Roost Laptop Stand 2.0 Review

If you’ve ever found yourself with an aching back after a long session in front of a laptop, you are not alone. Here at Pack Hacker, we spend a lot of time in front of our laptops, so we feel your pain—literally.

If you haven’t already, check out our comparison review of The Roost and Nexstand laptop stands. We go over the benefits of having a laptop stand, and compare two of the most popular stands out there. From there, come back for a more in-depth review of the Roost stand, and check out the usage timeline at the bottom to see how it holds up.

via Pack Hacker’s GIPHY

The Roost stand is one of the first portable laptop stands—launched in June of 2013 from a very successful Kickstarter campaign. Since then it has become one of the go-to laptop stands for digital nomads. It is pricey, but it is well-built and very functional. So let’s check it out.

The Roost folds up very nicely, making it extremely portable. Coming in at just 6.05 ounces, it’s light and compact. The carrying case that it comes with is pretty durable—made of a sort-of windbreaker like material. Folded up, the stand measures 1.3 x 1.3 x 13 inches (3.3 x 3.3 x 33 cm), which means that it is long but very thin. It’s pretty easy to slide this thing into the side of your backpack.

via Pack Hacker’s GIPHY

When the stand is folded up, it feels really solid and durable in your hand. The stand itself is made of… Well, we’re just going to quote their website. It is “constructed from glass-fiber reinforced Nylon, a structural metal-replacement polymer, and Delrin high-performance resin.” Basically, carbon fiber, but without the price tag.

After opening it up, we were pleased to see that it is very sturdy, especially after putting a laptop on it. The Roost is sort of a one-size-fits-all stand, so it will have no problem with old, thick laptops or a MacBook Air, for example.

ia Pack Hacker’s GIPHY

Once you open it up, you will see two rubber pivot grips on the bottom—these latch onto the front of the laptop to secure it to the stand. The grips feel pretty solid, and when the laptop is on there it really doesn’t move around much at all. We even tried tipping the stand over, and the laptop stayed in place nicely.

Roost Stand with 3 height adjustments via Pack Hacker’s GIPHY

All of the contact points are made of nice, soft rubber which means your laptop won’t get scratched or damaged. Once you get your laptop on the stand, there are three different height adjustments that are worth checking out. Depending on how you are sitting (your height and the height of the table)—you may find yourself wanting to adjust the stand every now and then. Use the white clips on the bottom to adjust the settings to your liking.

At the time of this review, the Roost stand is listed at $79.95. Definitely pricey as far as laptop stands go, but we’re pretty confident this thing will last you a long, long time. You’re also paying for portability—it is one of the lightest and most compact laptop stands on the market.