Targus Notebook Portable LapDesk

There's much irony in the term 'laptop' when the amount of heat generated and the discomfort of balancing it on your knees make working with a notebook on your lap uncomfortable at best. There have been attempts to solve the problem by way of a plastic barrier between the heat and your lap that also provides a semi-stable work surface. However, these have all been pretty ineffective in both regards. The LapDesk, however, is a masterpiece of design that actually works.

A lightweight polycarbonate plastic tray opens to form a 21 x 11in rock-solid working surface. This boasts non-slip rubber finishing and ingenious ventilation grooves to direct heat away from your lap. Folded in half, you get an 11in square that uses a built-in support arm to enable any of five ergonomically comfortable typing positions - these are equally useful on the move or back at the desk, where it helps incline the keyboard and get the screen nearer to eye level.

Targus is marketing the LapDesk in the UK, but there are a couple of interesting extras that are available from www.laptop desk.net in the US. An additional MouzPad extension costs $10 (£6) and provides a solid clip-on mouse surface, and the $20 (£11) SwivlPad provides a rotating surface to enable easy screen swivelling in a presentation situation. You can buy both these and the LapDesk as an 'Ensemble' package for $45 (£26).

It's not often we recommend a lump of inert plastic to our readers, but the LapDesk is a practical and thoroughly sensible addition to the serious mobile professional's briefcase.