Elec3 Aluminum Laptop Stand

Elec3 Aluminum Laptop Stand Review by HTWingNut

Video review:

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/Elec3-Premium-Aluminum-Macbook-Notebooks-Tablets/dp/B01LYBUD92

A company by the name of Elec3 approached me and asked if I was intereseted in reviewing their laptop stand, and after a brief look at it on their Amazon page, I promptly agreed. The Elec3 stand is an all aluminum stand that is marketed towards Macbooks, but indicates it supports any laptop up to 17". Laptop stands have various purposes, some are for cooling, some are to adjust height, some are to offer additional storage or organization. The intent of the Elec3 stand is to raise your laptop higher for improved screen viewing, as well as offers a nice little nook underneath to store your keyboard when not in use.

Images of laptop stand

Upon opening the box, the packaging is basic, but it was well protected with molded foam inserts in a cardboard box. The stand is an all silver matte aluminum construction, and offers rubber pads on both the bottom of the stand to keep it from slipping on a desk surface, and on the top base where the laptop sits to keep it from sliding as well. I'm not sure if this is typical, but they also included two additional stick on bumpers. Dimensions of the stand come in at about 6 inches high by about 9 inches deep, and about 9.5 inches in width. It weighs in a tad over 2 lbs.

The U-shaped stand has wide legs at the bottom to give it some stability, and an open center on the platform where the laptop sits, with a flange at the bottom to hold the laptop in place. A hole about 1-1/2" is in the back of the stand for cable management, and is lined with a white rubber grommet. This is a good size clearance hole that easily allows numerous cables, and with large connectors to pass through. The aluminum stock is a good 3mm thick, and is very rigid, so it will not deform easily. There are no sharp edges whatsoever either.

I have a 12" and 14" ultrathin laptop and a 15" gaming laptop that I tested on this stand. The 12" and 14" fit great. The 15" laptop extended past the back of the stand by a couple inches but it was still stable, although a little pressure added to the back of the laptop would allow it to pivot along that rear edge of the stand. I didn't have a 17" laptop to test, but I don't know if it would be too stable extending past the back of the stand. Up to 15" though it seems perfectly fine. The rubber grips worked great with no slip on both the desk the stand was resting on, as well as for all the laptops tested.

12 inch laptop on stand and on desk

14 inch laptop on stand

15 inch Clevo gaming laptop on stand

The raised height of the laptop is a boon for improved viewing comfort when using it at a desk, so you are viewing the laptop LCD nearly straight on, instead of craning your neck down. It seems the Elec3 laptop stand is designed for users who want to use their laptop primarily as a monitor when it's on their desk and connect an external keyboard and mouse, because when in a seated position, the laptop keyboard is clearly not in a good position to type. However, I have a higher desk that I typically keep my laptop at when at home, that is more of a standing desk. The added height of the stand is great both from an LCD viewing angle improvement, but it also presents the keyboard at an angle that is easy to type on and also stable and does not wobble. I typically do not like or use laptop stands, but I may actually make use of this one, especially from a standing position.

Possible use case for multi-monitor

The surface that the laptop sits on offers plenty of support an has an open design at the center to allow adequate airflow. For most general purpose laptops, this is probably fine. For the 15" Clevo gaming laptop I used, the surface that the laptop sits on slightly blocked the air vents. Concerned whether or not this would adversely affect cooling, I tested the Clevo with wPrime 2.10 and 3DMark Time Spy and surprisingly CPU and GPU temps were 1-2C cooler when on the stand than sitting on a flat desk. I also tested the 14" Asus ultrabook I had and when sitting on the stand CPU temperatures were 1C lower than when sitting on a desk, so at a minimum it won't degrade temperatures and may actually help a bit.

Overall, this Elec3 laptop stand is a simple but elegant design, rigid, well constructed and engineered, that offers users the benefit of lifting the laptop higher off the desk for an improved viewing experience, as well as free up some space on your desk by tucking any external keyboard underneath when not in use. It's hard to really come up with a pros and cons on an accessory like this, as I think it satisfies your needs or it doesn't.

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