Setting up an ergonomic home office with a laptop is a challenge. To prevent laptop hunch have your screen high enough so you can look straight ahead and the keyboard low enough so it is level with your elbows. Click here to learn more about simple ergonomics and see a helpful ergonomic diagram.
Laptop Hunch results when you work on your laptop without ergonomics
To set up your laptop for comfortable work you will need two things: a laptop stand and a separate keyboard.
A laptop stand helps you to adjust the laptop screen to the proper height. Apartment Therapy showcases several laptop stands. Some stands are adjustable which gives you the best laptop stand ergonomics. Many have a slant for the base/keyboard of the laptop. Please do not think this means you can type at this angle. Having your wrists bent back is anti-ergonomic.
A separate keyboard allows you to place it at a level that is correct for your wrists. It also gives you the added bonus of being larger and longer which allows your shoulders to relax instead of being scrunched together to accommodate the narrower laptop keyboard.
DIY laptop stand for ergonomics
If you want to give a laptop stand a test run you can make this DIY laptop stand out of a pizza box by Ilya Andreev (with a hat tip to Apartment Therapy Tech). Ask for a clean pizza box from your local pizzeria (leave a nice tip for the favor) and follow Illya’s laptop pizza box stand photo tutorial here Or place your laptop on an old computer manual or two.
To learn more about setting up a comfortable home office Check out The Smarter Home Office on Amazon
top photo – iStockphoto
bottom photo – Ilya Andreev
