Do you need a laptop stand? When it helps and when it doesn't

If you spend more than an hour or two a day working on a MacBook at a desk, a laptop stand is worth having, as long as you pair it with an external keyboard and a mouse or trackpad. The stand lifts the screen toward eye level so your head stops dropping toward it, and the keyboard keeps your hands down at elbow height, where they belong.

On its own, a stand just moves the problem from your neck to your wrists. And if you work mostly on an external display, use the laptop in short bursts, or rarely sit at the same desk twice, you can probably skip it. And before you buy anything, a stack of books will tell you whether a raised screen suits you.

Why a MacBook on a desk pulls your head down

A MacBook joins the screen to the keyboard. Put the keyboard where your hands are comfortable and the top of the screen sits well below your eyes. You look down at it, and over an hour your head drifts forward to help, your upper back rounds and your shoulders follow.

The further your head drifts in front of your shoulders, the harder the muscles behind your neck have to work to hold it up. A few minutes of that is nothing. A full working day of it is how people end up with a stiff neck after sitting perfectly still. Good posture with a MacBook goes into the three setups that fix it; this post is about the one piece of kit at the center of most of them.

Who needs a laptop stand, and who doesn't

The answer depends on how you use the laptop more than on the laptop itself.

A stand is only half the fix

The moment you raise a MacBook, its own keyboard ends up too high. You type with your hands lifted, your wrists bent back and your shoulders creeping up. So a stand comes with two companions:

• A keyboard. Any external keyboard works. Apple's Magic Keyboard connects over Bluetooth, and the version with Touch ID keeps fingerprint unlock within reach on Apple silicon Macs while the laptop sits up on its stand.
• A mouse or trackpad. A Magic Trackpad keeps the gestures you already use. Keep it close to the keyboard on the same surface, so your hand doesn't travel far or climb to reach it.

Then set them up in this order: chair first, so your feet are flat and your back is supported; keyboard next, at about elbow height and close enough that your upper arms hang by your sides; then the laptop on its stand, pushed back to about an arm's length, with the top of the screen level with your eyes or just under.

If you're not ready to add a keyboard, a half step still helps. Raise the laptop for reading, browsing and calls, when you barely type, and lower it again for long stretches of writing.

Is a stack of books as good as a laptop stand?

For height, often yes. A stand's main job is to lift the screen, and books, a ream of paper or a sturdy box do that perfectly well. They are also the best way to find out whether a raised laptop suits you before you buy anything: build a stack, use it for a week, and measure it if you like it.

What a stack doesn't do is adjust quickly, tilt the laptop toward you, fold away for travel or leave air underneath. A few tips make it work better:

1. Use something wide, flat and firm. Hardbacks or a ream of paper, not paperbacks that slide about.
2. Sit the laptop fully on the stack, with nothing hanging off the edge.
3. Leave room for air. Keep the back edge clear, and don't build the stack from anything soft.
4. Skip cushions and pillows. They wobble, sag through the day and trap heat.
5. Check the height. Sit back, look straight ahead and see whether your gaze meets the top of the screen. Add or remove a book until it does.

What to look for in a laptop stand

If you decide to buy one, a few things separate a good stand from one that ends up in a drawer.

• Enough height. Many low stands lift a laptop only a little, which can still leave the top of the screen well below eye level, especially for taller people. Find your height with books first, then check the stand reaches it.
• Adjustment. A stand that changes height and angle copes with a different chair, a different desk or a second person.
• Steadiness. A stand that wobbles when you bump the desk makes the camera shake on calls and the screen bounce while you read.
• Grip. Pads that hold the laptop in place without scratching it.
• An open design. A stand that leaves the underside of the laptop open to the air is better than one that boxes it in.
• The right fit. Check that it suits your MacBook's size, and if you travel, whether it folds flat.

A vertical stand is a different thing. It holds a closed laptop on its edge, which saves space when you work on an external display, but it doesn't raise a screen you look at.

Do you need a laptop stand with an external monitor?

It depends on whether you still look at the laptop's own screen.

• You close the lid and use only the display: no stand needed for posture. Lay the laptop flat out of the way or stand it in a vertical stand.
• You use both screens all day: yes. Raise the laptop beside the display so the two top edges are roughly level, or every glance at the laptop becomes a nod.
• You glance at the laptop now and then: a stand is optional. Keep the display in front of you and the laptop off to the side.

MacBook and external display setups covers each of these in more detail, including the display settings to match, and how high your monitor should be covers the display itself.

Keeping the stand doing its job

The risk with any stand is that it slowly stops being used. The laptop comes off it for a meeting and goes back on the desk, the keyboard gets pushed aside, and by Thursday you are hunched over the built-in keys again without having decided to be.

Notchpals puts reminder characters in your MacBook's notch, and its Posture characters have one visit a day for exactly this kind of slide. Some time in the afternoon, the one in your crew drops down to ask about your screen. Sir Pounce, a cat of refined taste, handles it like this:

Sir PounceLean back and regard your work from afar, as one regards a fine painting.

Use it to sit back, check the laptop is still up on its stand and about an arm's length off, and pull the keyboard back toward you. There is a small bonus to the stand here, too. The characters keep using the MacBook's notch even when an external display is your main screen, so with the laptop raised they turn up near your eye line instead of down by the desk.

A stand and a keyboard make everyday neck stiffness less likely, but they are not a treatment. If your neck or shoulders hurt for days at a time, or you have numbness or tingling in your arms, see a doctor or a physiotherapist.