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Article by Franklin N. Tessler Repost from MacWorld For years, using a laptop meant putting up with an undersized screen, a puny hard drive, and an anemic processor. Not anymore. Today’s PowerBooks and iBooks are powerful enough to be used as everyday computers. But they lag far behind desktop computers when it comes to ergonomics. For example, you can’t position a laptop’s display and keyboard separately to reduce your risk of neck or wrist injury. Trackpads and other integrated pointing devices compound the problem by requiring that designers position the keyboard away from the laptop’s edge, making the keys hard to reach without using the laptop’s built-in wrist rest. And if you’re not careful, the sharp edge on the front of newer PowerBooks can put even more pressure on the nerves, blood vessels, and tendons in your wrists. Beyond these fundamental design flaws, the simple fact that laptops are portable can exacerbate their ergonomic hazards. Thanks to improved batteries and ubiqui