Tailored Fit was founded in 2015 by executive health coach, Ben Davies. Since 2012 he has been working with CEOs, MDs, Global Heads and Partners of companies to optimise their health and performance and develop corporate wellness strategies. An expert in mental, physical and nutritional wellness, we asked Ben to review our new ultra-lightweight laptop stand the Oryx evo D Laptop Stand.
“I recently went through an online DSE assessment and quickly realised something glaringly obvious; I was not practising what I was preaching. When working from my home office, I use a rather cumbersome, but functional laptop stand. The issue arose when I was hot-desking at co-working spaces or working at clients’ offices. I would often spend two to three hours working on my laptop in increasingly poor positions. My home laptop stand was very light but too big to fit in my rucksack. Enter the Standivarius Oryx evo D! The first hint at the portability of this stand came when it was posted to my home. It came in an A4 envelope, which I assumed must be a certificate, but didn’t remember taking any courses recently.
Needless to say, I was impressed from the outset. This is by far the lightest and most portable laptop stand I have tried. Being A4-sized, it slips neatly into my laptop bag, which is essential for me and it weighs next to nothing. Having a laptop stand means needing a portable keyboard and mouse too, which obviously adds to the bulk, but is not too inconvenient. Getting the stand set up is fairly straight forward, although it does take a little bit of puzzle-solving, akin to setting up a deck chair. It is also important to ensure your laptop is fairly well centred on the stand, as due to its slimline design and low weight, it is not necessarily the sturdiest. A hard nudge to the desk, a mistimed high five or a vindictive office cat could potentially lead to a fall. On saying that, I have not had any disasters and may well just be being over-cautious.
The stand easily lifts the laptop screen to the recommended ergonomic standards and has several settings to make it adjustable. One issue I have found is that my laptop doesn’t open all that wide (around 130° at a guess), meaning the screen is only just vertical with the stand on the lowest setting. Lifting it higher would mean the screen would be tipped slightly towards me. Like a typical millennial, my life has become a lot less paper-based, but the document holder does exactly what it needs to do. A4 documents sit over you laptop keyboard without obstructing the screen. I’m sure there will come a time when I need to refer to a document while typing and can sit there feeling smug about looking after my posture. Having used this stand for a few weeks now, I can safely say I wouldn’t go back to using a laptop for an extended period without one. In fact, I’m so surprised how many people around me right now as I write this, are using laptops directly on their desks, with heads bowed forwards.
Overall, I am definitely a fan of the Oryx evo D! It is insanely light and portable and a posture-saver for any hot-deskers, agile workers and digital nomads. The only potential issues arise if your laptop doesn’t open very wide or if you use it on a surface liable to lots of knocks or movement.
Ben Davies Founder and CEO Tailored Fit Corporate Wellness If you work with a laptop on a regular basis, download our working with a laptop guide or check out our essentials for agile working.
