Thought Bytes...
June 2003

Laptop Lament

I had one of the first laptop computers back in 1988. It had two 3.5” floppy drives – one for the program and one for the data file. There was no hard drive and only 64k of RAM. The screen was 5” high by 9” wide and flipped up from a hinge in the middle. The screen was front lit (i.e. I couldn’t use it in a dark room) and presented as dark grey green on a pale grey green background. It weighed about 10 lbs and had a flip out handle for carrying. And it cost about the same as a new one does now!

Laptops have gotten lighter and smaller, making them even more portable. Screens are bigger and brighter, making them easier to see. As a device to help us compute on the road, they are a great help. As far as postures required by the user, though, they haven’t come very far.

The primary problem is the location of the screen relative to the keyboard. The proximity of the screen to the keyboard forces the user to use any combination of the following postures:

• Reach forward to the keyboard so that the screen is a comfortable distance
• Elevate the shoulders and arms because the laptop is on a desk so that the screen is at a better height for the user’s visual needs
• Drop the head and neck and hunch the upper back to bring the face down toward the screen when the keyboard is at a better height for hand and arm position.
• Ulnar deviate the wrists (bending toward the little finger) to place the fingers perpendicular to the line of the keys on the small keyboard
• Reach in to the centre to use the pointing device

It doesn’t take long in any of these postures to feel discomfort building. When we ignore the signs, the discomfort progresses into injury. But, long before recognizing discomfort, we start to make more errors and lose productivity.

The solution is to create separation between the keyboard (and mouse) and the screen. Start by plugging in a separate keyboard and mouse. If you travel, these will fit nicely inside one of those carry on / roll along suitcases. In the hotel, put the laptop on the desk or table so that the screen is at a good height – so that you look out and slightly down at the contents of the screen. Try putting a pillow in your lap and the keyboard on top.

You may find it easier to use a trackball (or touch pad) instead of a mouse so that you don’t need to use a mouse pad. I recommend using a finger-controlled trackball instead of a thumb controlled trackball – it is a more natural motion for the fingers to flex over the ball than for the thumb extensors to move the thumb. An optical mini mouse also works well, but should be supplemented with a palm pad to keep the wrist flat.

People have commented that the hand position on the keyboard relative to the screen is not much different than holding a novel and reading. That is, that your hands are very close to where your eyes are focusing. The difference though, is that when you are reading a novel, your hands are not making thousands of motions to input data.

When your hands are doing an automatic task (i.e. touch typing), they should be present in your peripheral vision, not in your central vision. This means that your upper arm should hang at the side of your body, your forearms parallel to the ground and your wrists flat and straight. At the same time your head should be upright and looking forward.

If you use a laptop as your main computer in the office, try adding a secondary monitor as well as the supplemental keyboard and mouse. Unless your laptop has a very good, very large screen, a monitor will give you more area to see.

One group of people that the laptop works very well for are the bifocal wearers. When the keyboard is at the right height, the screen is at a good height and angle to see through the secondary lenses!

The advantage to the LCD screen in the laptop is that the surface has very little reflectance to it. This makes it better for situations where there is a light source behind the user. Be careful cleaning these screens as they are sensitive to pressure and not to fond of chemicals. Use a microfibre cloth that has been lightly dampened with water.

Laptop computers have definitely made us more efficient on the road. When they are not used correctly, the aches and strains could lead to less productivity. Try to find a balance between ideal eye and head position and ideal hand and arm position. If you can’t supplement with at least a keyboard, then remember to take frequent breaks to get up and move around.

Feedback

ErgoCanada.com replies on the issue of devices to support laptops (edited):

"On the subject of laptops, we have a couple of innovative products which have been very well received lately.

1. For using laptops on the road, a portable laptop station / document holder is a huge benefit - Bakker Elkhuizen has the ultimate unit in both a portable (Ergo-Q) and non-portable (Ergo-Top) version. The portable unit is capable of folding down to the size of a small envelope and when assembled is stable and sturdy enough to accommodate any laptop, elevating the screen to the correct height and ensuring the user does not use the embedded keyboard or mouse (which are often a source of problems). http://www.ergocanada.com/products/other/bakker_ergo_q.html
2. We have several keyboards which are slim and ideal for an external keyboard for a laptop including the TypeMatrix, the Q-Board, several of the new SK series keyboards, and the ultimate, the key-less zero force keyboards from Fingerworks. And of course we offer a wide range of touchpads, mice and trackballs (as well as hands-free mousing alternatives such as the SmartNav from Naturalpoint).
3. For business travellers or professionals who work in the field (engineers, etc.), we have a compact portable laptop table called the Table Tote - weighs only 2.6 lbs and again folds down to the size of a small book. Ideal for business travellers who need a work surface in an airport, for presentations (enough room for a laptop AND a projector), and professionals who work out of their office regularly. http://www.ergocanada.com/products/trays/tabletote.html

Hope that these products specifically designed for the laptop may be of interest to you. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us."

Michael Craggs

(I also know that 3M and HumanScale have products specifically oriented to dealing with laptop computers in the office environment. I always suggest checking with your local retailer and getting any devices on a trial basis before making a purchase.)

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