ArsGeek

The iRizer by Matias is an exceedingly simple yet wonderfully useful laptop stand that debuted a few days ago. It’s built in a nice two piece design that sets up in about 10 seconds, has a variety of positions available and best of all, when the two pieces are seperated the thing flattens to just over a half inch in thickness and stows away inside a nicely provided travel case.

You simply slide the two pieces together through one of the four slots (for 20, 30, 40, or 50 degree tilts) and plop the laptop on the stand. It’s really quite simple and effective.

The angle at which the two pieces fit together prevents your laptop from sliding around. 20 or 30 degrees is great for using your laptop’s keyboard. 40 or 50 degrees is good if you’re looking to use an external keyboard.

The stand is very portable, one of the features I like. It’s light and will fit right into my backpack along with my laptop. I also notice that it keeps my laptop a bit cooler (when undocked) while using it. The difference isn’t huge, about 4 degrees in temperature – yet it is cooler.

I really like the simple design, bordering on elegant. I like it, yet it makes me a bit angry I must admit. Angry that I didn’t think of this myself. It’s so simple yet effective. If I had come up with this idea, well I’d be writing from a much more expensive laptop.

The YAG factor on this little stand is pretty low. It’s not something I’d carry with me every day since I dock my laptop at work, but I certainly will use this at home and bring it with me on any trips where the laptop is coming. It’s light, relatively small for what it is and greatly helps with my hand position when typing.

The iRiser retails for $39.95 and you can purchase it directly from Matias or grab it from your favorite retailer. As a bonus, each iRiser also comes with a mini-iRiser for your iPod. Is it to coy saying ‘iLike it’?

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