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Posted by normanvalentine 1 day ago

Filing the corners off my MacBooks(kentwalters.com)
1279 points | 596 commentspage 4
nickvec 1 day ago|
> This was on my work computer.

Bold move to do this on your work Macbook. I'd be too worried of getting chased down with a bill when returning the laptop eventually.

lostlogin 1 day ago||
‘I’ve done a lot of work and it wore down’
levocardia 21 hours ago||
Honestly that was the cherry on top for me -- the employee confident enough to just decide "this is my work computer, I need it to do work, I can't do work with my hands being irritated, so I will sand down the edge." Pure gold.
wildpeaks 11 hours ago||
I can imagine the resulting texture feeling better on the skin, but I can't unsee the lack of symmetry.
bilekas 11 hours ago||
> This was on my work computer.

I would love to see the guys reactions when you have to give this back.

Groxx 6 hours ago||
Yeah, they are quite uncomfortable. A clear "form before function" decision, and one of many "the wrong people are deciding things" signs :/

I like the idea of fully blending the notch, rather than just rounding slightly. Looks comfy and distinct!

ribosometronome 1 day ago||
>it is uncomfortable on my wrists

Are your wrists supposed to be coming into contact with that? I suspect many of us have bad posture and do rest our wrists like that, but if your concern is wrist comfort, you probably want to consider that you're going out of your way to enable harmful posture.

_virtu 2 hours ago|
I came here thinking that there would be more comments discussing this. This seems like the wrong direction to go for fixing the comfort problem. Tilting your wrists down like that is not proper typing posture.
samrus 10 hours ago||
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to freak out about it. I did so, but only a little bit. Then i thought about how i have sometimes felt the bottom corner to be a bit uncomfortable. But then i thought that it wasnt a big enough issue to be worth the effort of filing off the edge

Also a little bit pedantry, you seem to have mostly filed the edge off, which seemed to be the real issue, the corners on that center divet are filed off, but its mostly edges

saagarjha 23 hours ago||
I feel like this is only a problem if you’re keeping your wrists at an unergonomic angle. I’m not saying that everyone is perfect all the time but like this is barely an issue if you’re sitting at your desk?
maest 23 hours ago||
Laptops are used in so many more situations than just sitting at a desk.

Literally "you're holding it wrong".

saagarjha 23 hours ago||
Most of those are wrong, yes
lapcat 21 hours ago|||
> I’m not saying that everyone is perfect all the time but like this is barely an issue if you’re sitting at your desk?

It's a laptop computer.

davidbjaffe 20 hours ago|||
Yes. I keep mine on my lap. My regimen is that I wake up at 3am and lie on the couch for several hours with coffee and write code (or these days, ask "someone else" to). It is highly productive and enjoyable and breaks all the rules and no I do not have RSI. Long ago I started sandpapering the edges because yeah otherwise it hurts my wrists.
pxc 20 hours ago||
It's a good move. I have a case on my MBP that helps with this because it means the edges are plastic for me, and not quite so sharp.

If you want to break more rules, you might consider chickenwing-ing your arms a bit. Deviate from the homerow and learn to feel your way around at other angles. Then you can hold the laptop closer to you without putting your wrists at a weird angle (though you may have to use a non-thumb finger for spacebar, as I do).

As I type this, my laptop is partly on my belly and partly on my chest, and my wrists are so far out to the sides that they completely miss the front edge of the laptop altogether. The angle is pretty favorable, too: my palms rest on the laptop on either side of the trackpad, and my wrists rest over the left and right sides of the bottom case but have little to no pressure on them.

No RSI here, either. Just make sure you're loose and comfortable and not forcing anything! That seems to help a lot.

saagarjha 20 hours ago|||
I do not in fact keep my desktop computer on my desk
mvdtnz 20 hours ago||
You're holding it wrong.
mjamesaustin 1 day ago||
I'm not brave enough to try this on my own, but I applaud the effort. I'm pretty sure I'm developing lasting calluses on the underside of my wrists from all the constant rubbing against the sharp edge of my MBP.
cassianoleal 15 hours ago||
A few weeks ago I accidentally dropped my space grey MBP. It had the lip open and fell on its right corner, inner/keyboard side.

The machine is fine and I didn’t even have to adjust the screen as it was still correctly in place but on that corner the aluminium lifted up forming a mountain shape, about 2 mm tall and very sharp.

Not only this was uncomfortable, but it also meant I couldn’t close the lid properly and might eventually crack the screen from it, so I filed it away. Like OP, I started with a pretty gritty file to get most of the tip off, then finished with a multi-tool with the sanding attachment. I went through a few grits but I got bored long before it was smooth.

In the end, I actually liked the look, and have been considering going all around like OP. I may have to do it now.

jensC 8 hours ago|
I have a similar problem. My handicap makes it impossible to use the huge trackpad of all newer MacBooks. I am working still with a 2012 MacBook Pro that had a considerable smaller trackpad. Any idea from you guys how to circumvent these trackpad monsters? Thanks for any suggestion.
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