Mousing Atop Laptop

The flat area in front of my laptop keyboard is a great mousepad.
I prefer it to any tablet, trackball, touchpad, or red button I've used.

My pals that have tried it agree that it's the best thing they've ever done, better than skydiving or getting married.

The mouse is a Micro Innovations Optical Travel Mouse PD905P I got at microcenter for $9 on sale. It has a self-retracting cord thingy. Any other small mouse would be as good. The flat cord on this one is good because it's easy to bend so it stays out of the way for typing. I just set the mouse to the right over the little speaker and the cord is out of the way.
This Toshiba laptop has a flat raised deck that's particularly good for mousing on.

Comments

[Black Ninja]

 That is the same laptop i Have

[Madrias357]

I commend you for the idea, but I like the touchpad on my Acer Aspire better.

[Spacecoyote]

I used to mouse like this on my Toshiba laptop, but then the paint started wearing off :(

[ecarrilloalbarran]

A friend uses his mouse like that, and just as you stated the paint wore off, i don't like it, but if it works for you it's cool

[mason0190]

try scoring and removing a little plastic, then replacing it with a chunk of mousepad?

[marc92]

I do this all the time but I use a wireless mouse (small, about the size of a deck of cards) so the cord does not interfere with typing on the keyboard.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

me too i am right now!

[Derin]

We figured it out before I saw IBles ;)

[gunnergrady]

How does the mouse not get in the way when you're typing? I'm typing right now on my laptop and my right wrist is exactly where you put the mouse. You know what works just as well as a mouse pad? Uh, my leg, my belly, my couch my floor. i could go on but i wont. My point is you can use just about anything and its a hell of a lot more convenient that putting it on your laptop and having to move it out the way wherever you want to type.

Maybe it looks dumb or obvious, but I bought 5 or six trackballs, tablets, etc. before figuring out this method. It works better for me than any of the others.

Honestly?

[idiotjohn]

Sorry, but I wouldn't really call this an instructable... It doesn't even have any steps

[TimAnderson]

I put stuff like this in the Handy Tricks series now. I did this one a long time ago before I figured out what to do with simple stuff like that. This trick actually does improve my life. Obviously some people don't think it would work for them.

[DELETED_drewdegruyter]

(removed by author or community request)

[JusCoz]

Man, I've had my Toshiba Laptop for 4+ years, like a jillion reformats, crap drivers, and it's still faster than the piece of crap Acers and HP's they try and sell at my local Best Buy. Toshiba used to be the shit...now, I dunno.

[Spacecoyote]

Hmm...mines holding up good. Perhaps you're just good at destroying laptops...

[Zujus]

O this isn't so bad. Maybe kid saw a notebook first time in his life and come to the "BIG" invention.... lol....

[TimAnderson]

You scoffers are really missing out. I'm laying back on some beanbag chairs, mousing away with my little mouse on deck there, it's totally sweet. Better than any of my fifty other "pointing devices". If you can't get it to work for you - oh well, It'll just take you longer to write your first hundred instructables. Keep trying. Not everyone likes everything.

[Visitor]

You have now posted 82 instructables and at least 5 of them are in the lowest ranked 100. Please sit back and wait and just let it take a little while longer until you finish those 18 remaining 1 step ideas.

[TimAnderson]

you're right, it took me a while to get that short stuff is clutter if it's a search hit.
It's better content if it's browsed. I've started putting the one-step stuff into [http://www.instructables.com/id/EFWZ9LUZ8AEUIFO10L/ Little Tricks]

I'd move this mouse gimmick there now, but you guys have contributed nice comments and I don't know how to transfer those over.

Maybe it looks dumb or obvious, but I bought 5 or six trackballs, tablets, etc. before figuring out this method. It works better for me than any of the others.

[Thunderexpress]

This is pretty complex

[benjiwenjifoofoo]

cool tip, now all i need is a beanbag chair (and a place to fit it)

[Mr.Devious]

Yo cheese, it ain't the worst instructable ever, it isn't even an instructable. It mearly is a suggustion of where you can "whip" your mouse around. And I do agree, this doesn't work on iBook g4's. You know why? Becuase they aren't crappy, and are made out of high grade materials. The plastic isn't even shiny on the top, it's just so fine that theres nothing for the mouse to see, well if you wanted to take a knife to the top....

[zipykido]

I have a targus optical mice that changes color and I tried doing this once but it ended up scratching the surface of my Dell XPS m170. Just make sure you check the padding on your mouse before you try it on delicate surfaces.

[ranex]

wouldnt work w/ white apple laptops w/ an optical mouse- ive tried

[Ian01]

Can't you do anything with INSTRUCTIONS!?

[ll.13]

euh........ what has skydiving or getting married got to do with it??? yes it is a better instructable than some but still i don't think this is quite rocket science

[austin]

yes this is no where near the worst instructable at least it tries to offer a genuine tip instead of an advertisement.

[TheCheese9921]

Um... any retard could have come up with that and whynot use the surface you put your laptop on. Also you can't move the mouse up or down without haveing to keep lifting it up and putting it down repetidly THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST INSTRUCTABLE I'V SEEN SO FAR!!!!

[trebuchet03]

you can always adjust your mouse speed... I only need a little bit more than an inch of movement to reach the full height of my screen and just under two inches to go full wide (using 1280 X 800 resolution on a 15.4" widescreen). I do this all the time and I have less space :P But I do have a wireless mouse... But really, if shifting things around to adapt to new work environments is a pain... why did you bother getting a mobile machine? As for the worst instructable... you've been here for two days and obviously have not seen some of the more "abstract" (to be polite) postings :P

[Murf]

I agree TheCheese9921 ... I have a Toshiba laptop with a similar ledging (I think the laptop oin the picture is the same except a newer model as it has the metal meshing over the speakers) and I know that this method to "mouse" on is no good... you can't move up or down without lifting the mouse (Pain in the ass)

[rockyt]

any retard should know how to spell "having". Retard!