Last year, I came across a product that looked appealing, and so I pre-ordered it: the Svelt laptop stand. It wasn’t a Kickstarter, which I have been known to back a lot of (just ask my wife 😂), just a “please trust us with your money and pre-order it”.
When it arrived, the box was so heavy I thought they accidentally sent me more than one. This is a very well engineered product that is extremely sturdy, and made of high-quality materials, but I think that is part of the problem: the materials chosen optimize for firmness and not low carry weight.
At 1.2 lb (540 grams), it adds 34% to the total weight to my 14-inch MacBook Pro, making an already somewhat heavy laptop a much heavier lift at 4.7 pounds total. While this might be fine for carrying your laptop around inside an office or home environment, traveling with this would be absolutely brutal.
I plan on removing it before I have to do any air travel, so I’ve all but wasted $47. I’ll replace it with a MOFT stand that weighs 3.1oz (89 grams). That’s 84% lighter than the Svelt! The MOFT is fundamentally a different product and not really designed for lap use — it’s aimed at use on desks and other flat surfaces — but for me it’s more than sufficient and doesn’t turn my laptop into a 4.7 pound monster.
On the plus side, the Svelt makes a laptop usable in your lap, and the multiple viewing angles are very helpful. The highest angle looks like it would work well for presentations.
I would love to see a V2 of the product keep the same design, but focus on reducing the weight, perhaps with some sort of carbon fiber material that is both strong and lightweight.
The bottom line: this is a well-engineered product that is unfortunately just too heavy for my needs.