Best Buy Computer Stands ##TOP##

As the staff writer for style coverage at Wirecutter, Justin Krajeski compares, tests, and writes about everything you can carry or wear on your person, from sunglasses to jeans. He previously wrote about tech at Wirecutter; this guide to laptop stands was one of his first to highlight the importance of aesthetics in a usually utilitarian category.

best buy computer stands

The Rain Design iLevel 2 is the best laptop stand for the widest range of body types and laptops thanks to its simple, sturdy anodized aluminum design and its easy-to-use adjustment knob. No other laptop stand we tested was as quick and simple to set up for different heights, laptops, and postures. It also looks nice sitting on a desk.

Though the range will vary slightly depending on the depth of your laptop, the iLevel 2 raises the back of a laptop roughly 6.5 inches above the desk surface on its lowest setting and 8.5 inches at its highest level. That range is tall enough to raise a laptop to eye level for many people sitting at a desk (but, again, because everyone has different torso sizes, we recommend measuring the height you would want your laptop raised to). Quickly switching between height settings is also easier to do with the iLevel 2 than with other stands we tested.

While Best Buy offers this service, so do hundreds of small electronics recyclers across the country. All of them are much smaller than Best Buy. Small businesses always need more, and a great way to support them is by recycling your computers with them rather than with Best Buy. If your county or municipality offers electronics recycling services, use them. They undoubtedly use a local electronics recycling company.

Workstations are the sharpest tools in the desktop PC world, purpose-built for everything from professional photo and video editing to scientific analysis, computer-aided design (CAD), and Hollywood-level computer-generated imagery and 3D rendering. These specialized computers are available for nearly any budget, from not much more than a normal desktop to well above the sticker of a sports car.

Before you go workstation shopping, you should know they can be some of the most confusing computers to purchase because of their sheer configurability and a knack for offering options you've probably never heard of. Below is a breakout of our top picks among workstations we've tested. Following that is a buying guide that delves into all aspects of workstation buying, including professional-grade graphics cards, error-correcting memory, workstation-class CPUs, and warranty considerations.

Multi-CPU support is another capability that lies solely in the realm of workstation CPUs. The highest-end workstations can support two processors. It's expensive territory that you'd probably visit only if you need an extreme number of cores (more than can fit on a single CPU) and don't want to invest in a second computer. Ever-increasing CPU core counts have mitigated, but not eliminated, the need for what's known as symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) scenarios.

One of these is the U.2 interface SSD, which is typically the size of a traditional 2.5-inch hard drive. The U.2 format offers higher capacities than M.2 drives since it provides more real estate for housing memory chips. Most U.2 drives use the PCI Express bus for data transfer, over which U.2 supports four lanes, but the interface can also be used for SATA and SAS drives. The latter stands for Serial Attached SCSI, another kind of storage interface typically found only in high-end workstations and servers. A SAS drive is typically used in data center or enterprise scenarios where maximum uptime and reliability are required.

Hot-swappable drives are a server-grade technology sometimes available in high-end workstations. These take the form of externally accessible 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch bays whose drives can be pulled out of the workstation and swapped while the system is running. They're useful if having tons of local storage is key or if you need to transport your data to another computer. Hot-swapping can also allow a failed drive in a RAID array to be replaced without downtime.

So which interfaces and storage formats are best? There is no simple answer to that question. It depends on the usage scenario. For bulk storage where speed and response time isn't critical, 3.5-inch SATA hard drives offer the most gigabytes per dollar. For reliability and better response times, it may be worth upgrading to a SAS drive, but the ever-decreasing cost of solid-state storage continues to make it more attractive than traditional hard drives. (See our SSD vs. HDD: What's the Difference? article for a rundown.)

All told, the total cost of any extended warranties and coverage generally shouldn't exceed 20% of the computer's price. This is rarely a problem when buying an expensive workstation, as even top-tier warranty coverage shouldn't run more than a few hundred dollars.

Workstations are best purchased directly from the vendor or an authorized retailer. This ensures you can get a system configured to your specifications, with a clear line of communication for sales and after-sales support. If you're going through a retailer, verify that any extended warranties or services are honored by the workstation vendor.

Refer to the paragraphs above for the finer details on workstation buying. All told, your purchase should be a hybrid of your current and future needs, as a workstation definitely isn't an impulse buy, nor the kind of computer you'll buy often.

If you're in the market for a laptop stand, you're in luck. We bought and tested 8 of the best models available today after scouring the web for hours on our quest for the perfect stand. We used our team of professional product testers to look closely at the features each product has to offer, gauged their degree of adjustability, and judged the stability of each model. After weeks of use, it became clear which laptop stands are the best for which applications, which are the best bargain, and which ones are the best overall.

We've also tested other laptop accessories, including everything from the best wireless mouse and protective laptop sleeves to docking stations and USB hubs. Check out all our home office review categories to outfit your WFH space.

If you're looking for a one-piece laptop stand with a different look and design, the Soundance Aluminum Computer Riser might be a good choice for you. This model puts your computer screen right at eye level while sitting in most office chairs and aligns well with the height of external monitors. There is ample room between the feet and the stand for storing and organizing odds and ends on your desk. Each one of the support pillars has a slot in it for routing cables to ensure that your workspace stays nice and organized.

At GearLab, each one of our team members uses a laptop stand every day, so naturally, we used our panel of professional product quality judges to differentiate between the stands that deserve awards and those that are so-so in comparison. We carefully inspected each model for both attributes and flaws alike. Although much of our scoring is subjective, we are confident that our advice will help you purchase the perfect model for your needs.

Review Editor Ross Patton and In-House Research Analyst Austin Palmer headed up this review. Between the two of them, they have over 15 years of professional product testing experience. They have teamed up on projects ranging from lithium-ion-powered hand tools to ergonomic keyboards to iPhone gimbals and even jump ropes. With their combined knowledge, education, and experience, you can rest assured knowing that they have readers' best interests in mind.

The Roost Laptop Stand offers three different height options ranging from 6 to 11 inches off the tabletop, but is otherwise static. For those that are looking for a straightforward version that does nothing other than hold your computer and look stylish, it's hard to top the RainDesign mStand. Devoid of any bells and whistles, we think this model is the way to go for those who desire simplicity.

When it comes to purchasing a pair of speakers for your laptop/computer desktop system, size will no doubt be a factor in your buying decision. All of the pairs of computer speakers that we've tested below are inherently from the more compact end of the speaker market and better suited to being perched on a desk than the majority of stereo speakers. Only have room for a one-box unit? You should check out our best Bluetooth speakers guide instead.

But it isn't just size that matters; one of the invariable beauties of having speakers within your workspace is that they can connect easily to your phone or laptop. Some of the computer speakers below can connect over Bluetooth so you needn't worry about unsightly cables trailing all over your desk space, while others require connecting over, say, USB via a cable. Some even support wi-fi and have network streaming smarts integrated, while others can connect to your TV and even turntable to make a neat, compact system.

What Hi-Fi? is all about comparative testing, so we listen to every pair of computer speakers we review against the current leader in its field to gauge how it compares to the best-in-class competition. We keep What Hi-Fi? Award winners, such as the Ruark MR1 Mk2 in this category, in our stockrooms so we can always put new products against ones we know and love.

We are always impartial in our testing and ensure we hear every pair of computer speakers at their optimum in the scenarios they are intended for. We'll use them with different partnering source kit (phones and computers, for example) as well as play different types of music through them. Naturally, we give them plenty of listening time (and time to run in).

Really, testing computer speakers is pretty similar to testing 'standard' speakers and soundbars, in that we are testing their tonality, left/right balance, vocal clarity and overall musicality (by which we mean their rhythmic, organisation and timing abilities). 041b061a72