Running a Work Laptop Beside a Gaming PC

A vertical stand is the answer for most desks: the laptop stands on end, takes almost no surface, and connects with one cable. The alternatives — a tray on the monitor arm or a clamp on the desk edge — suit a laptop that has to stay open, and each has a cost.

A note on this guide: this rests on how these mounts load a desk and what clamshell operation changes, not on installations here. See how we test.

The problem, as it appears

Two machines, one desk. The gaming PC has a monitor, keyboard and mouse; the work laptop needs to be present during the day and takes exactly the space in front of the keyboard.

Nobody wants two desks and most people cannot have them, so the laptop ends up shuffled left and right depending on the hour, which is the arrangement that wastes the most surface.

Why leaving it flat disappoints

A laptop lying open occupies its footprint plus the space to type on it, which is the most valuable part of a small desk. Closed and flat it still occupies its footprint and becomes a shelf for other things, which is worse.

The other problem is height. A laptop screen sits low, and using it as a second display means looking down at it all day — which is the neck problem covered in fixing desk posture in the right order, reintroduced next to a monitor that was carefully raised.

What actually matters

Whether the laptop needs to be open. If it works in clamshell mode with an external display, a vertical stand removes the whole problem. If the built-in screen is needed as a second display, it has to be open and at a sensible height.

Cooling in whichever position. A closed laptop under load in a narrow vertical stand has restricted airflow. For light work it is fine; for anything sustained it deserves thought.

Load on the monitor arm, if the tray mounts there. A laptop tray adds real weight to an arm already carrying a screen, and the clamp is what carries it — the same concern as in is a monitor arm worth it, roughly doubled.

Cable reach in the docked position. A laptop standing vertically at the back of the desk needs the cable to reach it there, which is frequently a few centimetres further than the supplied one manages.

The options, and who each suits

A vertical stand suits any laptop that works in clamshell mode, which is most of them. It is the tidiest, cheapest and most space-efficient answer, and it suits a laptop that is docked rather than used directly.

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A monitor-arm tray suits a laptop that stays open as a second screen, and puts it at a usable height beside the main display. Check the arm has capacity for both before committing.

A clamp-on holder suits a desk with no arm and a laptop that needs to be reachable. It hangs off the desk edge or side and uses space that has no other purpose.

A shelf or riser suits a laptop that has to be open and typed on, raising it so the screen is at a sensible height and putting storage underneath.

The mistake to avoid

Putting a laptop under sustained load into a tight vertical stand while closed. Clamshell operation loses the airflow path across the keyboard, and a narrow stand restricts the side vents further. For email and calls this is a non-issue; for compiling or rendering it is worth leaving the machine open or choosing a stand with a wider gap.

The second mistake is adding a laptop tray to a monitor arm on a flat-pack desk. The arm was already concentrating a monitor's weight onto a small clamp footprint, and doubling that on particleboard is where desks dish. A reinforcement plate, or a separate stand, avoids the problem entirely.