Life on the road Page 3 of 3

Macworld’s field guide to living without a desktop

Make yourself comfortable

Sitting hunched over a laptop is fine when you’re on the road, but if you’re planning to work for a long time, you’ll want to make yourself more comfortable. When you’re at home or at the office, take your cue from traditional desktop systems and create a functional workstation. With the right peripherals, you can have all the advantages of a desktop Mac (a large monitor, a full-size keyboard, and a comfortable setup) with all the convenience of a laptop. When you’re setting up your equipment, consider these tips:

Dock It To simplify connecting your laptop to the various cables you use, consider getting a docking station. BookEndz sells docking stations for all current Mac laptops, as well as many older models. The $159 MacBook Docking Station, for example, fits right into the ports on the left side of the computer. It even offers an additional powered USB hub, as well as a VGA port for connecting an older monitor. Once you’ve connected all your peripherals and cables to the docking station, you can simply slide the docking station into your laptop’s ports. All your other cables stay connected to the docking station, so docking and undocking is faster and produces less cable tangle.

Cut the Clutter If you’re bothered by cable clutter, consider going wireless with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, such as Apple $59 Wireless Keyboard and $69 wireless Mighty Mouse ( ). When Bluetooth support is turned on, your laptop will automatically detect your keyboard and mouse, so there’s no effort on your part. Just be sure to turn off Bluetooth when you’re on the road, to save battery power.

Keep Your Cool If you have an external monitor and input devices, you may be tempted to simply close your laptop and forget about it while working at your desk. But your laptop will work more efficiently if you give it a little breathing room. Leaving your portable flat on a desk or table will raise its temperature, causing its fans to run more often. To help it cool down, place your laptop on a riser so air can circulate on all sides. Even a piece of wood or a book will raise the computer enough to allow air to flow beneath it. I also recommend leaving the laptop lid open slightly so that air can circulate and dissipate any heat.

Use Your Laptop as a Monitor If you’re on a budget or you’re tight on space, you can save money by using your laptop’s screen as your monitor. If you go this route, consider getting a laptop stand, such as Griffin’s $40 Elevator. A laptop stand has two advantages: it raises the laptop to eye level, which is much better for your neck and back, and it allows air to flow beneath the laptop.

[ Kirk McElhearn has authored and coauthored a dozen Mac books. His blog, Kirkville, features articles about OS X, the iPod, and more. ]