by Jeff Gamet, 9:00 AM EDT, October 5th, 2006
Airline trays, coffee shop tables, and hotel room desks... all places that your Mac laptop sits, but just doesn't feel great. The AVIATOR Laptop Stand from Keynamics aims to bring a little bit of comfort back to your portable computing experience. The AVIATOR lifts your laptop up and off of the desk or airline tray surface and tilts it forward, placing the keyboard at a more comfortable angle. I found it to be especially useful at my local coffee shop since it put my PowerBook at an angle that prevented pinching my forearms on the edge of the table. Coffee shop tables are great for a tasty drink, but not so comfortable when it comes to writing or Web surfing on your Mac.
Since the stand positions your Mac closer to you, it should be easier to keep your Mac's display open on flights when the person in the seat in front of you decides to recline. The sides of the stand are designed to be positioned closer together for portable DVD players, and farther apart for laptops. When you get tired of working on a long flight, you can use the AVIATOR to hold up your portable DVD player instead. Since it lifts devices up off of the table top, your display sits a more comfortable height, too.
The AVIATOR is simple to assemble and break down, and packs away flat so that it doesn't take up much space in your travel bag. It's surprisingly durable and keeps your trusty Mac from slipping on the stand and on the desk or table thanks to strategically positioned rubber pads. I was initially concerned that the small plastic dove tail tabs that hold the three parts of the stand together for transporting would break off easily, but they have held up under my not-so-gentle handling.
Despite the AVIATOR's overall stability, it has a tendency to want to tip forward when placed on surfaces with a thin edge, like a glass table top. But even though it felt like the stand wanted to tip forward when I was typing, my PowerBook never took a dive into my lap. Tables with thicker edges, like the ones in my local coffee shop, hold the AVIATOR better, and I wasn't worried about it tipping or slipping. The Bottom Line
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