Best Lap Desks

There’s just one problem: balancing either on your lap is neither comfortable nor practical—and they get hot fast. Laptops and books also benefit from extra height placed beneath them to prevent you from straining your back, neck, shoulders, and arms.

CR’s top pick for lap desks has a comfortable microbead cushion, built-in storage space for laptops up to 14 inches and their charging accessories, and an integrated phone and tablet dock. We found it to be the most convenient for a variety of work tasks, though it wasn’t the most portable choice. 

Comfort: The Pottery Barn Teen Super Storage Lap Desk (similar to the image featured below) is designed with a higher, more plush cushion than the Arlo Skye lap desk, but it’s also heavier. The trade-off is that this pick did not cause our laps to get warm after several minutes. Unlike the Lap Gear Home Office Lap Desk (also featured below), this lap desk’s underside is one continuous microbead cushion that is not segmented and felt more plush.

• Typing: The lap desk provided enough height for my 13-inch laptop, but not so much height that I had to scrunch my shoulders up to type or scroll.
• Reading: The built-in storage case lid can be raised and adjusted to suit the angle you need for reading comfortably. I found this especially useful when reading a heavy textbook.
• Writing: This lap desk isn’t the ideal height for writing for long periods of time, but it’s better than some of the others we evaluated. After writing in a notebook for about 10 minutes, my neck started to feel the weight of looking down for too long.

Features: Its phone and tablet dock is useful and helps create a full workstation with a minimal footprint. The platform is made from white oak melamine with a veneer and is smooth to the touch. A built-in storage tray lifts up and can be angled for easier reading or watching videos and its interior can accommodate laptops up to 14 inches (according to the manufacturer) and charging accessories. Unlike some of the others, the platform doesn’t feature a ledge that keeps your laptop from slipping down onto your lap, but I didn’t miss not having this feature.

Portability: This lap desk weighed 3.6 pounds in our independent weight evaluation, and its built-in handle makes it easy to carry around. However, it’s too large to fit in a standard student backpack.

If you prefer your lap desk to be travel-friendly, the LapGear Compact Lap Desk is a lightweight and relatively comfortable choice. It comes in five colors and is available as a single unit or in a pack of 12. 

Comfort: This lap desk’s dual bolster cushion is harder than the Arlo Skye cushion and isn’t the most plush on our list. But it protected my lap well from the heat of my laptop, and its segmented shape felt cooler on my lap than the Arlo Skye and Pottery Barn Teen laptops, which have a monolithic cushion that doesn’t allow for the same airflow. Its plastic platform feels cheaper than the wood options, but keep in mind this lap desk is a lot more budget-friendly.

• Typing: While typing, my wrists were not in line with my elbows and forearms and were angled slightly downward. Since the lap desk doesn’t offer much height, my neck was slightly strained after 10 minutes of looking down.
• Reading: The only way this lap desk worked well while reading and didn’t cause neck strain was if I elevated my knees more or sat cross-legged to give my book more height.
• Writing: I noticed the same issue when I used this lap desk while writing in a notebook; after a few minutes, it didn’t offer enough height to be comfortable on the neck and shoulders.

Features: The lap desk features an old-school built-in pencil/pen tray, which was cute but not particularly helpful, and a built-in carrying handle (which was helpful).

Portability: At just 0.1 pounds, this is by far the most lightweight lap desk we evaluated and a cinch to carry via its handle. This was the only lap desk on the list that fit comfortably inside a standard student backpack.

It boasts the highest and most plush cushioning of all the lap desks we evaluated and has a sturdy platform and a sliding storage compartment to stash various items. 

Comfort: This was our most comfy lap desk, thanks to plush cushioning and a height of 4.5 inches, which is higher than the other lap desks we evaluated. Similar to the Arlo Skye lap desk, its cushion is not segmented and has beads inside that shift. It did get slightly warm on my lap after about 15 minutes, but not sweaty.

• Typing: Since this lap desk’s platform is higher, my shoulders, forearms, and wrists felt in alignment while typing and scrolling. My neck did not require bending downward to see the screen, either.
• Reading: Reading from a textbook and novel wasn’t as comfortable as on the Arlo Skye lap desk since the latter features an angled cover. I had to sit up straighter to comfortably read on the Pottery Barn Teen lap desk.
• Writing: This pick provided the best writing experience of all the lap desks on this list. It was high enough on the lap to not force my shoulders to stoop, and my forearm and wrist were comfortably on the desk. The platform is hard, though, and its edges are sharper than those on the Arlo Skye lap desk.

Features: This lap desk has a sliding top compartment. When you slide it to the left, it reveals one medium and one small compartment—its sizes are 5.75x5.5 inches and 5.5x3.75 inches—where you can fit charging cables and office supplies like pens and pencils. When you slide it to the right, you find a larger compartment measuring 10x10 inches, which is ideal for books.

My 13-inch laptop fit inside, but positioning it was awkward at first because the sliding door does not fully open, so you have to maneuver it in at a strange angle. This pick also features a pencil ledger that can be used to keep your laptop or book from sliding off the desk. It has a built-in carrying handle.

Portability: At 4.5 pounds, this was the heaviest of the lap desks and too large to fit in a standard backpack. It does have a built-in carrying handle, but keeping it in one place seems to make the most sense.

There is a lot to like about the LapGear Home Office Pro Lap Desk, including its lightweight design, integrated mouse pad, phone holder, and considerable width (the manufacturer claims it can accommodate laptops up to 15.6 inches). But it left a lot to be desired in the comfort department and didn’t feel as well-made as the Arlo Skye and Pottery Barn Teen lap desks. 

Comfort: Its segmented bolster cushion is more solid than the plush cushions on the Arlo Skye and Pottery Barn Teen lap desks and feels nice on the lap, while allowing for some airflow. It didn’t get hot or sweaty at any point during my evaluation. A foam cushion wrist rest along the bottom of the lap desk elevates the wrist slightly and I preferred this softness to the hard edges I described on the Pottery Barn Teen lap desk.

But the platform, which feels and looks like smooth plastic (the manufacturer does not state the materials used), doesn’t feel as well-made as the Arlo Skye and Pottery Barn Teen lap desks, and it lacked the height needed to be effortlessly comfortable while working.

• Typing: Typing was fairly comfortable, but my neck craned down to look at the screen, and my wrists and elbows were not positioned well because the lap desk lacked enough height for alignment. After about 10 minutes, I needed to adjust my position to find a more comfortable angle—this was achieved by placing two pillows under my knees.
• Reading: My neck became slightly sore after a little while because I had to look down to read my book. On the upside, the lap desk features a small ledge that keeps books in place.
• Writing: Writing in a notebook was not a comfortable task on this lap desk. I had to crane my neck down and the back of my shoulders felt uncomfortable.

Features: If you use a computer mouse you may like the integrated mouse pad (we didn’t evaluate this with a mouse). The phone holder is a nice feature, as is a ledge to keep your laptop, books, and pens from slipping off. It has a carrying handle at the top and lacks the storage compartments you’ll find in the Arlo Skye and Pottery Barn Teen models. 

Portability: At just 2.2 pounds, this is a very lightweight lap desk, and its carrying handle will help make it more portable. But it’s too large to fit inside a standard backpack.

If your idea of the ideal lap desk is one that sits over your lap and not on top of it, the Threshold Collapsible Lap Desk may be more what you’re looking for—but we found it lacking in comfort, features, and portability. 

Comfort: This lap desk’s smooth bamboo construction feels nice to the touch, but that’s where its comfort factor ends. It has legs that fold out and in (for storage) and we found it impossible to place it over our laps while reclining on a sofa or couch without the legs wobbling and rocking back and forth while we worked.

• Typing: Aside from the constant rocking motion while typing on a laptop, the lap desk is too high to be comfortable. My shoulders scrunched up toward my neck in order to place my arms and hands high enough for typing. It’s automatically uncomfortable.
• Reading: I liked how much higher my book was on this lap desk, and how I didn’t have to strain my neck downward to read. But I had to sit up taller—I could not slouch and relax on a couch or bed while reading on this desk because the platform isn’t positioned against your lap and doesn’t allow for angling to adjust the book. Instead, I had to adjust my body to accommodate the book. The extra space beneath the lap desk was a perk because I could move my legs and sit cross-legged.
• Writing: Writing in a notebook was uncomfortable. I had to elevate my right shoulder and arm high when I wrote with my dominant right hand. Plus, the desk wobbled too much to allow for steady writing.

Features: This pick has collapsible legs and a foldable design. Its platform is basic, with just a pencil/pen holder at the top. 

Portability: The lap desk weighs 4.2 pounds and lacks a carrying handle. It can’t fit inside a standard backpack and would be best kept in one place.