Roost V3 - Ultra Portable and Adjustable Laptop Stand - Eye Level Anywhere - 6 5 to 12

A great and sturdy design. Solid build and surprisingly light weight and portability. A bit steep cost of entry but worth it if you plan on using daily as an EDC for your laptop. This coming from an audio pro...I use along with a full-sized keyboard and mouse and it makes the setup work ergonomically like a charm! Worthwhile purchase. Very packable and the included pouch does the trick perfectly. Read more

I'm a heavy user of the typical, metal, cantilevered laptop stands, like "Lamical". I have many of them, and I am almost always using at least two of them at once with two different MacBook Pros of various sizes. I cook breakfast every morning with a Mac on a stand next to the oven, 'vibe coding'. I'm such a heavy user of these stands that I pack one and bring one with me, even when I'm traveling on airlines with no checked bags. I love everything about those 'normal' stands except: 1) they wobble, 2) the weight, 3) when the little rubber feet get lost they start scratching up my tables and counters. I went looking for a sturdier laptop stand and found this in my searches. I was skeptical since it's made out of plastic. But ***WOW*** this thing is a glorious invention! A design masterpiece! The origami design is incredibly cool, but most importantly: It's incredibly stable and sturdy, at every height. I can stick my 16" MacBook Pro on it at the highest height without worrying about it falling. I can bang on it, typing, or just tapping along to music, and it will not wobble. It's so much lighter than the metal, cantilevered stands and so it's easier to carry it around and reposition it. I never imagined having a stand that could fold up so tightly for travel, and so now I expect to travel everywhere with two or three of these things. (Yes, I'm the nerd who travels with three MacBooks and two iPads and no checked bags.) My ultimate fantasy would be an aluminum version of this thing. I hope that they do enough sales to be able to make something like that. This is an amazing invention and a great product and I'm about to go and buy two more of them. You should buy one. Read more

I recently bought the 13” Macbook Pro 2016 laptop and needed a stand that was ultra portable for my travels. Doing some research I found out about the Roost stand, which is a foldable laptop stand that became very famous through Kickstarter. However, recently a Chinese copycat stand known as the Nexstand started selling on Amazon. Surprisingly there was a big price difference between the two - the Roost cost $75 vs the Nexstand which was only $25. I tried to search for a comparison between the two to understand why the Roost was so much more expensive (3x more) than the Nexstand, and what differences did the Roost have to justify the price. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any good comparison online, so I ended up buying both the Roost and Nexstand so that I could personally compare the two. Here’s my findings, and hopefully it will help others also trying to decide. Just to clarify, I bought both at full price and have no affiliation to either company. SIZE When folded, the Nexstand is about 1” longer than the Roost, and slightly thicker. This means the Roost is more compact than the Nexstand, and for me that is a bonus - the extra inch that I save in my bag means I can stuff an extra pair of socks in that space! When expanded though, the Nexstand’s extra inch of length makes a big difference in that it appears considerably larger than the Roost. It suggests the Nextstand can hold a thicker or wider laptop than the Roost, but the Roost is still very capable despite its smaller size. The Nexstand comes with extra clips for thinner laptops. CARRY POUCH Both come with a soft carry pouch. Some may not consider this a big deal, but its good to carry the stand in a pouch to avoid it scratching other devices or getting caught on cables. I personally love the subtle logo of the Roost bag, and really dislike the blatant branding of the Nexstand bag. FRONT CLAMPS The laptop is held in place on the stand by the front clamps. It’s an ingenious design and well executed that prevents the laptop from slipping off even when you tilt the stand. However, as the front clamps are the point of contact with the laptop, I wanted to make sure that the clamp would not scratch my laptop. Here the Roost provides the better quality material, using rubber front padding whereas the Nexstand’s clamp is purely plastic. That would seem to make the Roost the more favorable option, but then I notice that the Roost’s plastic back has a middle plastic ridge sticking out (see red arrow on image 4) - perhaps the result of the manufacturing process or a quality control issue?. I don’t think it will scratch the laptop but it’s irritating, especially compared to the Nexstand’s smooth surface. Also it should be noted that the Nexstand clamp looks to be capable of holding thicker laptops than the Roost. REAR BACK RESTS The back of your laptop sits on the rear back rests. This is the secondary point of contact between the stand and the laptop. Just like the front clamps, I want to make sure nothing scratches my laptop. With the Roost, the back rest is covered with a long rubber pad that will gently support the laptop, whereas the Nexstand has skimped here with just a small pad that isn’t even the full width of the bar. You can of course stick some electrical tape there if you want reassurance but the Roost clearly wins here. FRONT LEGS The front legs of the stand touch the table/surface and holds the laptop weight. To prevent the stand slipping around, the Roost has rubber padding that works excellently to keep the stand stable. The Nexstand is just smooth plastic and whilst the stand does remain stable when pushed, it can slide more freely on the table surface. Roost wins here. CONCLUSION Both the Roost and Nexstand are excellent, solidly built stands that will hold your laptop steady. I don’t want to advocate one above the other and have personally kept both for now. The Nexstand’s price represents excellent value and there’s nothing really negative about its quality, so if price is important to you, or you have a really large thick laptop, go with the Nexstand. The Roost provides extra luxuries such as rubber paddings and a more compact frame, but for the price it’s slightly more difficult to justify - if the price point doesn’t bother you then the Roost certainly represents a more “upgraded” model. Read more

I was looking for a portable laptop stand to take to my co-working space, on team offsites, etc. and the Roost kept coming up as highly recommended in my searches. I was skeptical that a bunch of composite plastic and rubber was worth the $100+ asking price, but I'm a sucker for clever engineering, and the founder seemed like a nice guy (support small business!) so I ordered the V3 Plus. Unboxing it and setting it up, I was blown away by how freaking sturdy this thing is. The build quality is immaculate and there's zero wobble or flex in any of the components. I have it propping up my 16" MacBook Pro to my height (6'2") and it's incredible. It takes literally less than a second to set up or collapse, and the laptop is absolutely rock solid once it's mounted. If you're looking for an adjustable, portable, high-quality laptop stand look no further. Seriously. Don't keep looking, just buy this one because it's as good as it gets. Bravo, Roost! Read more

I've been using the old V3 for years now, and love it. It's light, stable, high quality, and easily the best of the many travel stands I've owned (even one knockoff roost). I lost mine for a while, so I used that as an opportunity to upgrade. I'm happy to say that the new version is the same high quality as before, with a nice upgrade to the height settings. Not much more to report, they seem identical otherwise. The only cosmetic difference is the branding on the side which I think is overdue. I feel either version is a good buy. I have had no major complaints with the height adjustment of the previous version, and could even adjust it with the laptop on with a bit of practice. If you want to save a few dollars you aren't losing much. Read more