AViiQ Portable Laptop Stand w/ 11″ MacBook Air

Rating: 8.0.

If you have just purchased a new laptop, the next peripheral on the ‘to buy' list is generally a protective carrying case or a stand/cooler. For those people who have just bought a sexy superportable laptop, they certainly won't want to be carting around a bulky stand.

The review product today might just hit the spot, as it is classed as ‘The world's thinnest portable laptop stand'. What better way to test it than with the world's thinnest and most portable laptop – the latest 11 inch Macbook Air.

The AViiQ Portable laptop stand ships in a long rectangular box with some images and details of the product on the outside.

The box folds out very attractively and the laptop stand is supplied, prefolded into one side of the box. At the upper side is a soft felt carrying pouch for the product.

The stand certainly doesn't take up much room and the carrying pouch is just the right size and shape to protect it when traveling. AViiQ also supply two spare rubber feet, in case they get lost over time.

The AViiQ portable laptop stand is a rather unusual looking product. it weighs only 155.9 grams and can fold up into a footprint only 64mm thick. When opened, it expands into four sections.

The looks are deceptive, it will appear fragile in the pictures above, but it is actually built to very high standards and doesn't flex at all. You would need to apply a serious amount of pressure to damage each of the individual sections. There is a subtle, pink branding logo on the lower corners.

The top section of the stand folds backwards, under itself and the rubber feet are pushed through two of the panels. Each of the white lines indicates a ‘fold point'. Above it is fully unfolded and locked into position.

The rubber feet are pushed slightly forward to lock it into place. To unlock the stand, the two rubber feet are prised backwards then pushed forwards and out.

The images above highlight how attractive the stand is and just how well it matches the aluminum body of the latest Macbook Air. They are both svelte, beautifully engineered and impossibly thin. The Macbook Air is griped slightly and held in place by the rubber feet which poke through the underside of the stand.

AViiQ have carefully engineered the product to showcase their logo from both the front view and from the back view. Obviously with a larger laptop the front plate might be blocked, but it can accept a machine up to 17 inch in diameter.

The stand can be reversed, meaning that the screen will be tilted upwards. Ideal if you are using the machine and are standing in front of it, such as when cooking. My girlfriend found it actually very useful when she was preparing some exotic dishes.

When finished, the stand can be folded up and placed into the protective carrying pouch. It only takes a few minutes and would be ideal for an airplane as it could be easily stowed in cabin luggage. It makes typing more natural, as the keyboard is tilted backwards, by 12 degrees.

While the stand may look slightly complex from the pictures in the review, it is painless to use and proved useful in certain situations. On a bed for instance, the stand raises the chassis from the cloth and ensures maximum airflow underneath it – it is extremely light and isn't a chore to move around either.

The 11 inch Macbook Air is a relatively cool running laptop, but with a hotter 15 or 17 inch machine this stand will certainly help to lower chassis temperatures slightly. The main use however is for angling the machine in either direction to suit specific environments, and to keep the heat away from your legs or materials underneath.

UK pricing has yet to be confirmed but it retails for $59.95 in the US. We would expect UK pricing to be around £40-£45.

Pros:

• tougher than it looks
• looks great with a Macbook
• helps air to circulate underneath the chassis
• keeps heat away from legs
• keeps dirt away from your valuable machine when traveling
• Can be used to tilt the machine in two directions
• can fold up, meaning little space is taken in a bag

Cons:

• The appearance will not suit many Windows based laptops.

Kitguru says: A very beautifully engineered stand which is tough in operation and will prove extremely useful for Macbook travelers.

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