Some people spend the whole work day in front of their laptop, and thus expose themselves to serious health problems, including Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI), back and neck pain. Roost is a laptop stand that means to prevent all those problems.

The latest tendency, which seems to have been adopted by most, if not all, modern laptop stands, is to keep the keyboard inclined, and the display at eye-level. Roost does that and more, since it proves to be very flexible while deployed, and compact while on the go.

Somewhat similar in design to a beach chair, the Roost laptop stand can be easily adjusted in terms of height, since people, much like notebooks, come in different shapes and sizes. Speaking of sizes, thanks to its patent-pending “Pivoting Grips,” Roost can fit laptops of any size and shape (as long as it’s not a thick IBM ThinkPad from the mid-90s). Besides compatibility, another aspect Roost excels at is stability. Once secured into place, the laptop cannot slide, even if the spill-proofed stand gets bumped.

The only inconvenience is that despite the eye-level screen, the keyboard and trackpad are in a position that’s very uncomfortable, when using Roost. That’s exactly why the manufacturer strongly suggests using an external keyboard and mouse.

One aspect I cannot exactly wrap my mind around is the reason behind making a stand for laptops, and not for tablets, if the notebook’s keyboard and trackpad aren’t used in this scenario, anyway.

As seen in the above picture, the Roost laptop stand is incredibly compact when tucked away. In its compact form, the stand measures 1″ x 1″ x 13″ and weighs 5.8 ounces. That makes it barely noticeable, both size- and weight-wise, when carrying it in a notebook backpack. Setting it up is extremely easy, as all you have to do is pull the legs apart.

James Olander designed this stand, and collaborated with Alfred Manufacturing to make it possible, before bringing it to Kickstarter. The crowdfunding campaign’s $475,000 funding goal has almost been reached, as at writing time there were 13 more days to go and approximately $50K to be raised. There were no early bird spots for this project, but anyone who pledged at least $49 should expect to receive their Roost in October 2015.

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