Here at the PC Magazine headquarters I sit in front of a desktop PC all day, not surprisingly. At home, I've got a laptop that sits next to my couch. Most of the time that set up is OK--when I'm checking email, surfing the web, or IMing with my friends. But when I'm actually doing work, sometimes I wish I had an-other display or a full size keyboard. So I was certainly intrigued by the Logitech Alto notebook stand. While it does not provide a separate monitor, it elevates your laptop screen to eye level, and includes a built-in key-board.
When I opened the box, the Alto was folded up neatly, and resembled a longish laptop sleeve. Opening it up revealed the full keyboard and the laptop stand. With a couple of pushes and pulls, I locked the stand in place, and introduced my laptop to its new home. The keyboard, which connects to your laptop via USB, is great. It's quiet and comfortable, with a soft palm rest built in. It also has a number of convenient "hot-keys" for email, web searches, and media player controls. It would be super great if it had a small touchpad, but it does come with three USB ports for mice, web cams and other peripherals. It would not recognize my Mi-crosoft wireless mouse, but luckily I had a wired Logitech mouse on hand, which worked fine. The Alto also comes with an adaptor power cord that will power your USB devices.
The Logitech Alto notebook stand supports laptops up to 9 pounds.
After the jump, the Alto all closed up, an empty Alto, and a close-up of the USB ports.
Get the Alto online for about $99. Got questions? Ask away. . .
Mixx It
Digg It
Stumble
More...
March 21, 2007 5:20 PM
Pretty neat! How do the keys "feel?" Are they kind of clacky and loud, do they give a lot when you press on them? I know these kinds of tactice keyboard questions are hard without touching the actual keypad, but you never get to play with things like this in the store before buying... :(
Also, does it leave a huge desktop footprint? It does look awfully big when unfolded on your desk in that first shot...
(is that a tub of popcorn?)
March 21, 2007 6:31 PM
Yes, that's tub of popcorn. (It's microwave popcorn that pops right in the tub!) The keys are super quiet--not clacky at all! And yes, it does take up a lot of room. It's a good solution I think if you have a desk at home and want to make your laptop more desktop-like.
March 29, 2007 10:47 PM
Interesting; however, I use my laptop in my lap. How would this stand with computer work when placed aon an unstable, movable surface like a lap? It seems it would be back-heavy and would tend to tip over backwards. Any comments?