You can find plenty of cool accessories for a Surface anywhere you look. There are USB-C hubs or docks, skins, covers, sleeves, pens, and so much more. But in this day and age, you might be sporting your Surface more for actual work scenarios. That might mean you would need something to fit your Surface in with your monitor or your desk setup.
That’s how I happened upon a tablet holder for my Surface Go 2 on Amazon. Sold by Viozon, this tablet holder fits any Surface Pro or Surface Go and can help turn your device into a Surface Studio (or an old school iMac.) It raises your Surface off your desk and helps increase usability for work, especially when paired with a monitor.
Design
This Viozon Tablet Stand Holder is constructed out of aluminum alloy and comes in either a white color or a more fancy black. It’s plenty strong and stable, and won’t bend or break like your typical plastic stand. The overall weight of the product is about 3.3 pounds, which means it can support a tablet without toppling over. A circular aluminum alloy base is the support mechanism for everything, reminiscent of the looks of an old-school iMac Power PC G4.
The most unique feature of the tablet, though, is its height adjustability. Thanks to its arms, you can move your Surface up or down 18 inches off your desk and into the air to suit your setup alongside a monitor. That’s because the front arm features a padded mount for holding your device, with the mount opening up to a total of 12 inches and allowing for a total rotation of 360 degrees.
The arms are also held in place to the base with a screw, and you can adjust the tension to make it more secure to hold heavier tablets like an iPad Pro. Overall, though, the design is reminiscent of the Surface Studio, which “floats” up in the air or can down on your desk.
It’s important to note that you’ll have to adjust the tension on the stand with the included Allen key so you can move the Surface up and down easily, or keep it tight (whichever you want) I prefer the stand to be tight so that the Surface is secure, but this is not exactly like a real Surface Studio. You can’t really move the screen easily with one hand. With this stand, you’ll need to move it with more two hands, in most cases.
Usability
So how about usability? I’ve had this Viozon stand on my desk for the past few days, and It’s been a godsend for me. Typically, I keep my Surface flat on my desk, next to my monitor. Thanks to this stand, I am able to elevate it off my desk, and right next to my monitor — at eye level.
All it takes is snapping off the Type Cover from my Surface, rotating the arm of the mount, and placing my Surface inside. It’s an easy process to place and remove the Surface when I need it on the go, and the added pads ensure the Surface won’t get scratched.
I can even rotate my Surface 360 degrees while it’s mounted in the stand, so I can view Twitter feeds and my RSS feeds vertically. It’s been great to help reduce eye strain and keep my head level when typing posts, and also glancing over at a second screen for Teams messages. There’s even a tilt function, which lets me tilt the Surface down between 45 degrees and 180 degrees, so it fits the perfect angle.
Interestingly enough, the stand is secure enough that when it’s tilted or moved to different angles, the screen won’t “bounce” or “shake.” This makes it a great companion for inking or drawing, too. It’s not something that I’ve tried, but the stability is great so that I can see artists using this as a tool for drawing in a studio.
A great product, for the low price of $40
Overall, this Viozon stand is great. You can find plenty of alternatives out there for it, but this one feels quite unique thanks to its design and usability. Of course, it’s not a full-on “dock” that comes with ports for your Surface, it’s just something to help you boost your setup. For a true Surface Studio-like experience, you can try the $400 Kensington SD7000 Surface Pro Dock. It has power, USB-C, and more built-into the base.
