external keyboard would fit on 40cm?

My aching back thanks all those who can help.

[Demophobe]

Wow! It adds a whole new dimension to the portability, space-saving ideas of the laptop!

[Col.Brandon]

Laptops aren't meant to be workhorses. If you're going to spend hours every day in front of your computer save the money you'd normally have to spend on a chiropractor and get yourself a desktop. Oh, and a decent chair.

By the way, in a previous life I was a systems analyst so I had to learn this lesson the hard way.

[RACETRAITOR]

All you really need is a USB keyboard.

[the_beaver]

[SuperHero]

[JongnoGuru]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I agree that laptops' primary virtue is portability. I also agree that they're not intended to handle the same sort of demands that desktop systems generally are.

However, whether or not laptops were intended for hours of continuous use, and whether or not people should use their laptops for hours & hours, god knows that millions of us do it anyway. Web-surfing & working all day, torrenting days & nights on end. Hence the need for and development of products like laptop risers, laptop fan coolers, etc.

What I'm using my laptop for isn't taxing at all for the computer itself. The demands I place on it are excessive only in terms of my own neck strain, which is purely a function of screen height. So then, if one of these cheap-as-sin laptop risers will resolve that issue, problem solved. Hours upon hours of giddy laptop computing I look forward to enjoying.

I just wondered if anyone else had one and could give me the measurements of the base. But I don't think I can wait. I'm placing the order now. 40cm has got to be enough space for the one in the bottom photo.

"Get a desktop system" -- I already have one on the main desk area and use it in conjunction with the laptop which sits on an adjacent (side)desk.

"Get a decent chair" -- My current office chair is a modern miracle of ergonomics and well-being. It is the most sought-after chair that there has ever been, and I would not part with it for love nor money. My chair is a frequent topic of Prime Minister's Question Time. Kim Jong-il would gladly submit to immediate, verifiable nuclear disarmament if only I would give him my chair. My chair is the only object wrought by the hand of God or man that is feared by Chuck Norris.

[Demophobe]

Well, seeing as the "riser" has already removed the on board keyboard / mouse functionality, your "pile'o'books" idea with a separate keyboard and mouse seems to be about the same, but free.

[JongnoGuru]

[Demophobe]

I'm just having a laugh. Of course it's better than books, and more ergonomic, etc...and certainly cheap enough.

It would be very neat if they put a cooling fan on the bottom of the riser.

All in all, it doesn't really take up any less space than a desktop with an LCD. The illustration is spot on for a CRT, but save the case on the floor, it's pretty much equal.

[JongnoGuru]

Wow!

This is perfect! And so cheap. (12,700 won?!?!? That was the price of my freedom from neck strain!!???)



http://www.interpark.com/product/MallDisplay.do?_method=detail&sc.shopNo=0000100000&sc.dispNo=003020013004003&sc.prdNo=4697209

I can't recommend this product enough. Everyone should buy one, whether you have a laptop computer or not -- because it's that good!!

[ChopChaeJoe]

I use a usb keyboard and I've never rellly noticed neck pain before, but that riser thing looks so cool that I simply must buy one. Thanks for the tip.