Flexible eWheelie Stand Improves Notebook Use at Your Desk

The increasing popularity of notebook computers, which represent a majority of Apple systems sold, has resulted in an amazing diversity of laptop stands offered by third-party vendors. Laptop stands roughly divide into three categories.

The first, simplest, and oldest are stands that are designed to help the computer run cooler, and/or keep your lap cooler as well with the machine used in conventional laptop mode with its built-in keyboard and trackpad. Examples include the Road Tools CoolPads, the LapBottom [seemingly discontinued - ed], and the fan-cooled Targus Notebook Chill Mat.

Then there are stands designed to support more comfortable and ergonomic use of laptops in desktop substitute mode in conjunction with an external keyboard and pointing device, some examples being the Lapvantage Loft Ergonomic Laptop Stand, the Contour NoteRiser, and the Griffin iCurve.

The third category encompasses stands intended to make laptop computing more comfortable when sitting or reclining away from a desk, examples being the Laptop Laidback and the Dexia Rack.

There's a fourth category, represented by the Keynamics eWheelie Laptop Stand, which is different from anything else on the market. The eWheelie's unique features are that it incorporates a couple of skateboard wheels, which make it easy to shift the computer out of your immediate workspace when you're working at a desk or table, and its facility to orient the laptop's keyboard at a more comfortable angle than if it was sitting flat on the work surface - by cantilevering it over the edge of the desk or table anchored by a heavy weight in the stand unit.

Why skateboard wheels? Well, because of the anchor weight, the eWheelie itself weighs 10 pounds, making its built-in carry handle more than a thoughtful convenience. Add the weight of a six or eight pound laptop, and you have one hefty package. The skateboard wheels make shifting the combined unit aside and back comfortably easy. No other product on the market allows a laptop to just be wheeled out the way, when not in use. With other products, the laptop must be picked up.

This extended placement also lowers your keyboard. All laptop stands facilitate raising your laptop, but the eWheelie Stand is the only laptop stand that lets you really lower your keyboard, to where your keyboard sits below your desktop. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the Department of Labor (OSHA) says that if you recline in your chair, this lowered position for your keyboard creates a more neutral ergonomic posture than you may otherwise have. The design of the Keynamics stand conforms in every respect with recommendations from OSHA.

For a graphic demonstration of the Keynamics stand in use, see http://www.laptop-ergonomics.com

The eWheelie also elevates the laptop and can be used with external input devices when that's desirable. Greg Bright conceived the ability to functionally separate the screen and keyboard so you can move the laptop around the desk. He has one patent approved and two others pending on this invention.

The eWheelie Laptop Stand additionally promotes convection cooling by angling the laptop, allowing the heat to travel up and out the back. Added air space when the laptop rests on the rear levelers also promotes air flow.

The stand has two pockets flanking the adjustable levelers, whose main function is to provide stability for the wheel axle bolt, but it can also hold most cell phones, PDAs, keys, paper clips, etc.

If you'll pardon a digression, Greg built the prototype for the eWheelie stand out of beautiful red oak, and knowing I am interested in woodworking was kind enough to send me a photo.

Of necessity, alas, the production eWheelie stand is made of ten pounds of steel and engineered ABS plastic resin. It is available in both black and white.

According to Greg, "you will not find pictures of people operating a laptop on a desk, be it in a magazine or on a website". Why show someone hunching over a keyboard with an unnatural posture for their back and their hands? It's no way to sell laptops! Yet, most of us buy laptops for this very reason - to use on a desk, at least part of the time. "

How securely will the eWheelie stand hold a laptop in place with a real assurance that it won't fall? Greg has tested his stand to a weight load of twenty pounds, more than twice the weight of any Apple laptop (save for the original Mac Portable). The stand incorporates a substantial support lip that works with the front edge of your laptop - regardless whether it's squared, rounded, or lipped - plus a "landing strip" of sticky 70 durometer rubber material made by 3M.

The back of the laptop rests on inverted levelers, which also have the sure grip of the 70 durometer (a measure of the hardness of polymers, elastomers, and rubber) 3M material, to ensure that the laptop, whatever its design, will fit solidly and securely on the stand. The eWheelie stand handles my wife's old WallStreet PowerBook - one of the biggest, heaviest Apple laptops ever made, with ease.

Despite its "desk-hugging" weight, the stand and laptop unit can be easily wheeled out of the way, when it is necessary to work by hand at a desk. True to Greg's garage background, the stand uses skateboard wheels complemented by hex head axle bolts and ABEC ball bearings to provide the slickest movement possible across the desk.

The eWheelie is not the sort of laptop stand that you will ever consider stuffing in your laptop case or backpack to take on the road (Keynamics has just a US$20 lightweight, stores-flat laptop stand called the Aviator that is ideal for taking along on the road), but for the legions of laptop users who operate mainly in desktop substitute mode, it's a solid and substantial piece of engineering unlike anything else on the market. It's well worth considering.

eWheelie laptop stand features in summary:

• Supports laptop at a 25° angle off the edge of the desk
• Supports laptop at a 20° angle on top of the desk
• Supports up to 20 pounds on the angled surface in the cantilevered position
• 3M resilient "Bumpon" rollstock landing strips and bottom edge gripper - 70 durometer with roll stock landing strips and bottom edge gripper
• Front support lip
• Total weight: 10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 14" wide x 13" deep x 4" tall
• Eight pound - 5/16" cold rolled steel anchor plate - powder coated
• Extra thick, engineered ABS plastic resin body
• 54mm x 36 mm 90 durometer skateboard wheels
• High performance ABEC skateboard ball bearings
• Nickel plated hex head axle bolt
• Industrial grade 2" diameter, 5/16" threaded shank swivel levelers

The eWheelie's retail price is $119, but it's currently on sale for $89.

Link: Keynamics