The Best Lap Desks of 2023

Working from home has its share of perks, chief among them the ability to set up your workspace anywhere. For some, the freedom to work while lying in bed or lounging on the sofa is far better than being tethered to a desk or kitchen table.

However, placing your laptop on your bare lap isn’t ideal for either comfort or safety. Not only can the heat from the device rise to very uncomfortable levels after a while, but poor posture or viewing angles can cause neck pain or eye strain over the long term.

This is where lap desks come in. These portable office tables provide a more stable, comfortable, and ergonomic surface to work on. They provide an effective heat barrier between you and your laptop, and some also have cooling fans that help pull excess warmth away from your skin.

While lap desks are simple enough in principle, there are many different models out there with features best suited to specific situations. That’s why we’ve put together our picks for the best lap desks you can buy, from compact models you can take anywhere to larger desks that can accommodate all your stuff.

Best Lap Desk: LapGear Home Office Pro

The LapGear Home Office Pro takes our top spot for two reasons: it’s both highly versatile and very comfortable.

This lap desk has generous dimensions of 21.1” x 14”, providing enough space for a typical 15.6” laptop and mouse while still staying relatively compact for easy portability.

It also has a slot where you can conveniently place your smartphone in an upright position. This allows you to see notifications and messages quickly, or even hop on Zoom calls from your phone while you’re working. The 0.75”-wide slot is a snug fit for most models, although you might need to remove thicker phone cases first.

Comfort is one of the highlights of the LapGear Home Office Pro. The elevated bottom cushion is soft and comfortable while still allowing air to circulate, and does a good job of providing natural ventilation for your device without needing cooling fans.

The wrist pad deserves special mention. Adopting the same soft material as the cushion base, it works well to reduce wrist stress and ensure your hands stay in an ergonomic position. 

The only drawback with the Home Office Pro is the lack of a ledge and anti-slip pads to keep your laptop in place, something the cheaper LapGear Ergo Pro model has.

It’s not much of a deal-breaker in practice, however, as the issue can easily be solved by applying anti-slip pads or keeping the lap desk level.  The Home Office Pro’s wrist pad has a bigger impact on comfort and ergonomics, making it the better choice overall. 

You’ll find that the LapGear Home Office Pro is the best lap desk for most situations at any price, whether you’re working on a laptop, sketching on an iPad, or writing in your notebook.

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Best for Adjustability: HUANUO Adjustable Laptop Stand

If you love to adopt contortionist positions when you work, consider the HUANUO Adjustable Laptop Stand. This lap desk is, hands down, one of the most flexible and adjustable on the market.

It achieves this through dual three-jointed legs, which can bend and straighten to whatever degree you wish. You can drop it down when working in bed, for instance, or raise it up to act as a standing desk. Having the ability to tilt the desk surface is especially helpful for aligning your laptop display at a comfortable eye level.

The desk dimension is limited, enough to fit a typical 15″ laptop but not much more. Fortunately, the stand also includes a separate retractable pad if you prefer to use a mouse. It also has a pair of built-in cooling fans, although they’re fairly weak and feel quite cheap.

It’s worth noting that the legs can be hard to adjust. Moving them requires some effort, and since you need to work on each leg individually, a misalignment can cause the whole thing to wobble. Even so, the flexibility and utility you get from this stand far outweighs that minor drawback, especially for the price. 

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Best for Portability: AboveTEK Portable Lap Desk

The AboveTEK Portable Laptop Desk is a very compact and affordable lap desk that easily fits inside most laptop bags and backpacks.

With a weight of 2.2 pounds and just over half an inch thick, it’s one of the thinnest lap desks you’ll come across. Despite that, it has a surprisingly sturdy and stable base, with a thermal-resistant layer that efficiently redirects heat despite the ultra-thin design.

At 15” wide, the desk is just wide enough to accommodate most laptops. The anti-slip silicone surface ensures your device stays in place, important given the limited real estate. If you like to use a mouse, this lap desk comes with a retractable bi-directional mouse pad, so it works whether you’re left or right-handed.

The only trade-off with the AboveTEK’s portability is the smaller desk space. But if you can live with that, you’ll find it’s an excellent accessory for working anywhere you want.

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Best on a Budget: LapGear Compact

The LapGear Compact is one of the most inexpensive lap desks you can get, but despite the price, you still get the comfort and quality that the company is known for.

Like the Home Office Pro above, the LapGear Compact features similarly soft bottom cushions (minus the wrist pad). They’re just as comfortable and provide good ventilation for your laptop as well. The pad is available in a small range of colors, not just the usual boring black.

As the name suggests, this lap desk is meant as a portable option, with its small size and carrying handle making it easy to hold and transport. The only things that keep it from being the best compact option are the lack of a retractable mouse pad and a smaller desk surface that can only accommodate a 13″ laptop.

The affordable price point helps justify the above compromises, however, especially if you’re on a tight budget. The LapGear Compact works especially well if you’re a tablet user and don’t want to splurge on a larger, fancier lap desk.

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Most Spacious: SAIJI Laptop Stand

The SAIJI Laptop Stand is the best lap desk solution for people who need extra space, such as artists and graphic designers.

It’s one of the largest lap desks we’ve found, with a full 23.6″ x 17.7″ surface area. That’s a significant increase on the 17 x 13 lap desks that dominate this space.

At those dimensions, the SAIJI can comfortably accommodate a 15″ laptop, tablet, and even a notebook with plenty of space left over. It has a slot that can fit either a smartphone or the detachable stand to prop up a book. We also like the storage drawer, where you can put things like pens and valuables.

The SAIJI is built with ergonomics in mind. The adjustable legs allow you to customize the height to your preference, while the surface can be tilted to an appropriate angle for whatever task you’re performing. When not in use, the desk folds down into a relatively compact form for easy storage.

Of course, the disadvantage with the larger size is that this lap desk is heavier and bulkier than most. It’s also one of the most expensive options on this list. Nevertheless, the generous space and ergonomic features more than justify the asking price for the SAIJI Laptop Stand.

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Most Comfortable: Sofia + Sam Memory Foam Lap Desk

If comfort is a priority, the Sofia + Sam Memory Foam Lap Desk should be your top pick. It has a soft, pillow-like quality that’s a joy to use for extended periods.

This lap desk uses memory foam for both the bottom cushion and the wrist pad. If you’ve ever slept on a mattress with this material before, you know how well it moulds to your body’s contours. That translates to fantastic comfort and wrist support.

The thickness of the bottom cushion also has an added benefit: it props your laptop at the correct height, which keeps your eyes, head, and neck in a comfortable position.

The Sofia + Sam has a relatively large work surface (18.5” x 14”), which can accommodate a 15” laptop with room to spare. It also has two slots: a longer one in the main desk surface that fits a tablet, and a smaller one in the retractable mouse pad that can house a smartphone. 

The one minor drawback is that the mouse pad’s surface makes it slightly harder for an optical mouse to move around, but overall, the Sofia + Sam Memory Foam Lap Desk is an excellent pick that marries both comfort and functionality.

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Wrapping It Up

For most situations, you can’t go wrong with the LapGear Home Office Pro for its excellent mix of comfort, versatility, and functionality. If space is an issue, though, choose the SAIJI Laptop Stand for a bigger work desk, or the slimline LapGear Compact for portability.

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Main image via Lando Aviles/Shutterstock.com, product images via Amazon