The Best Laptop Stands for Desks 2024 - IGN (2024)

The best laptop stands can turn a nightmare setup into an ergonomic one that works for your height. Ensuring you maintain good posture when using your laptop is essential, otherwise you could be forcing your neck and shoulders into a slump that they won’t thank you for. Whether you’re using your laptop on its own, or adding a keyboard or mouse, there’s a laptop stand to suit your needs.

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

From adjustable heights and angles to laptop stands that you can take anywhere with you, there’s a stand to suit most possible scenarios. Do you want to work on your laptop while you’re in bed? Then there’s a stand for that.

The Best Laptop Stands For Desks

1. Rain Design mStand

Best Minimalist Laptop Stand for Desk

• See it on Walmart

To keep things simple and functional, the mStand by Rain Design is the way to go. It’s built strong using a single, solid piece of aluminum to hold even the most weighty laptops with depths less than 10.4 inches. That sturdy aluminum tray also acts as a heatsink, helping to pull heat from your machine to keep your internals running smooth.

Of course, the mStand’s main purpose is lifting your screen, which it does, raising it 5.9 inches for a more ergonomic view. It doesn’t stop there, your desk space will be tidier thanks to a two-inch cable management hole to run your power and wired accessories, and you can stash your keyboard in the lower section when you’re done typing. Best of all, you can snag it for under $50 in one of four different colors that match the sleek stylings of the Macbook.

2. Griffin Elevator Laptop Stand

Best Budget Laptop Stand for Desk

You don’t need to spend big to find a quality laptop stand. Just look at the Griffin Elevator Laptop Stand. For $50, you can hoist your display up 5.5 inches rather than hunching over and annihilating your posture. The design is simple and sleek, fitting any space and almost any laptop up to 17 inches.

The Griffin Elevator Laptop Stand features two sturdy aluminum arms with anti-slip rubber bands to keep your machine from falling when you accidentally bump the table. Despite this contraption appearing rather large, you can actually take apart the stand when traveling or working from different locations by removing the plastic bar holding the two sides together. It’ll also help keep your machine cooler than sitting on a desk, as there’s more airflow.

3. Roost Laptop Stand

Best Portable Laptop Stand for Desk

Roost started as a crowd-funded Kickstarter project, and this newer iteration benefits from lessons learned while making the original. This compact stand looks fairly simple, as there is no tray for the laptop, but instead, clever "pivot clips" clamp down on your device. That means the computer won’t slide around, though the clip design limits you to laptops .75 inches thick or less (not including the lid).

You get more adjustability with the Roost than other stands, as it lets your machine sit as low as 6 inches off the table or as high as 14 inches with a few preset angles to make for easy positioning. It also features a lightweight plastic build but is 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, while a carrying sleeve makes for easy portability.

4. Avantree Neetto Height Adjustable Laptop Bed Tray

Best Bedstand Laptop Stand for Desk

Breakfast in bed? We’ll do you one better. How about working from bed? The Avantree Neetto Height Adjustable Laptop Bed Tray can do both. Heck, 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 created a mini table featuring an engineered wood surface and sturdy aluminum legs that fold flat for storage. Its legs extend vertically, allowing you to adjust the height of your tabletop from 9.4 to 12.6 inches, and you can angle it 30 degrees, hitting the perfect level to slide your body under and work. Then go ahead and plop a clunky gaming laptop and a mouse on top, thanks to its large surface area.

5. Ergotron WorkFit-T Standing Desk Converter

Best Standing Desk Workstation Laptop Stand

Sitting at a desk all day isn’t the healthiest, and that’s where a standing desk comes into play, significantly improving the ergonomics of your setup. But if you’ve already got a desk you love and don’t want to invest in a new one, the Ergotron WorkFit-T Standing Desk Converter is your solution. This oversized laptop stand sits on your desk, supporting up to 40 pounds and offering a large surface area, letting it house a laptop and even a second monitor.

That’s just the start because the two-tier design lets you place a full-size keyboard and mouse underneath. It’s spring-loaded, so when you’re ready to stand up, your workstation smoothly elevates with ease up to 20 inches high. And when you’ve got the Ergotron folded flat, the top tier is raised five inches, making it an ideal laptop stand for sitting in an office chair.

6. VIVO Single Laptop Notebook Desk Mount Stand

Best Clamping Laptop Stand for Desk

Want a completely clear desk space? 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 is a solid and affordable option. It rocks a rigid clamp and simple steel pole with an arm that holds a 14-by-12-inch ventilated laptop tray, keeping your desk surface open. It also includes a monitor bracket to hang a gaming monitor instead.

There’s no need to drill holes or damage the desk during installation, as the pole clamps onto it and includes pads to avoid scratching the surface. You also get a grommet mount. From there, you can mount the VIVo’s arm from desk height to about 17 inches higher, though adjustments require an Allen wrench. Once configured, that arm swings around the pole 360 degrees, and the laptop tray’s angle is adjustable.

7. ElfAnt Laptop Stand

Best Adjustable Laptop Stand for Desk

You don’t always work from the same table and chair combo, so an adjustable option like the ElfAnt Laptop Stand comes in handy. It offers a range of heights from 2.75 to 12.6 inches, letting you find the best viewing angles from any location. The sturdy aluminum frame even supports up to 15 pounds and holds up to 17-inch laptops, so you’ll be hard-pressed to find a machine this stand can’t handle.

If you travel 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 for ultimate portability. With all that metal, you’re probably worried about your laptop getting scratched or sliding around, but silicone pads placed along the frame prevent that issue.

8. Omoton Vertical Laptop Stand Holder

Best Vertical Laptop Stand for Desk

So, you’ve got a solid hub connecting your laptop to a monitor or two along with a keyboard and a mouse, so you might not need the laptop’s own built-in display, keyboard, or trackpad. That’s when you can streamline your desk setup with the Omoton Vertical Laptop Stand Holder. It situates your laptop vertically, like a super-thin tower desktop, letting you clear up desk space.

Omoton’s stand is built sturdy thanks to an anodized aluminum alloy frame with a wide base for extra stability. Laptop models measuring 0.55 inches thick to chunkier options up to 2.71 inches slot right in, as you can adjust the size 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.

9. Razer Laptop Stand Chroma V2

Best RGB Laptop Stand for Desk

• See it on Razer

The Razer Laptop Stand Chroma V2 does more than raise your laptop because it’s also a highly capable hub full of RGB lighting. To start, there’s a sturdy aluminum frame to prop your device up at an 18-degree angle—unfortunately, there’s no other height adjustability. And taking your setup a step further 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, this option is more than just a stand, as there’s a USB hub available for use with compatible laptops. You get two USB-A ports for extra peripherals alongside 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 one USB-C port even supports pass-through charging.

10. 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 option when you’re on the go. Luckily, the MOFT Laptop Stand easily slides into your bag 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 adheres to the base of your laptop but goes almost undetected, acting like a natural appendage to your device. Using a series of folds, it lifts the laptop's rear two or three inches for a better viewing angle. Somehow, the MOFT manages to hold laptops up to 15.6 inches and supports up to 11 pounds, proving this stand is durable while adding such little bulk.

What to Look for in a Laptop Stand

A laptop stand doesn’t need to be expensive, and most aren't. It’s simple contraptions ready to raise your screen to a more ergonomic viewing height and maybe 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 positioning your laptop to work best for your sitting or standing height. A common recommendation is to put the top of the monitor at eye level. Even a fixed-height laptop stand is an improvement over staring down at a portable PC on the tabletop, but it can be well worth investing in one that gives you the flexibility of an adjustable height.

Your eye line isn’t the only thing a laptop stand can help with: laptop angle is critical to your typing ergonomics (unless you’re using an external keyboard). Stands that allow you to still type on the device’s built-in keyboard, only at a slightly raised incline, might bring relief to your wrists.

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.

Also, be sure the stand has a sturdy design 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. Will your device 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.

Are laptop stands good for your laptop?

Laptop stands serve many purposes, though much of the focus lands on ergonomics. Despite resolving posture issues, laptop stands can actually save your laptop from its own issues when otherwise used on a flat surface like a desk. Laptops are prone to scratches or spillages if directly in reach on the surface you’re using. By using a laptop stand, it prevents your laptop from getting scuffed or sharp objects touching it; it also moves it away from potential drink and food spills.

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.