He was working with his laptop when I arrived

[alpacinou]

Hello.

I want to suggest a person was working with his laptop when I arrived. Can I say "he was at his laptop"?

I arrived home, exhausted. Jack was at his laptop and barely noticed my entering.


Do I have other options?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hello.

I want to suggest a person was working with his laptop when I arrived. Can I say "he was at his laptop"?

I arrived home, exhausted. Jack was at his laptop and barely noticed me enter.

Do I have other options?

Yes. You have infinite options.

 

[Tarheel]

You could say:

Jack was staring at his laptop and paid no attention to me.

 

[emsr2d2]

"at his laptop" means that he was sitting in front of it.
"on his laptop" means he was actually using it.
To barely notice you, he would have to be "engrossed in his computer work" or something similar.

 

[Tarheel]

I think my sentence strongly implies that he was focused on whatever he was looking at.