ARE VERTICAL LAPTOP STANDS SAFE?
The only safety risk associated with vertical laptop stands is being knocked over, which would potentially make your laptop fall to its untimely doom. This is because a vertical laptop stand holds your laptop in an upright position, making it tall yet narrow, which could make it an easy casualty of an uncareful arm reaching for something, or a sudden jostling of the desk. Despite this vulnerability, you can avoid the risk of your laptop falling from the vertical stand by doing these two things:
1. Make sure you place it somewhere on your desk that is at low risk of being knocked over. Behind your external monitor, or right next to a wall are both good options for safe vertical laptop stand placement. Avoid keeping it right on the edge of your desk where, if it were to topple over, would lead to the laptop falling on the floor.
2. Buy a vertical laptop stand that has a wide base. A wider base means more stability, which means less chance of it being knocked over.
Another safety concern some people have regarding vertical laptop stands is the vertical/upright position itself. Is it ok to leave your laptop in a vertical position for extended periods of time? There's actually nothing wrong with keeping your laptop in a vertical position, or any position, really. All of the hardware of a laptop is securely installed inside its casing and has no loose components that could come out of place. So, there's no need to worry about leaving your laptop in a vertical laptop stand for any length of time.
Help With Laptop Cooling. Vertical laptop stands are really efficient at bringing down the temperature of a hot laptop. MacBooks in particular have the tendency to run hot after extended periods of use, which is bad for hardware longevity. Simply powering it off and leaving your MacBook on the desk doesn't quite cut it, considering that the desk surface also heats up and will remain hot for a while longer. Putting your laptop in a vertical stand gives the underside (where vents and hardware are located) full exposure to air which ensures a much more efficient position for cooling than just leaving the device on your desk.
If you're the kind of person with a particularly busy desk setup, then you can definitely benefit from a vertical laptop stand. But you might be thinking that your laptop is an expensive and precious piece of hardware, will it be safe in grips of a vertical laptop stand?