My goal here was to be able to just pick up my laptop from the desk, plop on the couch, and resume gaming with almost as much convenience as a Steam Deck. I think I achieved that goal! I glued it onto a spare touchpad spacer, so I can also just remove the mousepad if desired. I noticed I don’t actually use any of the pad above the wrist rest, so I may cut it shorter to fit just the height of the touchpad module.
Lid-close detection still works, but the top cover is naturally crooked when closed. I think I’ll put a small square on the other side to keep it level when closed.
Side benefit: keyboard can’t be clicked when the screen is partially open.
Chances are this isn’t for you, but it’s definitely for me and I’ve done it before on a previous laptop. I’m glad the Framework’s modularity allows me to do this in such a safe and risk-averse way through the touchpad spacer modules :).
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That’s actually a pretty cool idea, thinking outside the box.
Now I’m tempted to try something like this with the 3D printed spacers I have (to avoid gluing to my official spacers).
Do you ever accidentally press the keyboard keys that are under the mousepad?
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Interestingly, even if I put the mouse directly over the keyboard it’s not really an issue. Granted, obviously if I press down the keys will press… but it seems that just being subconsciously aware of that is enough to avoid pressing them. At least for me and my grip-style, naturally milage may vary. I also use a relatively high DPI around 9k, so there’s much need for me to move the mouse beyond the confines of the metal wrist rest.
One downside though is that your wrist is angled more since the hand is further left, and idk what the long-term ergonomic implications of that are. Chances are my chronic slouching will kill me first though.
I could also see someone 3D printing a folding spacer that covers they keyboard to avoid keypresses, but personally I don’t think it’s necessary.
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I got end up deciding to cut out the keyboard. It doesn’t seem to have negatively impacted my usable surface area. I considered also cutting off the bit next to the keyboard, but it seems to be useful for storing the mouse temporarily while typing.
I also added a strip to the bezel so it would lay flat.
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