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The Floating PowerBook
Pingsmoth writes "With the proliferation of laptops today, many replacing the traditional space-hogging desktop computer, this seems like a neat idea to free up even more square footage on your desk. It's the floating laptop, a 'stand,' if you will, that is invisible to the average user and just as functional as other traditional laptop stands. The obvious appeal of the 'Floating Laptop' is its aesthetic quality, especially when compared to some of the other stands out there, but it's also cheaper ($15) and only takes a half hour to build."
The stand seems uncomfortably high, though I suppose it's used with an external keyboard or mouse, or perhaps standing up. I wouldn't trust my PowerBook to the cardboard backing on a desk. A bit more wood could bracket it to the actual desk from behind without loss of the aesthetic.
My biggest issue is the appearance of the stand without the computer on it... it's three prongs looming over your desk space. If it could fold up, I would like it more. Of course, that would increase the cost, but I think it might be worth it.
Coral link.
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
Good luck typing on it.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
From "floating" I thought this was going to involve waterproofing.
Oh no... it's the future.
This is a simple page I've thrown together to show my "Floating Powerbook" laptop stand. I've had the idea to build such a thing for a long time, but just never got around to it until recently. Before this I used a Griffin iCurve on a stack of textbooks to have my computer at a height that I like. Doing this, though, wastes a lot of desk space. Even using just an iCurve uses up desk space, so I wanted to find a solution to that problem. Thus the Floating Powerbook Stand was born. Total cost: about $15.
Here are all the pieces of the stand before I had done any type of assembly. I went to a lumber store with just an idea of what I wanted to build, and walked out with four "oak fillets" according to my receipt. These are sturdy, somewhat finished pieces of wood about two inches wide and a quarter of an inch thick. They were plenty long that I could cut them down to size. While I was here, I also bought three small two-inch corner brackets for attaching the "arms" of the stand to the back brace. I picked up a couple packs of small nuts and bolts as well, making sure I had ones that were long enough. My total cost at the hardware store was $13.28.
Here is the assembled stand. This should give you a good idea of how it will work once it is "installed" onto the desk. I cut the oak fillets into three pieces, the two longer ones are ten inches in length and the middle one is eight. I think the back brace is sixteen inches long. On the top of each of the three "arms" are three little rubber grips. I picked these up at a hardware store, they're called "bumpers" and they cost me $2.66 for a pack of nine. One thing I had to be sure I did was get rubber grips that were thicker than the screw heads. You can see the screw heads on the back end of each arm. If I had grips that were too thin, the computer wouldn't sit on them and would instead sit on the screw heads - not good.
This picture shows the underside of the assembled stand. It's actually pretty simple. One thing I had to make sure I did though was bend the brackets just a bit so the arms of the stand would be tilted downward slightly. I didn't want my Powerbook to be sitting completely level for a few reasons. One, the iCurve is tilted just slightly, as are most other stands you can buy, and two, if the computer sat level, you'd be able to see the stand. That would put be the end of the "floating" aspect, now wouldn't it?
Here's what makes the whole thing work. My desk has shelves up the left and right sides of it with a bookshelf on top. On the back of all this is a "fake wood" durable cardboard sheet. It makes it look like there's wood all the way up the back of the desk when there really isn't. The stand will be attached directly to this cardboard sheet. It's about an eighth of an inch thick, and though it's not as strong as wood, it works just fine for holding my computer. The large hole in the center was there previously to run wires through. You can see the nine holes I drilled through the cardboard where the "backbone" of the stand will be attached. The "scuff marks" are from things I've taped and removed from the cardboard, exposing it's "fake woodness".
This is another view of the mounting holes, from the backside of the desk.
Here we can see the backbone of the stand attached through the holes we just drilled. Each of the arms is attached to this backbone, through the cardboard on the front side of the desk. This allows them to just "hang" there and look as if they're attached directly to the cardboard.
A view from the front of the desk with the arms firmly attached through the cardboard and into the backbone which you can't see.
Here is another view from the front of the desk. You can see a few of the cords coming through the hole (which will be perfectly hidden behind the screen) as well as the angle at which the arms are tilted. As a note, I didn't measure those at all. As I was drilling holes in each arm I would attach each one to a bracket just to see how it looked. I then put the bracket in a vice a
If he is complaining about his current stand taking up "valuable desk space," then perhaps he should get rid of that random vase of junk on the left and clean up his desk a bit more often.
First we have a guy who spends 1.5 years building something you can already purchase and now we have a guy who thinks he's clever because he re-invented the shelf!
The iCurve is not that much more, far more stylish and when you count in the time can work out cheaper!
Matt Thompson - Actuality - Insert product here.
" Ta-Da! The finished project in action. It works prefectly."
Creator confirms there are minor typing problems with the unit.
...my experiments with a bath tub clearly show that powerbooks don't float.
it's a shelf! wtf is this place coming to?
Bad newsday, or what?
Something bad is coming when people are suddenly anxious to tell the truth.
Front page news on slashdot today - a shelf.
TO be honest you're doing this shelf a disservice anyway. It can hold much more than powerbooks, such as plates, magazines, monkeys, fish fingers, books, CDs, 750:1 scale whales, etc.
A news item about a shelf is bad enough, but failing to give it a decent multifunction review is just criminal.
http://www.snailblog.com.nyud.net:8090/
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
One of our local "LUGgers" made this a while back:
http://lappyvator.cyberknights.com.au/
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
Two scoops of ice cream, and two scoops of PowerBook.
Hate mail goes here!
hi mom!
Freaking cardboard... And hanging an expensive laptop on cardboard? WTF is he smoking??
That little strip of wood in the back isn't enough to hold that thing up. Wait a few days and see what happens then get back to us. Let the humidity go up some. Here, it's in the high 90's all the time. That little project of his would last about 30 seconds and that laptop would be bouncing off the floor..
That's about the worst idea I've ever seen. Visually it's cool but in reality, it's dangerous, this guy is going to lose that laptop..
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