Which PC brand makes a trackpad comparable to Apple?

[Fingolfin269]

I've currently got a 13" MBP and have fallen in love with the trackpad. Trackpad/touchpad/whatever you want to call it. I'm currently in the market for a new notebook and want some gaming capability with it so am leaning towards making a PC-oriented purchase. But I also don't want to give up what I've come to love about the MBP. I don't need all of the multi-touch functionality, just the scroll up/down and swipe left/right to move forward/back in a web browser will do for me. Being able to left/right mouse click on it in a similar fashion as the MBP would be a big plus. And I want it to actually WORK not just be a supposed feature that works kind of half ass.

What are the best options out there?

 

[rabbitz]

I've currently got a 13" MBP and have fallen in love with the trackpad. Trackpad/touchpad/whatever you want to call it. I'm currently in the market for a new notebook and want some gaming capability with it so am leaning towards making a PC-oriented purchase. But I also don't want to give up what I've come to love about the MBP. I don't need all of the multi-touch functionality, just the scroll up/down and swipe left/right to move forward/back in a web browser will do for me. Being able to left/right mouse click on it in a similar fashion as the MBP would be a big plus. And I want it to actually WORK not just be a supposed feature that works kind of half ass.

What are the best options out there?

It's not the trackpad itself.... it is the drivers. I will make a video of my trackpad for you when I get home.

 

[podspi]

What trackpad/drivers are you using?

 

[rabbitz]

What trackpad/drivers are you using?

omg I had a whole response typed up in the quick response box, and then my browser decides to load the reply page which I had clicked 15 minutes ago and thought was not going to load (yes I have bad internet). Anyway I will make it quick.


I am using dell's version of the synaptics touchpad driver. Synaptics used to have it on their site, but I guess now they are customizing their drivers and selling it directly to laptop makers. There really isnt a difference between the different drivers.. they are all the same except with certain features disabled for different laptop types/different manufacturers. I have tried using the exact same dell synaptics driver on a lenovo t42 and a lg p300 and it works exactly the same. I have also used the lenovo synaptics driver on a lenovo t61p (the driver is called ultranav or something... basically touchpad + that red button bundled together) and it too works the same.

The xps15 that I am demonstrating on in the video does have a large and smooth touchpad, but the drivers work equally well on the lenovo and LG. I will try to get videos of those on monday, please remind me if I forget.

Like I said, none of these touchpads that I am testing the drivers on are 'true multitouch' and in fact just calculate finger number through algorithms, so touchpad "quality" doesn't really play that big of a part into how easy it is to use. I would say texture and size are the two most important factors when trying to decide on which touchpad you want.

Here is the video I promised.
Another one

I have terrible lighting in my room and my camera is terrible, so forgive me if it is a bit blurry. I can make more detailed videos if anyone is interested. In this video, I try to demonstrate two finger scrolling, two finger tap (right click), three finger tap (middle click), one+one finger tap (middle click), three finger hold (runs a program... I set it to that 'expose' clone) and tap zones (top right is toggle maximize, bottom right is minimize). I forgot to do the palm gesture (which just minimizes everything.... I never use it but I leave it enabled).

 

[podspi]

:thumbsup: great videos! I hope did you just download these from Dells site? I am I will have to give that a try on my dm1z...

 

[ther00kie16]

Interesting. Couldn't see clearly what you did so can you explain some of the gestures in the videos such as how you switched between windows? Did you use a different program or are the mini previews included in Synaptics driver? Seems like a better implementation than regular alt+tab.

 

[rabbitz]

Interesting. Couldn't see clearly what you did so can you explain some of the gestures in the videos such as how you switched between windows? Did you use a different program or are the mini previews included in Synaptics driver? Seems like a better implementation than regular alt+tab.

Yes, I used the 'favourites' feature of the synaptics driver, which is basically anytime you hold down three fingers it will launch a user-configurable list of applications. I set it to launch a simple script that sends a key combinationo (alt-z) which launches a program called switcher. Note: switcher requires aero to run.

Is there anything else you would like more info on? I want to try my hand at video editing and maybe create a video of my desktop along with a little frame showing my finger movements.

:thumbsup: great videos! I hope did you just download these from Dells site? I am I will have to give that a try on my dm1z...

yup! I just went to the dell driver site, and selected the xps 15 from their list of all their products. However, everyone uses synaptics drivers anyways so the actual drivers themselves are pretty much the same from oem to oem, save for some features being disabled (the LG p300 synaptics driver does not list options for multitouch) or some special features added (lenovo t61p synaptics driver includes settings for the red button thing).

edit: Forgot the palm gesture again... here is a short video

 

[ther00kie16]

Nice, thanks for switcher. I think I'm going to love using the favorites feature with it. Can't help you with video editing with PIP but that's how I'd start searching.
By the way, since it's an algorithm, you don't need to put your whole palm on here. I find a light touch from 3 fingers flat (seems as if ~1.5cm is necessary) held next to each other works just fine.

 

[rabbitz]

Nice, thanks for switcher. I think I'm going to love using the favorites feature with it. Can't help you with video editing with PIP but that's how I'd start searching.
By the way, since it's an algorithm, you don't need to put your whole palm on here. I find a light touch from 3 fingers flat (seems as if ~1.5cm is necessary) held next to each other works just fine.

np. Btw for the favourites feature you should first remove the default program (iexplore.exe).

Then, to create a simple script, just open up notepad and type this:

Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") 

WshShell.SendKeys "%z"

% is the code for alt, and z is... z lol. Here is a list of some more keys.
Then, save the file as whatevername.vbs and then add it to the favourites list and you're all set!

 

[ther00kie16]

np. Btw for the favourites feature you should first remove the default program (iexplore.exe).

Then, to create a simple script, just open up notepad and type this:

Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") 

WshShell.SendKeys "%z"

% is the code for alt, and z is... z lol. Here is a list of some more keys.
Then, save the file as whatevername.vbs and then add it to the favourites list and you're all set!

Thanks a lot, you are saving me a lot of work searching. I just have a couple more questions. Did you enable all those extra features through the user interface or regedit because none of the 3 drivers I've tried have all the features that aren't easily modified in regedit such as tap zones or finger flick. Dell is up to 7.5 and Synaptics has their own #s for example my v7.5 is 15.3.2.1 in Device Manager. So can you check which Synaptics driver # you have? Lastly, I haven't seen one + one click in any driver or registry hack so is that just in your driver version?

 

[rabbitz]

Thanks a lot, you are saving me a lot of work searching. I just have a couple more questions. Did you enable all those extra features through the user interface or regedit because none of the 3 drivers I've tried have all the features that aren't easily modified in regedit such as tap zones or finger flick. Dell is up to 7.5 and Synaptics has their own #s for example my v7.5 is 15.3.2.1 in Device Manager. So can you check which Synaptics driver # you have? Lastly, I haven't seen one + one click in any driver or registry hack so is that just in your driver version?

Hope this helps... everything is through the user interface.

TwoFingerScroll

edit: I thought I had already typed all this up but apparently it was in the reply that got deleted, and I forgot to type it again. Anyways, there is a bit of conflict with the synaptics driver and the twofingerscroll program so for the synaptics driver I have disabled scrolling, pinch zooming and rotating. Scrolling is handled by twofingerscroll, and I have never really found much use for zooming/rotating (but twofingerscroll will make pinch-zooming really hard to use.... not recommended to be used together).

 

[slugg]

This thread may be of interest: why do PC trackpads suck?