| Cooler Master ARC Macbook and iPad Stand |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Notebook | Compact PC | ||||
| Written by David Ramsey | ||||
| Tuesday, 22 May 2012 | ||||
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Cooler Master ARC Macbook Pro and iPad Stand
Manufacturer: Cooler Master Ltd., Inc. Full Disclosure: the product sample used in this article has been provided by Cooler Master. Cooler Master's ARC MacBook Pro and iPad stand is an interesting accessory for the Apple owner. It's a largish, 1.85 pound contraption of aluminum, plastic, and rubber that can serve as a stand for an iPad or a MacBook Pro laptop computer...although not both at the same time. You can place your iPad in the smaller slot, or a MacBook Pro computer (closed) in the larger slot.
A rubber base combined with the weight of the stand keeps it very stable on your desk. As an iPad stand, it works well in "landscape mode". The iPad sits back at a slight angle, and although it's a very loose fit in the slot, the rubber lining of the slot means that the iPad doesn't move around when you touch it.
In portrait mode, though, there's a near-fatal flaw: the thickness of an Apple Smart Cover forces the iPad to flop forwards in the slot. In landscape mode as shown in the first image, you can fold the Smart Cover back on itself so that it's not in the slot, but in portrait mode, this isn't an option. Of course the Smart Cover can be easily removed and reattached since it clips on with self-aligning magnets, but I'd imagine most users won't want to go to the trouble of removing and replacing the cover every time they use the stand.
As a MacBook Pro stand, things look better. The computer sits up straight and the rubber lining provides enough friction so that plugging in cables won't move the computer. 
Cooler Master doesn't provide dimensions for either slot, but a Hewlett Packard Touchpad tablet computer is too thick for the iPad slot-- it fits in the slot, but its curved back forces it to flop forwards. I measured the top of the larger slot at about 1 1/8", so any laptop computer that's less than that thick should work. Still, since it's marketed specifically for Apple devices and sold exclusively through the online Apple store, it's probably best reserved for the devices it was designed for.
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