Stacked Laptop Monitor Update

July 15th, 2024
tech, wrists
In the spirit of coming back to things once I have more experience with them, I've continued to be very happy with my stacked laptop monitor. I just got back from a week of touring and then vacation with Julia's family, and I used it almost every day. Being able to use my laptop comfortably nearly anywhere is pretty great.

One thing I did realize is that just using a regular USB-C cable is risky:

While I haven't had any accidents this way, it would be pretty easy for someone to get caught on the cord and knock it all down. I got an 18" dual right angle cable, and it works great:

Another thing I've noticed is that the velcro gets harder to peel apart the longer the monitor has been attached to the back of the laptop screen. As long as I take it off after each use it's fine, but at one point I left it together for maybe a week: when I tried to separate it I was worried I would ruin my screen, until I remembered my screen was already ruined. But I would be nervous about so much strong velcro on a laptop with a still-functioning screen.

I've also mostly stopped using the bit of wood that keeps it from collapsing, even when using this on my lap. Instead I just sit very still and try not to knock it over. This is kind of silly, but I'm too lazy to get out the piece of wood when this actually seems to work fine.

I noted last time that it was too tall for meetings, but didn't say what I do about that: I just put the monitor in front of the regular screen, without stacking it. It stays put well enough, and I don't mind the angle when glancing down every so often in a meeting. I also used to sometimes pick up the screen like a tablet and hold it some other way, but with the shorter cable this now offers fewer options.

Referenced in: Less Laptop Velcro

Comment via: facebook, lesswrong, mastodon, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Information control, isolation, and ideological abuse

[I have freelanced for a number of effective altruist organizations, such as the Centre for Effective Altruism and 80,000 Hours.

via Thing of Things March 11, 2026

The Newest Technology in Frozen

There are lots of different things in Frozen that are new-ish, but my dad and I were wondering: what is the actual newest thing in Frozen? This led me to watch Frozen a lot while taking notes. Some of the things I found included: Elastic hair-ties A safety …

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts March 1, 2026

2025-26 New Year review

This is an annual post reviewing the last year and setting intentions for next year. I look over different life areas (work, health, parenting, effectiveness, etc) and analyze my life tracking data. Highlights include a minimal group house, the usefulness…

via Victoria Krakovna January 19, 2026

more     (via openring)