Laptops Arena

It is nice to have portable systems, but sometimes keeping them on your lap is not that comfortable and that is why it is recommended to get a laptop stand, even if you keep it at home, or you are on the road, at school.
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What is more, having your laptop on a stand helps cooling the system better, meaning that you will have less problems with the heating. And when it comes to laptop stands you can find some really useful models, some with even features you would have never thought before.

One great product is Allsop cool channel, a cheap yet very functional product. It has a simple design and you can place any size of laptop you have. The base of the stand is slightly risen, providing thus a cooling system thanks to the padded mesh. What is more, if you have a 15” laptop, you can flip the stand over and place the laptop in the S-curve for an easy transport and storage. It is like having a 2-in-1 product, stand and case in the same time. For about $50, you can get Logitech Alto express laptop stand, elevating your laptop for better view of the display, leading to a more comfortable stand. And it is not only about the functionality, but also design. This laptop stand is ergonomic, has a modern look and it fits any space, no matter how cluttered it is. Most of the users recommend it due to its elegant look and how it just fits you.

If you want something a bit taller, then Griffin Elevator Lap Top Stand is the product for you. It features the same simple design, made out of aluminum and it will support your laptop 5.5in off the deck. You can also rely on its solid feel. You can place this laptop stand on your desk and use an extra keyboard or mouse, as it gives you more space. A very affordable choice is Belkin F5L001 laptop cooling pad for just about $18. Things are slightly different in this case. If you take a look at the stand you would probably say it costs more, but in fact is one cheap and functional product. It features a patented wave design for cooling capabilities, has an ergonomic style for improved comfort and reduce the neck pains and wrist inconveniences as well. It is powered by USB, so you don’t need any extra batteries or adapters and it comes with Belkin’s lifetime warranty. So, if you are looking for a fast choice and you don’t have so much money to spend, then this is definitely the laptop stand you need.

Port Ergo Station is in fact a plastic desktop stand with four USB ports. You can set it in three different positions, from flat to vertical almost and if you want a more solid cooling, you can go for the one with the powered fan. If you have a 17” laptop, then you probably need Targus Ergonomic Cooling Mobile X-Stand, available in silver color. This is a more portable and simple laptop stand, it raises your laptop as much as you need and it provides a cooling area. If you happen to be travelling a lot, then you can rely on this product as it does not take much space anyways. For your MacBook laptop, Targus has acme with a solution, the Chill Mat for Mac.

If you have used Asus product before, you already know that the Asus U80V notebook it's one of the best laptops available in its line. "One of the best", not the best, let's not get carried away. The U80V claims its victory because of the next high-lights: Intel Core 2 Duo T9550 running at 2.66 GHz, great 14 inches display, 4 GB of RAM and a great dedicated graphic card (512 ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570). The Asus U80V sports a very common design for nowadays laptops. If you would like to summarize the U80V's design then you should use only two words: glossy and black. However at a closer look you will find that the piano black is accompanied by blue reflective particles and trims of silver.

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There are only three small pieces that are not painted black; the Asus metallic name inside the case (at the bottom of the display) and outside the case. Also the touchpad rocker button is chromed. The Asus U80V's design resembles like the one found on the UX50V. Once you have opened theU80V you will be impressed with the quality you are going to find. The Aus U80V can surely attack any MacBook notebook from this point of view. The keyboard is great. You will not find any drawbacks in it. The Asus U80V offers backlit keyboard, but also a backlit touch pad. The backlighting for the touch pad is offered in the form of dots. Another great feature of the touch pad is the multi touch support (familiar to the one used in the MacBook series). Therefore you can use the same scroll gesture used on Apple laptops. However the multi touch implementation of the Asus touch pad is not as great as the ones find on Apple products. Why? You will not have the same amount of features because of the operating system. Also, Asus has included the touch pad under the keyboard and right in the center.

Therefore you might find yourself scrolling unintentionally while typing.   We all know how bad is Vista compared to Leopard or the newly Snow Leopard. The key action and layout, from the keyboard, is excellent. Everything works sharp, no button slips or anything. Asus has included in the U80V dedicated buttons (use F9 key to lock the touch pad when typing). Here are some hot keys and their meaning: Power 4 Gear eXtreme, Fn + F1 (suspend switch), Fn + F2 (WLAN switch), Fn + F3 (keyboard light down), Fn + F4 (keyboard light up), Fn + F5 (brightness down), Fn + F6 (brightness up), Fn + F7 (LCD on  / off), Fn + F8 (LCD / CRT switch display), Fn + F9 (touch pad lock), Fn + F10 (volume on / mute), Fn + F11 (volume down), Fn + F12 (volume up) and Fn + A (light sensor).  You only get a single sensor to adjust the brightness of the screen.

The same sensor will turn off the keyboard backlight in case the room is bright enough. The Asus U80V sports a 14 inch screen with a maximum natural resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels (features Asus splendid video intelligence technology and artificial intelligence sensor embedded). The display is LED backlit and is very bright and sharp. The 14 inch glossy display is attached to a circular hinge; therefore you will not find any ports in the back. All of them were distributed either in the front or the sides. Therefore the Asus U80V has one microphone in jack, one headphone out jack, 1 x VGA port / Mini D-sub 15 pin for external monitor, three USB 2.0 ports, 1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert and one HDMI port. The U80V also has included a 7 in 1 card reader (SD, MMC, MS, xD, Smart Media, mini SD w / adapter, MS Duo), 1.3 megapixel web camera and a DVD + / - RW drive (5.25 inch, 9.5 mm DVD Super Multi). The connectivity in ensured by integrated Wi-Fi with 802.11 b/g/n support, built in Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR, Intel wireless Wi-Fi Link 5100 ABGN and 10 / 100 / 1000 Base T. However Asus left out of the U80V construction an eSATA port. The most powerful CPU you can use on U80V is the Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9550, but then again Asus provides you a great variety of processors from where to choose (T9400, P8600, P8400, P7450, P7350, T6500, T6400, T5900, T5800).

The U80V uses the mobile Intel PM45 Express chipset + ICH9M. There are 4 GB of RAM at your disposal. Unfortunately they are old news with DDR 2 800 MHz SDRAM. The storage capacity can reach up to 500 GB with 5400 rpm.  The Asus U80V has built in speaker and microphone (Altec Lansing co - brand speakers) with SRS Premium Sound. The sound is pretty decent, but for an excellent audio quality you should probably go for external speakers. The U80V line is shipped with two different battery packs. The six cells battery with 4400 mAh offers up to 48.4 Whrs while the 5600 mAh offers 62.16 Whrs. The AC adapter used has an output of 19 V DC, 3.42 A, 65 W and an input of 100 ~ 240 V AC, 50 / 60 GHz universal.

The Asus U80V has a height of 2.15 ~ 3.16 cm, wide of 35.1 cm, deep of 24.3 cm; it weighs only 2.15 kg including the battery. These are excellent values, positioning the U80V in the first line of light notebooks. You can choose from any Windows Vista operating system (Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate) although you should install Windows 7. An extra feature is the LED status indicator (power on / suspend, battery charging / full / low, storage device access, capital lock and wireless on status indicator). Asus ships the U80V with additional branded software (smart logon, net 4 switch, power 4 gear extreme, live update, multi frame, and many other). Overall the Asus U80V is a great featured notebook; it has a great design and is one of the most reliable laptops on the market.

LapWorks has launched two new sleek laptop stands, Attache and Envoy with ergonomic designs to improve the viewing and typing but also to provide efficient cooling.
The two stands have built-in quiet cooling fans built on a hydraulic ball bearing system, four USB ports and a push-button-operation for the four elevation settings.

Attache and Enjoy come in very similar designs and are made of sturdy ABS plastic material, while the color is one characteristic that differentiate them, one coming in silver and the other one in black.
Attacke is covered by a large aluminum face place in charge with heat sinking and is available at $69.95, while the Envoy costs $49.95.

When you want to use the stands, you have to connect the cable to a USB port and then use the On/Off switch to control the fans.
Attache and Envoy have 12-7/8-inch bases to support wide notebooks and they also hold them in place when inclined with the two flip-down arms.



"Laptop overheating remains a problem as manufacturers squeeze more functions and processing power into increasingly smaller spaces to meet consumer demands," said Jose Calero, the President of LapWorks. "Some manufacturers even recommend a notebook cooling pad to dissipate the heat."
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In the video above you can watch the instructions on how to use the laptop stands for the best ergonomics.