a good mouse substitute?

[glsn]

I have a laptop, the touchpad integration sucks
the mouse can't be used everywhere, like in the bed or sofa, the sensor doesn't work well, besides it's uncomfortable

 

[elghinnarisa]

What is good depends on what you like and what you can fit.
What about a good old trackball? Mouse in size but makes it irrelevant of surface its used on.
External keyboard/touchpad or a combo of both is common, like the logitech media keyboards. Although then you are back to a touchpad.

Different kinds of alternative solutions like RollerMouse, but that does kinda need a keyboard either way.

You could also just plugin a game controller or joystick and control the mouse with that.

 

[Jose Jeswin]

I'd say you will have a hard time making a decision.....

my personal favouri

Pick one..

 

[sam_86314]

If you have a PS4 controller, you could even try using DS4Windows. It has a feature that lets you use motion-sensing as mouse controls, which works surprisingly well.

 

[oobymach]

I use a lap board, literally a plank of wood I modified a bit that holds my wireless keyboard and mouse. I also have one for my laptop so I can use a mouse with it. Best buy sells something similar.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/targus-mouse-pad-lap-desk-brown/12314298

 

[AsRock]

The cheap Logitech mouse might do the trick, and cost some thing like $15-$25 but they are small. I believe the last one was called the M325 but they change it every year or so.

 

[Vayra86]

I'd say you will have a hard time making a decision.....

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my personal favouri

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Pick one..

Ill vouch for that Logitech with integrated touchpad. Simple, but works fine for simple tasks, better than most laptop pads. And the form factor with included k/b is nice. The K/b is also simple but perfectly usable. Its also very light and idiot proof. You can sit on it, if it hasn't broken in two, it'll probably still work.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

Corsair k83 comes to mind, I looked at it when I was doing out our living room but one thing I should point out is don't use a laptop in bed unless you have some sort of stand your bedsheets are strangling the poor thing.

 

[delshay]

I use the MX Master on my laptop, but with a quick press of the button on the mouse it controls two other PC's.

 

[P4-630]

A good mouse substitute

 

[ZoneDymo]

I would highly recommend a trackball

 

[cvaldes]

Input devices are highly personal. It's really up to the OP to figure out what works for them.

If you don't like your input device, you're not going to use it regardless of how well it is professionally reviewed or even if it has 4.5 stars on Amazon from 10000+ reviewers.

The "laptop" moniker is actually a misnomer. Almost all notebook PC manufacturers will recommend operating the device on a hard flat surface somewhere in the (typically unread) owner's manual. Part of this is for adequate PC ventilation, part of this is for user safety.

For bed or couch computing, the proper way to go about this would be to use a notebook lap desk.

In my opinion using a gamepad is not a great solution. You basically have to pick it up with both hands for operation then put it down to interact with the keyboard. That said, if you already have a gamepad in the house, feel free to try out some of the available software.

Like some others here I would opt for an old-school trackball for the OP's stated usage cases.

 

[Shrek]

Anyone tried the Apple Magic Trackpad on a PC?

 

[The red spirit]

 

[cvaldes]

Anyone tried the Apple Magic Trackpad on a PC?

The photo presented in the original Apple Magic Trackpad, not the current one.

In any case, I tried pairing this with my work Windows PC at some point and quickly abandoned it in less than a week. I forget the exact reasons but to be concise, I did not enjoy the overall user experience. I did continue using that device with my personal Mac mini 2010.

From what I could tell at that time, Windows PC peripherals usually run better on Macs than Mac peripherals running on Windows PCs. Sure there might be some exceptions where certain Windows peripherals are completely dysfunctional on Macs but in most cases this isn't true. For sure, I have never owned a Mac-intended peripheral that actually ran better on a Windows PC.

Today I have the Apple Magic Trackpad 2 paired with a mac Mini 2018. I have not bothered to try to use it with any of my Windows 10 PCs.