I’m sorry to be harsh but this is the kind of thing we get undergrads to do on day one of an internship. Why do you feel it was worthy of posting on HN?
Aw, please just don't kill this place by reacting to other people's work so nastily. It isn't that you don't have a point—let's assume you do—but the poison it adds to the air is just so damaging.
If the problem of elementary work being submitted above its weight class is an issue on HN, it's in the part-per-million category compared to the problem that you made worse here. If you'll refine your mental model of internet forum dynamics to include this information I'm sure you'll see that.
But I like the simplicity of the design, the poster’s first hand experience, mentioning other designs, and the idea of leaving usable room underneath the laptop. Further, it’s nicely illustrated with a photo.
Not, perhaps, a mathematical tour de force but useful information. Just like the numerous reports on HN of IKEA products used to prop up monitors. These ideas won’t win a Turing Award but are often clever and give me ideas to try out myself.
If the problem of elementary work being submitted above its weight class is an issue on HN, it's in the part-per-million category compared to the problem that you made worse here. If you'll refine your mental model of internet forum dynamics to include this information I'm sure you'll see that.