Couch Desk

Assembled laptop table with 11" Air, K6, M535

Never could quite get the Foldable Laptop Desk to balance properly on my sofa, and it kept things in too close to my chest in any case. The LapGear MyDesk is fine for what it is, but a bit awkward, and if a laptop isn’t compatible with the Air 75, doesn’t provide a mechanical keyboard option. Also, not the best for head position / sight line.

Now, though, I’ve assembled the GOAT. The original plan was to get any adjustable height^‡ desk (e.g.) and bolt a VESA mount (e.g.) to it. But that just seemed clumsy, too/top heavy, and overkill (my svelte Apple hardware just doesn’t require the hardware to support > 17 lbs). This solution appealed as it extends over the couch and has a built-in pole for VESA mounting.

I started with the Viozon Floor Stand for Laptop, UP-8T, which provides a 1.5" diameter pole that holds the desk surface. I measured the space under my sofa and confirmed the 0.6" thick feet would slide underneath. My desk height is about 23" and the maximum for the floor stand is 35.4" so I figured I’d have space to play with. Now, to mount the laptop.

Pole Mount and Laptop Holder installed

The VIVO Steel Universal Bracket Pole Mount (MOUNT-POLE01) clamps to the floor stand pole perfectly (adjusts to fit 1.1"—2.4" diameter poles), and provides a 100mm/75mm VESA mounting plate. To that, I attached a VIVO Adjustable 11 to 17 inch Laptop Holder, STAND-LAP4, which so far is working okay. (vivo-us.com) I might reconsider that last component, which doesn’t provide an 11" MacBook Air with quite as much stability as I’d like (it wobbles a bit front to back), but there are myriad other options if I decide to try another approach: VIVO Universal Adjustable 10 to 15.6 inch Laptop Mount Holder (clamps); VIVO Laptop Notebook Steel Tray (basic shelf) ... (Finding a solution that doesn’t block ports on the laptop is a challenge.) Next up, adding a small adhesive under-desk drawer, to hold the Allen key used to adjust the height of the laptop mount (and, you know, pens and such).

Anyway. Now I have the laptop at eye level and about 6" below it is the desk workspace, which provides more than enough room for a Keychron K6Q1 (Kailh Box Royal switches, which, after a year, now rank among my favorites) and a Logitech M535 mouse (all Bluetooth, natch). I’m on the couch, my Labrador is curled up next to me, life is good.

Edit: Finishing touch, I added a small drawer (with its own adhesive) underneath, to hold pens, styli, notecards, the Allen key to adjust the height of the Pole Mount...

Edit: So, putting this contraption up on a coffee table actually makes it a pretty decent standing desk. I can put the table height right at ~43" (the perfect height), and the laptop screen is close to ideal:

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 ^‡ Ideally one I could move to a standing position; this doesn’t really do that - I need a desk height of 43" to be comfortable - but I realized I really wasn’t going to be standing at it as much as I would be on the sofa, so I just built that solution.