You know the experience: set your laptop on a tabletop or even a standing desk, and you’re in for an ergonomic nightmare. The screen always seems too low, forcing you to angle your neck and slump your shoulders at an uncomfortable angle. And if you plan to use a separate keyboard and mouse, there's nowhere to place it, as the laptop itself is in the way. That’s where a laptop stand comes in handy.
There’s an entire industry of laptop stands designed to raise, angle, and support your laptop in any situation imaginable. You might even need more than one stand, as some work best at your desk, while others help you work in bed or lounging on the couch. Some even turn your table into a standing desk or fold up neatly to be a perfect travel companion.
We've rounded up some of the best options out there. Check out our favorite laptop stands below.
TL;DR – These are the Best Laptops Stands for Desks:
- Rain Design mStand
- Griffin Elevator Laptop Stand
- Roost Laptop Stand
- Avantree Neetto Height Adjustable Laptop Bed Tray
- Ergotron WorkFit-T Standing Desk Converter
- VIVO Single Laptop Notebook Desk Mount Stand
- ElfAnt Laptop Stand
- Omoton Vertical Laptop Stand Holder
- Razer Laptop Stand Chroma V2
- MOFT Laptop Stand
Rain Design mStand
Best Minimalist Laptop Stand for Desk
For simplicity and elegance, the mStand by Rain Design is a strong pick. And when we say “strong,” we mean it. Built of a single, solid piece of aluminum, this laptop stand has no problem holding the most weighty laptops, and the aluminum acts as a heatsink to keep things cool.
Of course, the mStand’s main purpose is lifting your screen 5.9 inches, giving you a better, more ergonomic view. But that's not all, as it helps keep your desk space tidier with a place to stash your keyboard when it’s not in use and has cable management with a hole to run your power and wired accessories. Best of all, you can grab it for under $50, while it comes in four different colors that match the sleek stylings of the Macbook.
Griffin Elevator Laptop Stand
Best Budget Laptop Stand for Desk
For around $50, the Griffin Elevator Laptop Stand hoists your device up by 5.5 inches, so you can stop hunching down over your laptop display, ruining your posture and causing back pain. The elevated position can also benefit your video chats with a more natural camera angle—no more coworkers peering up your nose.
The design uses two sturdy aluminum arms with rubber bands to prevent your laptop from slipping and is then linked by a plastic bar. However, despite appearing rather large, the Griffin Elevator can come with you when traveling or working from different locations, as you can easily take it apart. And while you and your laptop are working hard, you don’t need to worry about the device overheating thanks to the ample airflow the stand provides.
Roost Laptop Stand
Best Portable Laptop Stand for Desk
Roost got its start as a crowd-funded Kickstarter project, and this newer iteration benefits from lessons learned while making the original. When you open up this compact stand, it looks fairly simple, as there is no tray for the laptop, but instead, clever "pivot clips" clamp down on your device. Therefore, there’s no way the computer can slide around, though the clip design limits you to laptops that are .75 inches thick or less (not including the lid).
Unlike most laptop stands, the Roost offers a good amount of adjustability, so your machine can sit as low as 6 inches off the table or as high as 14 inches, while a few preset angles make for easy positioning of the keyboard and screen. Though the Roost features a lightweight plastic build, don’t worry, it’s still rock-solid and well-balanced in use. And when it’s time to pack up, the stand collapses to 13 inches long and 1.25 inches wide and comes with a carrying sleeve to effortlessly slip into a backpack or briefcase.
Avantree Neetto Height Adjustable Laptop Bed Tray
Best Bedstand Laptop Stand for Desk
Everyone can appreciate breakfast in bed, but how about working from bed? The Avantree Neetto Height Adjustable Laptop Bed Tray can do both. You can even set it on the floor and use it as a TV serving tray for your kid or pop it on a desk, converting it to a standing desk.
Calling it a tray is a bit of a misnomer, as Avantree has really created more of a mini table featuring an engineered wood surface and sturdy aluminum legs that fold flat for storage. With the large size option, there’s even enough surface space for a big gaming laptop and a mouse on the side, and you can angle the table up 30 degrees. Its legs extend vertically, allowing you to adjust the height of your tabletop from 9.5 to 12.6 inches, so it can be at the perfect level to slide your body under and work.
Ergotron WorkFit-T Standing Desk Converter
Best Standing Desk Workstation Laptop Stand
Spending eight hours a day sitting at a desk isn’t the healthiest, and that’s where a standing desk comes into play. It significantly improves the ergonomics of your setup, so you’ll feel great even when you’re putting in long hours for work. But if you’ve already got a desk you love and don’t want to invest in a new one, there’s the Ergotron WorkFit-T Standing Desk Converter.
This oversized laptop stand sits on your desk, supporting up to 40 pounds, so you can put a laptop and even a second monitor on top, while the two-tier design lets you place a full-size keyboard and mouse underneath. When you’ve got the Ergotron folded flat, the top tier is five inches high, making it an ideal laptop stand for sitting in an office chair. It’s spring-loaded, so when you’re ready to stand up, your workstation smoothly elevates with ease up to 20 inches high.
VIVO Single Laptop Notebook Desk Mount Stand
Best Clamping Laptop Stand for Desk
Need to keep your desk completely clear? Then, your best option is to mount your laptop on a pole-and-clamp that hangs off the corner of your desk. VIVO’s Single Laptop Notebook Desk Mount Stand lets you do this cheaply. It’s a simple steel pole with a rigid clamp that attaches to an arm, and that arm holds a 14-by-12-inch laptop tray.
With VIVO’s stand, the arm can mount at any height you need, from desk height to about 17 inches higher, though any adjustments require using an Allen wrench—not the most convenient. But don’t worry, you won’t need to drill holes or damage the desk, as the pole clamps onto the desk and includes pads to avoid scratching the surface, or there’s a grommet mount. Once configured, you can swing the arm around the pole 360 degrees and adjust the angle of the ventilated laptop tray. The package also has a monitor bracket to hang a gaming monitor instead.
ElfAnt Laptop Stand
Best Adjustable Laptop Stand for Desk
You're probably not always working at the same table or desk, so an adjustable option like the ElfAnt Laptop Stand should come in handy. It supports a wide range of positions with a height range from 2.75 inches up to 12.6 inches to find the best viewing angles. And with silicone pads placed along the frame, your machine won't slide around or get scratched up by the stand.
If you travel around a bunch for work, the ElfAnt Laptop Stand is incredibly portable thanks to its fold-up design and lightweight build. It uses a series of aluminum bars with hinges and a scissor mechanism, letting it fold up to just 11 by 4.33 inches and then expands to hold 17-inch laptops. The sturdy aluminum frame even supports up to 15 pounds, so you’ll be hard-pressed to find a laptop this stand can’t handle.
Omoton Vertical Laptop Stand Holder
Best Vertical Laptop Stand for Desk
A solid hub connecting your laptop to a monitor or two, a keyboard, and a mouse means you might not need much from your laptop’s own built-in display, keyboard, or trackpad. In that case, why not streamline your desk setup with the Omoton Vertical Laptop Stand Holder? This holder situates your laptop vertically, like a super-thin tower desktop, letting you clear up desk space.
Omoton’s stand is made of a brushed aluminum alloy that’s lightweight and sturdy. Thin-and-light laptop models measuring 0.55 inches thick to chunkier gaming laptops up to 2.71 inches slot right in, thanks to the adjustability of the holder using an included screwdriver. Inside is a silicone surface to keep your device in place and prevent scratches, while the bottom also features a silicone grip to stop your setup from sliding around.
Razer Laptop Stand Chroma V2
Best RGB Laptop Stand for Desk
If you want a highly capable hub full of RGB lighting that also happens to raise your laptop, the Razer Laptop Stand Chroma V2 is it. You get a sturdy aluminum frame that holds your device up at an 18-degree angle. And taking your setup a step further than the other stands on this list is a flashy adjustable RGB strip on the front edge of the stand, letting you play around with lighting effects and patterns.
As we mentioned, The Razer Laptop Stand Chroma V2 is more than just a stand, as it’s also a hub. There’s a USB-C attached that plugs into compatible computers, giving you access to USB data connections, as well as video outputs over HDMI and USB-C. You can connect two dual displays up to 1440p/60Hz or a single 4K or 5K monitor. And you even get USB passthrough charging for your laptop.
MOFT Laptop Stand
Best Laptop Stand for Travel
While many laptop stands can be handy for making your laptop more usable at home, not all are as ready to travel as your laptop, leaving you without a stand when you’re on the go. Luckily, the MOFT Laptop Stand can easily slide into your bag and go with its ultra-thin, ultra-light design. It weighs less than a fifth of a pound and is only 3mm thick.
This stand is essentially a sheet of sturdy PU and fiberglass that sticks onto the base of your laptop and uses a series of folds lifting its rear two or three inches for a better viewing angle. The MOFT holds 15.6-inch laptops and supports up to 18 pounds, so you'll be hard-pressed to find another laptop stand that adds such little bulk while remaining durable.
What to Look for in a Laptop Stand
A laptop stand doesn’t need to be expensive. It’s designed to raise the laptop screen to a more ergonomic viewing height and clear the path for a full-size keyboard and mouse. Need a stop-gap? A stack of books could do that (albeit poorly) for free.
The most important criterion for an effective laptop stand is that it should position the laptop to work best for your sitting or standing height. A common recommendation is to put the top of the monitor at eye level. While even a fixed-height laptop stand is an improvement over staring down at a portable PC on the tabletop, it can be well worth investing in one that gives you the flexibility of an adjustable height.
But your eye line isn’t the only thing a laptop stand can help: laptop angle is critical to your typing ergonomics (unless you’re using an external keyboard).
Beyond that, decide whether you want one permanently set on your desk or if your stand needs to be portable. If you want to toss it in a laptop case, the stand should fold up or collapse for convenience when traveling. Being lightweight is another factor, or it’ll get left behind.
Though, be sure the stand has a sturdy design that is strong enough to support your laptop—and has some way to keep your expensive computer from accidentally falling, even if that’s just rubberized or silicone pads to grip the bottom of the laptop.
You should always consider your own laptop. Will it physically fit on the stand you’re eyeing? Most laptop stands can accommodate even the largest laptops, but some have design features limiting the footprint or thickness they can hold.
Another consideration when picking a laptop stand is how your laptop circulates air. If the fans flow down through the bottom of the machine, your stand should have a way to let that air escape. Otherwise, you risk overheating and unexpected shut-downs.
Dave Johnson has been writing about gaming and tech since the days of the Palm Pilot. See him shout into the Twitter void @davejoh.
Danielle Abraham is a freelance writer and unpaid music historian.
