Ram No-Drill Vehicle Laptop Mount

If you’re a traveling salesperson, volunteer emergency worker, real-estate agent, or a mobile professional, and you frequently find yourself on your computer while in the driver’s seat, the $189 Ram No-Drill Vehicle Laptop Mount, which includes a Tough Tray for holding your notebook, is a good option for supporting a laptop inside your car. Just don’t expect installation or removal to be a breeze.

Once installed, the large notebook stand looked out of place in the khaki and polished wood interior of our minivan. Two knobs on the mount let us adjust it into a comfortable position, and you can tighten them to prevent the whole unit from moving.

The kit can support notebooks between 10 and 17 inches in screen size. Multiple rubber pegs can be installed in the tray to prevent the notebook from falling off of the base, and the Tough Tray has a spring-loaded drawer that pulled a side arm in against the notebook to keep it steady.

Overall, we were pleased with the Ram No-Drill Vehicle Laptop Mount for one reason: it holds a laptop, and it holds it well. But it is a bit intrusive and it’s not that easy to install. Moreover, we had to take it out with power tools instead of with the wrench we used to install the unit; we assume this is because the bolts tightened during a week’s use. Nevertheless, if your car is your second office, a Ram Mount is a smart investment.

Although Ram claims the stand installs “lightning” fast, it took three people an hour and a half to assemble the unit in a 2009 Chrysler Town & Country. Once the kit was assembled, we had to remove two bolts under our passenger seat to slide and secure the foot of the mount into place. There’s no drilling involved, but you will need an adjustable wrench. An Ikea dresser this is not.

Verdict

Design and Installation

Performance

The Laptop Mount kit is large, bulky, and made mostly of plastic and metal components that you’ll have to assemble with only a poor set of instructions to guide you. Our unit came in a box with a bunch of plastic bags containing various sections of the entire unit, including a swiveling arm, the Tough Tray, and plenty of nuts and bolts.

A single-page manual showed a large birds-eye view of how to put the mount together. We expected more details in the box, especially considering this accessory’s price tag. However, the Ram Mounting Systems Web site also has an instructional video.

When the arm’s knobs were loosened a bit, we were able to move the Tough Tray, holding our Panasonic Toughbook F8 notebook, around with ease. You’ll need to take advantage of the mount’s swivel so that a notebook with its lid open doesn’t block your view of the right-hand mirror while you’re driving. Even with these caveats, you’ll appreciate the rock-hard sturdiness of the unit as a whole.
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Ram claims that the kit isn’t intrusive to the passenger. We did not find this to be the case; our passenger had to move his legs to the right slightly to stay out of the way from its base pole and arm. When the stand wasn’t completely in our passenger’s lap, it was blocking the minivan’s center-console A/C controls. You can’t move the mount to prevent it from blocking the passenger’s seat, but you can swivel the head away from the center console if someone isn’t sitting there.?

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