Upon receipt of the Griffin Elevator stand I thought of multiple places where placing my PowerBook on a higher level might prove helpful. My desk sports a CRT monitor, a scanner, photo printer, hub, 2 external drives, and a printer-scanner washing machine, and there is just no room for my orphaned PB. I set up a separate PB work table with an ugly cardboard box to raise the portable when I use an external keyboard. The Griffin elevator allows me to trash the ugly box and use a much more elegant solution.

Raise your Portable to New Heights

The Elevator is simply a metal frame designed to hold your portable perched above your workspace. The brushed aluminum frame has two u-shaped arms with rubber strips on top. A clear, thick slip-on polycarbonate crossbar that has the Griffin logo stamped within, secures the arms.

The 1.4" thick rubber strips are mounted on the 1.75" wide arms, that are also 14" thick. The Elevator is 10-inches wide and 5.5-inches tall, so almost any portable can be perched over your desk. Everything is brushed aluminum, so heat dissipation is no problem. Due to the u-shape, I find that a WiebeTech 3.5-inch ToughTech eSATA hard drive enclosure fits perfectly on rubber legs across the bottom of the Elevator and under my PowerBook. You can also push your keyboard into the bottom of the elevator to move it out of the way, which is probably why it was designed as an open-U shape.

Work Comfortably

The height of the Elevator means that you do not have to tilt your head down to work anymore, but look straight ahead, which is probably much better for your posture and neck.

Small annoyance

The only problem I have when using the Elevator is when I want to move it back on my table. If you push it back by the arms, the crossbar may be left behind. You must push the crossbar, not the arms, or it will disengage. Alternately, when you move it forward, you must push the arms, not grab the crossbar. Other than this minor inconvenience, I find that the addition of the Elevator makes my work space look nicer, and it makes hooking up peripherals easier. The bottom line is, if you need to use an external keyboard and mouse, you will really like the Elevator.

by ilene hoffman, Reviews Editor