Logitech Alto keyboard and laptop stand
Posture improver?
Review If your laptop is your primary work machine then you'll end up spending a fair amount of time hunched over it - which isn't exactly good for your back, let alone your posture. Logitech's Alto stand allows you to raise the screen up, so it's at a more natural height and also includes a full keyboard for, it claims, better typing.
The Alto is a very neat design - when folded up it measures just 43 x 24 x 3.5cm, which isn't that much bigger than a normal keyboard. Unfold it in the middle lengthways and it stretches back 49cm with a fold up stand at the rear and full QWERTY keyboard at the front.
The stand lifts up and clicks into place, creating a platform to hold your laptop that leans back at about 45°. There's a rubber support at the bottom to gently hold the front edge of the laptop, with the base resting on the angled platform. Push back the screen so it's vertical and you're ready to start working.
The keyboard plugs in via USB and the cable is neatly recessed under the stand when it's folded away. There are also three additional USB ports on the stand - two at the rear and one on the right-hand side at the back - so you can plug in a mouse and other peripherals. But this isn't a docking station as such, so other cables and add-ons will need to connect to the laptop as usual.
COMMENTS
Umm...
@Raymond: I sincerely hope you're being sarcastic, or simply trolling for the fun of it.
I would've thought it obvious the thing is designed to be used on a desk.
80%? You're too generous
I bought the Alto ($70) for my ThinkPad X60 and by the end of the week the Alto became a permanent resident on my junk pile. Why, it does not even have a trackpad; you cannot use it on your lap as you need a sturdy surface to hold it; and it's heavy! All and all it's a POS. I'd rate it at 30% and one should not buy it even if it were selling for $10.
BTW, this is the third product I bought made by Logitech. I will unlikely to buy anything from them again.
Hopeless
Devices like this annoy me!
They never account for the use of manufacturer docking stations and without these any cables that are plugged into the laptop are unsupported and place unnecessary strain on both the cable and the connector.
Big thumbs down!
Re: Doesn't work with macbook pro
"Unfortunaly the stand doesn't work very well with the macbook pro.
The screen on the macbook pro doesn't open enough and since there is no adjusting the angle on the alto the screen ends up pointing slightly down."
...and it'll block the DVD drive (although it would probably trash your disks if you tried to use it at that angle anyway...)
Doesn't work with macbook pro
Unfortunaly the stand doesn't work very well with the macbook pro.
The screen on the macbook pro doesn't open enough and since there is no adjusting the angle on the alto the screen ends up pointing slightly down.
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DaJ
