There are three PCs at my desk at the moment. The first is a self-built desktop - Intel Core2 Duo E6600, NVidia 8800GTS, 2GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 (5-5-5-15), Coolermaster iGreen PSU @ 580W all on a GigaByte GA-965P-DQ6 motherboard. There are currently two disks in it, one with 500GB and one with 400GB.  It runs the Vista Ultimate edition I received for beta testing that operating system.  It has a 20" Sharp flat panel display, 5.1 surround sound, a Saitek X36F HOTAS joystick and throttle, and as you can imagine its pretty sweet when playing games.

The second machine is a server that sits under the desk.  It has an eight drive hardware RAID 5 array in it, comprised of seven 300GB drives (all WD RAID Edition drives drives of the same model number) and one hot spare which would be used automatically if one of the drives in the array fails. It is a 3 GHz Pentium 4 with HT and 2GB RAM.  It currently runs Windows Server 2008.

The third is of course my laptop.  Its a Sony Vaio VGN-CR11Z/R detailed elsewhere, but suffice to say I do most of my work on it.  My desk is laid out so that the laptop is to the left of the keyboard, mouse and screen that controls the other two machines, which are linked with a KVM switch.  I prefer it that way as it means I have the best view of both machines at any one time. More specifically, I don't see as well on my right periphery as I do on my left, so while I'm looking at the monitor on which the desktop machine is running I am usually pretty much aware of what is happening on the laptop at the same time.  This is useful as I use a lot of smaller apps on my laptop, which update frequently. Case in point would be my Instant Message program; Twitter, and my social networking tools like Witty and twhirl.

I tell you all of the above merely to set the scene : My office / spare room has a fair bit of hardware in it, and I'm pretty sure about how I like it laid out. Last week I ordered a stand for my laptop.  The ergonomics of the desk weren't (and still aren't) perfect, and I was constantly switching to different levels to get to different systems.  The position of the laptop left a lot to be desired from the perspective of my wrists, as I had to raise them up slightly higher than the desktop keyboard.  So, I bought a Coolermaster Notepal S. It is a combination adjustable stand and cooler for laptops. It has actually made a lot of difference to how comfortable I am while working here.  I have support now for my wrists while working on the laptop, and the range of movement allowed me is enough to fully cover the whole keyboard.  It also raises the laptop screen up to my eye level which is better for my posture and more comfortable.  I now have both monitors on the same level. 

Unfortunately I still have to do something with the keyboard for the desktop and server.  It is under the  desk on a slide-out tray, which seems like a great idea until you realise that the mouse doesn't fit alongside it. If it did then I could very easily adjust everything to be optimally positioned.  While writing this post I have been experimenting with slightly different layouts for the desk, but I still can't find one that really works.  The desk itself is fully adjustable, so I can raise or lower it substantially. I think the solution is going to be to raise it slightly so that I fit  well under the keyboard tray, and then to lower the Laptop slightly to compensate. If all of this sounds a little hard to imagine, this photo shows how it is currently setup.  I'm probably making it sound more complex and indeed uncomfortable than it actually is, but often minor changes require the longest descriptions.  So, on with the adjusting...

Anyway, this post was supposed to be about the Notepal.  If you're looking for a good laptop stand that is adjustable and acts as a cooler then this could be the device for you.  It is adjustable to six different heights and seems to be pretty sturdy.  It comes in black or silver and feels very sturdy.  As passive coolers go it works just fine - there are slats at the back through which air can flow so the outside of your laptop should probably have a lower temperature then when it stands on a flat surface.  So far I'm pretty happy with it.