It seems relatively easy to hold/lean onto a the unpainted part of a desktop case but what should I do if I want to work with my laptop? I need to install a new hard drive.
What do you mean hold or lean onto? Why does your notebook need to be grounded? What does a hard disk have to do with any of this?
i never said my laptop needed to be grounded I said "I" needed to be grounded "to" it . . . i wanted to replace the hard drive in it and I was worried about esd but it doesn't matter anyway it's done.