Introduction and Buyer’s Guide for a Laptop Tray
Thanks to increased battery life and super portability, people use laptops everywhere. Surfing the internet in relaxed settings around the house has become the norm as people are breaking away from the confines of a desk and using laptops lounging on the couch, seated in recliners, and laying in bed. A laptop tray, also known as a lap desk, is designed to improve user comfort when computing away from the desk. Laptop Trays can improve your posture, health, and comfort when computing in environments such as a chair, couch, and in bed. When used directly on your lap, the heat and radiation generated from the laptop not only makes the user uncomfortable, but it has also been shown to cause burns, infertility, and pregnancy complications. Laptops can also weigh upwards of 10 lbs! When laid on your lap, not only is the weight restrictive, but also the fear of moving you legs only to tip over the laptop makes it much more stressful to compute. Finally, laptops weren’t necessarily designed with the user’s posture in mind. Generally, laptops are to small, narrow, and low for most users. Spending extended periods of time on laptops can be horrendous for your posture because it causes unnatural forward and inward shoulder rotation and a hunched over posture. By compressing body channels, hunching deflates your ability to focus, impedes circulation and lessens breath capacity – both of which lead to increased fatigue and mental frustration. Over time, persistently working hunched over can shorten your height, create a negative body image, and facilitate the onset of arthritis. Luckily, a laptop table can solve many of the problems users face when computing or at least lessen their detrimental effects on the user’s posture and health.
Today, the market is flooded with a plethora of laptop trays. To reap the most benefits from using a lap desk, it is important to pick a laptop tray that improve the way you interact with a computer. Laptop tables are usually made of either plastic or aluminum. Laptop trays made of aluminum cost more, have a higher quality appearance and also aluminum dissipates heat, which naturally cools laptops. Because laptops generate heat, keeping them running at a cooler temperature has been shown to increase performance and lengthen the laptop’s life. Plastic is less expensive, softer, has a “cheaper” appearance, and does not help cool laptops. To help enhance the cooling effect of the laptop tray, opt for one with a built-in cooling fans. Cooling fans blow air on the bottom of the laptop and can be included in both plastic and aluminum laptop tables. The most common types of fans are those that plug into the computer’s USB outlet (meaning they run off power from the computer, which can detract from battery life) and those that run on batteries. Most laptops have 2-3 USB outlets and they can quickly become full with accessories like phones, mp# players, and thumb drives. If you connect a lot of devices to your laptop, opt for a laptop table with a built-in USB jack so you can power accessories directly through the stand. The final aspect to consider when shopping for a laptop tray is how the product interacts with your body. Some laptop tables rest on your lap, while other rest over your lap. The main trade-off here is comfort versus simplicity. A laptop table that rests on your lap is generally cheaper and simpler to use, but it doesn’t really do much to improve your comfort since it still restricts your motion. A laptop tray that rests over your lap is usually more expensive and slightly more complicated to set up, but it can significantly improve your comfort and posture while computing.
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