The café office: a full setup that fits in a bag

The café table is the world's most-used remote office, and ergonomically it's one of the worst: a too-low surface, a hard chair, and a laptop screen you stare down at for three hours. The fix isn't working less from cafés. It's packing the right twenty ounces of gear.

The problem is the screen, not the chair

You can't change the café's furniture, but almost all of the strain from laptop work comes from screen height, not seat comfort. Raise the screen to eye level and the hunch disappears — no matter what you're sitting on.

What the bag needs to carry

• A stand with real height. A few inches of lift helps at a desk; a café table usually needs more. DriftDesk adjusts continuously from a low riser to a full 24 inches, so the screen lands at eye level whether you're seated or standing at a counter.
• An external keyboard and mouse. Once the screen is raised, your hands need somewhere sane to type. DriftDesk's tray holds both at elbow height, tucked under the raised laptop.
• Nothing else. The whole kit — stand, tray, keyboard, mouse — folds flat and weighs about as much as a hardcover book.

Ten seconds of setup

Order the coffee, unfold the stand, drop the laptop on top, tray underneath. The people at the next table will ask about it — that's a documented side effect, and half our reviews mention it.