Crane Laptop, Tablet and DJ Stand Review and Exclusive UK Special Offer

When I was contacted to see if I’d be interested in reviewing a laptop stand I wondered what I could possibly write about it.

Then a package arrived from Washington, in it was a neat carry bag that didn’t look like it could carry anything substantial – let alone a stand.

The Crane stand is truly compact, reasonably light and portable – speaking as someone that drags his bass gear around using public transport, anything that can be slipped into a gig bag or slung over my shoulder without crippling me is truly a bonus!

Once you slide the Crane stand out of the 14″ x 16″ drawstring bag you are faced with a flat, black, folded stand that measures 13″ square – this means that it will slip easily into your laptop or gig bag.

The other bonus is that it only weighs 3lbs – I am not sure how that compares to other stands but the Crane is well built so any worries about weight should be countered by the knowledge that this thing wont buckle, bend or let you down.

The stand is formed of three well engineered parts – the single, long (11″ x 1/4″), branded foot support, the body and the tray – it even came with a sub tray which I have utilised to take my TC Electronics Impact Twin in one of the pics.

There are 2 adjustment points, one at the base and the other at tray level. These locking aluminium cam levers allow you to adjust the height and the rake of the upper tray. In the pictures below I have my gaming/desk top replacement laptop sat on the top tray and this beast weighs quite a lot (17″ screen and tips the scales at 4 kgs!). This stand is sturdy and will easily handle your tablet or CD mixers.

On the main tray there’s 4 prongs, and the on the sub 2, that stops your gear sliding off. Both have plastic protectors (the sub isn’t really deep enough for the Impact Twin but would comfortably handle a portable HDD or such bit of ancillary gadgetry. Another neat bit of attention to detail is that there’s rubber rings placed top and bottom of the stand which will keep everything from sliding about as well as protecting the surfaces that come in contact with the Crane.

The beauty of the Crane’s design though is how flexible it is – You can have it in the Z position (the logo will be on display but this will enable you to shove the foot under other equipment or you can flip it about into the C position which is a bit more compact if you find yourself short of desk space – this also enables you to be able to sling other gear underneath. This flexibility allows for a whole range of heights – I have to admit to having used the stand in the kitchen to hold my other laptop up to be used as a cook book 😉

Conclusion

The Crane stand is easy and quick to set up and is flexible enough to fit in any space that it has to – desk, DJ stand, studio or kitchen. I have found that the stand does lock to a certain degree but if you’ve been a bit silly weight-wise (4 kg laptop for instance) then the tray may start to droop a little over time – I can’t envisage this happening over the course of a DJ set but my first attempt at setting it up to take my ‘studio’ laptop over the Impact Twin did see me comically pounce to stop the laptop making a lunge for me 😉

Since that incident I have tightened the Crane and thus far no droopage 🙂

I am not able to fault the construction one iota – but this baby will hit you up for $150.  In the end you gets whats you pays for in this life and if you treasure your equipment and want things to last you generally have to save up a little be more for a premium, professional product.

As this is a product from over in the US of A, those lovely folk over at Pro Laptop Stand want to take the sting out of that price for you Gadgety News readers.

Pro Laptop Stand is giving readers of GadgetyNews.com a special discount on this exceptional equipment stand. Send an email to sales@prolaptopstand.com with the subject line, GNEWS + (your country location) and you’ll receive an exclusive offer towards purchase.

How about that then?

What are you waiting for?