I bought this the last time it was offered (Oct 2020) for my work from home setup. I had a hefty 7lb. 17" laptop sitting flat on the desk and it was difficult to type and the screen was too low. I have not found an adequate laptop lift for 17" but this Uncaged one comes close. The platform is just big enough that it feels like it supports the laptop on all corners. When tilted, the two adjustable plastic tabs on the front are the only things keeping the laptop from sliding off - and this is at the shallowest raised angle. I haven’t tried with smaller laptops but the 17" shakes violently while typing due to its extra weight. I don’t mind the keyboard bouncing up and down under my fingers, but the screen also bounces and it’s very annoying. I bought a USB keyboard so that I no longer touch the laptop keyboard and now it’s perfect.
I had read reviews of this product saying that the legs were very difficult to adjust. I did not have any problem - it’s a simple push button to disengage the lock and then move to the next angle and the lock pops in place. If you want to move through many angles at once you have to use one hand to hold the button while changing the leg angle. There’s no automatic way to keep the legs synchronized to the same angle, but there are markings and arrows on each of the joints.
I haven’t tried using this on a couch or as a standing desk (see description pix 4, 6, 8, 9) but I’d definitely recommend it for desk work (pic 3 is pretty close to my angle, just with an extra keyboard flat on the desk). I think this would be better suited for a 15" or smaller laptop but it can work for 17" too.
I was going to get one but the quantity of bad reviews for that type of stand was too great to make me purchase one. It is aluminum except for the plastic leg joints. I kept seeing reviews where the push button at the joint breaks and pops out plus no support when that happens.
I have one and I really like it. I have bought 3 different laptop holders/platforms (whatever the correct term is) from Woot and this is by far my favorite. My has seen some “abuse,” too - falling off the couch, getting pushed around, etc and buttons, legs, top are all intact with no issues.
Macbook Pro? My old 17" workhorse is hefty too. The bouncing would drive me batty I think.