Mouse-Box: an entire PC built into a mouse

A Polish company has come up with a fresh twist on the ever shrinking PC by building one into the body of a mouse. Dubbed (rather prosaically) the Mouse-Box, the device is pitched as a portable computer that can be plugged into almost any display – either via a wired connection or wireless adapter. 

The spec of the prototype device is none too shabby. It contains a quad-core 1.4GHz ARM Cortex CPU (which means the device will be restricted to Linux or the now almost defunct windows RT operating systems), 128GB of flash storage, 802.11bgn Wi-Fi, twin USB 3 ports and a micro-HDMI to power external displays. The mouse can also use a “wireless image transfer module which is compatible with any monitor equipped with HDMI/VGA/DVI ports”, according to the firm’s website.

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The Mouse-Box website suggests the device uses some kind of inductive pad to wirelessly charge the optional battery, although it can presumably also be powered via the USB cable – which could make mouse operation a little awkward, especially if it’s running a second cable to connect to a display.

The Mouse-Box’s inventors have produced a (perhaps unintentionally comical) video which suggests the Mouse-Box could be the ideal tool for office slackers, hoodwinking their boss into thinking they’re working whilst actually getting up to no good using the Mouse-Box, simply flicking the display back to the work PC when the supervisor appears over their shoulder. They might need to improve their sales pitch if this idea is to catch on, not least because the Mouse-Box’s bright red design would stick out like a sore thumb in an office. 

The Polish crew behind the device are seeking help to get it on to the market. “Your help is crucial for our team in order to turn the device prototype into a complicated preparation of Mouse-Box for mass production,” the website states. “We will be extremely grateful if you would like to support us with your knowledge and improve this project. If you own a firm or work in a firm which appreciates our achievement and can help us to reach our final goal, we kindly ask you to contact us.”

There’s no suggested price for the Mouse-Box. But should one of the mouse buttons wear out before the PC does, we suspect it’s going to be a tad more expensive to replace than your average Intellimouse…