Full stack developer, but currently working on backend only. During COVID I tried all sorts of setups, from triple 27" monitors to one 43" monitor, but for the past couple years I've been really trying to simplify things. My current setup is a single 27" 4K monitor and using MacBook's keyboard + trackpad with the built-in display disabled, and I close the lid partway so that it doesn't block the view of the monitor. I find that with Spaces and using third party apps for app switching, I'm able to work effectively with a single monitor.

Every now and then, I try the experiment of working solely on my laptop, and I'd like to try again. Though I really only work from home or the office, I like the idea of being able to work from anywhere, not being tethered to a specific location or a specific room in the house. Whenever I do research about this I face the obvious reality that laptops are not ergonomic and this can't really be done ergonomically. But then there are posts from a small minority of people who claim to be able to work full-time with only a laptop, sometimes even a 13" screen, for years and years without issue. I found one anecdote about a person in their late forties, close to retirement, spending most of their last two decades with only a laptop.

There are two scenarios here, and I can't really work out either of them:

1. Laptop only, no peripherals, maybe a riser to lift the back of the screen - This would be ideal, of course, since you only have to bring a laptop and nothing else. But I can't seem to ever get this right. Whenever I try this, I find that while I may be okay for half a day, maybe even a full day, eventually my neck starts to ache, my lower back starts to ache, and I burn out very quickly. The riser does help, having something to raise the back of the laptop to give the keyboard a forward tilt and lift the screen, but while this makes it easier on the neck, it does make it harder on the wrist, since the keyboard is at an aggressive forward tilt.

2. Laptop with a portable stand and peripherals - This is the classic response and the standard for good ergonomics with a laptop if you don't have a monitor. However, the fundamental flaw I find with this, and it's only something that's occasionally discussed in the posts I've found, is that because the keyboard needs to be in front of the laptop, you're forced to push the laptop further away from you. This makes the already small screen even smaller and you're forced to scale everything up or increase the font size on everything, which reduces the already limited screen real estate. There are a lot of non-portable, non-foldable stands I found that are C shaped, meaning there's a gap between the top where the laptop rests and the base of the stand. I have tried with a decent amount of success putting the keyboard between this gap, putting the external keyboard is directly under the laptop, and this removes the extra distance. But again, if the goal is to be able to work from anywhere, a stand like this will not fit in a bag.

I would like to hear from the unicorns who are able to do 1. successfully, and then for others who do 2., I would like to get some insight about how you're able to handle the added distance between you and the screen, even if it's just "increase the font size".