The best laptop desks solve one of the most glaring issues of portable computing: the inability to actually use one in your lap. While you can’t help but love the smell sizzling of bacon, it’s not as appealing when originating from your blow-torched quads. Without a doubt, the word “laptop” has become the biggest misnomer of our time, and the world would potentially be a better place if we could all just pull together and create a more fitting term. I’ve tried to help with this issue, but Acer still hasn’t gotten back to me after I suggested that the Predator Triton 500 be renamed to “George Foreman’s Lean Mean Second-Degree Burn Inducing Machine”.
Laptop desks (or lap desks) will not only shield your lower appendages from a slow roast, but they can also offer better viewing angles, and more importantly, improved ergonomics. With so many of us working from home at the moment, it’s important to be aware of how, and where, you are sitting. While your flat-packed Scandinavian kitchen chairs may look great, they’re not designed for you to sit on them for eight hours a day.
The right laptop desk can afford you the space to work anywhere, lowering your physical stress, reducing discomfort and decreasing your overall fatigue throughout the day. At Laptop, we’ve scoured through some of the best-rated laptop desks available to bring you our top picks.
What are the best laptop desks?
Why you can trust Laptop Mag Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
The best laptop desk can be entirely dependent on the situation, but one of the best has to be the HUANUO Lap Desk. Designed with comfort and support in mind, HUANUO’s desk has a fantastic amount of cushioning for your legs and wrists. It’s a great product to use while working from a sofa or recliner, offering you a stable platform for both your laptop and mouse. You can work and play in comfort, no matter where you are in the house, thanks to HUANUO’s Lap Desk.
If you’re looking for something that’s light and easy to use, check out the Belkin CushDesk. The CushDesk is a super-light lap desk that offers fantastic heat protection, comfort and wrist support. Designed with a slight incline, the CushDesk will reward you with increased support and ergonomics when using your device. Its rigid top is deceptively sturdy and can support laptops of up to 17-inches, all while the CushDeck’s foam base keeps your legs cushioned and your laptop balanced in any number of seating scenarios.
For a neat, no-frills laptop desk that will cost you next to nothing, there’s the SMRONAR Lap Desk. It’s basic, sturdy, comfy and cheap. It does everything you need a lap desk to do, and it does it for a fraction of the price. Work from anywhere with the SMRONAR Lap Desk, thanks to its foam-cushioned base and sturdy bamboo worktop. Picking up this product will cost you less than $15, and save your body countless hours of aches and pains from poor posture and uncomfortable seating.
Best laptop desk
The HUANUO Lap Desk is ideal if you’re looking to step away from your desk while remaining productive. There’s ample space to fit a 15.6-inch laptop, with plenty of room left to hold your phone or tablet and even use a mouse with the built-in pad. The HUANUO Lap Desk can house larger laptops, but you may have to forego the device storage and mouse pad to do so.
Comfort and support are key when it comes to the HUANUO Lap Desk’s bulky design. Along the base of the desk, dual-bolster cushions help to provide a comfortable and stable platform. They even induce a slight incline in the desk to make for comfier typing angles. There’s also full-width wrist support, which is great for avoiding fatigue over long periods of work. Laptop desks are fairly straightforward, and while some still manage to get it wrong, HUANUO has gotten theirs just right.
Best multi-setup laptop desk
Highger’s Lap Desk can transform any room in your home into a comfortable work environment. Its fold-out steel legs offer sturdy support on beds or sofas, and it can even be placed onto another tabletop to work as a standing desk or laptop stand. The left portion of Highger’s desk houses your laptop and can be adjusted to suit four different angles, all of which can make a huge difference to comfort while typing. The right side includes a cup holder and plenty of room to use a mouse (or any other device).
The Highger Lap Desk is a little on the heavy side due to its steel and MDF construction, so constantly folding and unfolding the desk to use or put it away may get a little draining after a while. However, that weight should also keep the desk from wobbling about while in use, leaving you with a stable platform to work from. Highger’s desk is another straightforward affair, and while keyboard-heavy users will no doubt love the adjustable angles, a little bit of cushioning would’ve been the cherry on top.
Best lightweight laptop desk
Belkin’s CushDesk is an ultra-lightweight lap desk that can accommodate laptops of up to 17-inches. The CushDesk is designed to follow a gentle slope to reduce neck strain and increase wrist comfort as you use your device. Set your laptop down on the CushDesk and enjoy cushioned comfort, improved ergonomics and significant heat protection.
The CushDeck’s rigid top layer allows your laptop to dissipate heat without directing it towards your legs. Instead, that hot air is blown to the sides and back of your device, protecting it — and you — from potentially harmful heat buildup. This leaves you free to engage with your laptop — without singeing your lap top. The foam-cushion base is firm enough to maintain its shape, but also soft enough to remain comfortable. It’s a fantastically simple lap desk you can take anywhere around the home and offers fantastic support in a variety of setups.
Best laptop desk for travel
AboveTEK’s Portable Lap Desk is a fantastic travel desk with a tiny footprint. Place it in your laptop bag and you’ll have a lightweight lap desk at your disposal no matter where you want to break out your laptop. Made from heat-resistant plastic and adorned with an anti-slip silicone material, the AboveTEK Portable Lap Desk has safety in mind when it comes to both you and your laptop.
An interesting, rare feature is the AboveTEK desk’s retractable, ambidextrous mouse pad. While it might not be groundbreaking, too few manufacturers make the effort to include left-handed options when it comes to their products, so hats off to AboveTEK. The $30 pricing of the Portable Lap Desk may seem steep, but it has an overwhelming number of positive reviews ensuring you won’t suffer from buyer’s remorse.
Best budget laptop desk
Not every product needs a clever hook or gimmick. Sometimes, all you need is a basic product without all the bells and whistles. The SMRONAR Lap Desk is exactly that. It may not include a built-in mouse pad, and it might not be the easiest thing to take along during your commute, but it is everything a laptop desk needs to be.
There’s no arguing against SMRONAR’s Lap Desk being basic. After all, it’s essentially a wooden board on top of a foam cushion. However, do you really need more? The desk takes care of comfort and support with its polyethylene foam cushioning, and its sturdy bamboo surface is capable of safely housing laptops up to 14-inches in size. The only thing left to want is a fair price, and with SMRONAR’s desk costing less than $15, this budget buy becomes seriously difficult to overlook.
