One of the things about having a pretty nice work laptop with a screen that’s large enough to have more than one real window at once is that I actually use it, and I use it with multiple windows, and that means that I need to use the mouse. I like computer mice in general so I don’t object to this, but like most modern laptops my Dell XPS 13 doesn’t have a mouse, it has a trackpad (or touchpad, take your pick). You can use a modern touchpad as a mouse, but over my time in using the XPS 13 I’ve come to understand (rather viscerally) that a touchpad is not a mouse and trying to act as if it was is not a good idea. There are some things that a touchpad makes easy and natural that aren’t very natural on a mouse, and a fair number of things that are natural on a mouse but don’t work very well on a touchpad (at least for me; they might for people who are more experienced with touchpads).
Chris Siebenmann makes some good points regarding touchpads here. Despite the fact that touchpads on Windows and Linux have gotten better over the years, they’re still not nearly as good as Apple’s, and will never beat a mouse. I feel like mouse input on laptops is ripe for serious innovation.
I don’t get the love for Apple’s touchpads. Used one for a while, didn’t seem special for any reason to me. Still prefer a mouse. Also, prefer the trackpoints that seemingly only Lenovo has.
You can duplicate any of the gestures and such under Linux from what I’ve seen if you really feel the need.
Lenovo isn’t the only one using a trackpoint. Dell and Toshiba is also in the game.
I prefer a real mouse too. But I can understand if you can’t get the love for apples touchpads if you are a trackpoint person. But they are really outstanding. Even my old late 2008-model macbook feels better than any pc touchpad I have come across over the years. I’m not sure exactly why. It might be a software/patent thing.
I have spent countless hours trying to get the touchpad to behave on a couple of Lenovo laptops (T440 & T450) and a Dell (E7470) in Linux. It is not as easy as “duplicating the gestures”.
Ps: The last time I bought an apple computer was that one 2008.
For me, my apple trackpad gives me the accuracy I used to get with a mouse, while using far less space, is easier on my wrists, and lets me use the same kind of gestures I use on my phone.
YMMV
> lets me use the same kind of gestures I use on my phone.
What the 1-finger salute?
And this is why I miss being able to vote on posts
+1
Apples trackpad is not different from other manufacturers. The main difference is the drivers.
As for precision even the cheapest and crappiest touchpad has higher precision than you can input as a human, any difference in precision you perceive is due to drivers.
For some reason Windows driver for trackpads are universisally terrible. It is better on the Linux side with the exact same hardware.
I find that the Mac touchpad is slightly more responsive when scrolling and doing other gestures. Under Linux and Windows, there’s almost half a second of lag before it responds. The greatness of the Mac touchpad is still wildly exaggerated, though.
I don’t entirely disagree, but I have yet to find a desktop touchpad that is as good as Apple’s
> desktop touchpad that is as good as Apple’s
Apple’s touchpad is CRAP. Plain and Simple.
And Let’s not mention the so-called design of Apple Mice.
At All.
Apple’s mice are indeed, a sack of shit.
However, their trackpads are a million times better than Windows trackpads. So much so that it’s the only real reason i’d buy a Mac today
OK. What’s the next article? A car is not a train? A cabbage is not a lettuce? A guitar is not an oboe?
I envy Westerners for having too much free time to overthink every little detail of life, but doesn’t it feel weird after a while?
In those 20+ years I’ve been using laptops, every time I’ve been forced to use a laptop without an external mouse, I’ve wanted to rip my – already thinning – hair out… First, every touchpad is upside down – the buttons should be on top of the pad, not under it. Second, the different “gesture”-features (tap-to-click etc.) in touchpad drivers are worse than useless – I have been forced to turn them off immediately. The only touchpad I’ve been even remotely comfortable with was in my old 2000-era HP Omnibook with its Linux drivers.
And as for “normal” mice, for ergonomic reasons I haven’t used them in my own computers in last 15 or so years, either. Instead I’ve used different (mostly Logitech) models of trackballs, current trackball in use being Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball.
“First, every touchpad is upside down – the buttons should be on top of the pad, not under it.”
Nope. Imagine dragging with that setup.
That’s what I’m doing every day: a forefinger on the trackball’s button, dragging with a thumb using the ball.
Been a while since I saw a laptop with a trackball. Might have been an Apple one I think…
Funny that I do exactly the opposite: thumb on the trackball’s button, dragging with a forefinger using the ball. I’m using Kensington Expert though. 😀
The same was for older touchpads—thumb on the buttons and middle or forefinger on the pad. Transition to “modern” clickpads (without physical buttons) was a bit of a pain.
Depends on which finger you want on the button, and which dragging. Some people prefer to use their thumb to drag (it is a somewhat more natural movement from a standard touch typing position for most people).
A lot of the Thinkpads have buttons above and below the trackpad.
Does it matter for dragging? Just double tap and drag. Way easier than holding a button down and dragging on a touchpad.
Hm, I actually didn’t know about this …now that I’m trying it, it works about 50% of tries. 😛 However, one immediate visible problem with it: it’s limited by the size of touchpad, so doesn’t work for long drags – while with a button, when continuing to press it, you can lift & reposition your dragging finger from the touchpad and continue dragging.
I loathe the touchpad on my laptop. I loathe it so much I went and bought a cheap 6-button wireless mouse from the Local Big Lots for under $10 us to replace it.
Same cheap mouse works fine on my Android tablet and phones too…
It’s rather subjective isn’t it? I prefer a touchpad for general use. It’s not as accurate, but gestures are handy. A mouse for gaming / design – but I do not do either of those things enough to justify having a mouse. When my laptop is docked I use a trackball, not because its better than a mouse but because it stays in one place and is better for my wrist.
We won’t get innovation, we’ll get touchscreens. My kids prod my laptop screen whenever they see it, they don’t get why it’s not a touchscreen. Their chromebook is a touchscreen and has a stylus for precision work. That’s what they know. They’ve never even seen a mouse, except the squeaky kind.
>Their chromebook is a touchscreen and has a stylus for precision >work. That’s what they know. They’ve never even seen a mouse, >except the squeaky kind.
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Don’t know to either laugh or cry over this If what we’re seeing on Star Drek nowdays is the future, most likely cry.
It really just feels like you are trying to pick a fight. It seems like there are so many better places for that than OSnews for that kind of thing…
It’s what he does…
Pick a fight eh? Sorry dude I’m not a fan of outright crappy design being fostered off as somehow being innovative or desirable. when they’re not. You think typing on the screen of a phone or tablet is a horrible experience?
Try doing that on the screen of a desktop computer in the real world
What does any of that have to do with people’s subjective preferences?
The touchpad on my VAIO S15 is great. I rarely turn on my Bluetooth mouse these days.
It allows accurate pointer placement and responds well to tapping for single/double clicking. That covers most of my requirements. Used in combination with keyboard shortcuts (the S15 has a nice keyboard) it is very efficient.
On my desktop at work I frequently find myself reaching for the non-existent touchpad.
jockm,it has everything to with it when you start trying forcing those subjective preferences onto people Like the Gnome 3 did/does and Microsoft did with Windows Vista and 8 and to a lesser degree with Windows 10.
How would you like to have to be one to enter data into a computer on a daily basis the way they often did In Space:1999 because someone thought it was innovative and/or desirable?
watching someone pretending to type on that god-awful keyboard located on main computer while standing in front of it is still one the funniest things from Space:1999