TouchPad on a new HP Pavilion laptop

[Donald]

I just purchased a new HP laptop and it has a TouchPad. I am use to an IBM TrackPoint or a Logitech TrackBall. The TouchPad is different. It can do things like scroll, pinch/zoom and drag & flick (I think) which neither the TrackPoint nor TrackBall could do. The L and R buttons seem hard to use. However for the left button one can tap the TouchPad once or twice. I do not think there is an alternative for the R button. To select some text to change its color in a Word document I normally use the R button and then move the TrackBall to select the desired text. On the TouchPad that is very awkward.

So do I just get use to the TouchPad or get an adapter and go back to the TrackBall (even with its limitations)?

 

[Scorch]

Even with my macbook pro with as nice of a touchpad as it is I use a logitech G5 gaming mouse, dedicated forward/back buttons are nice and its very smooth lazer tracking. The touchpad is for on the go applications imo.

 

[UNC017]

Originally Posted By: Scorch
Even with my macbook pro with as nice of a touchpad as it is I use a logitech G5 gaming mouse, dedicated forward/back buttons are nice and its very smooth lazer tracking. The touchpad is for on the go applications imo.


+1. Also have a Macbook pro with the trackpad that recognizes "pinch" and other symbols. I ONLY use the trackpad when I've got the laptop out away from my desk, otherwise its a nice 3-button scrollwheel mouse. And even when I do use the trackpad I have a lot of the fancy features disabled. I like it simple, and with all the extra features turned on I get a lot more accidental entries from the trackpad.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

I LOVE the touch pad on my MBP! The three finger back and forth are awesome and it has a good amount of "real estate".

 

[Nick R]

On my 380 dollar lenovo I can use forward, back, up, down, side to side, swipes. For that when I want a mouse I have a cheap dynex (bby brand) wireless mouse that works great. I'm still using a 3 year old razor deathadder wired gaming mouse on my desktop. Best mouse I've ever used.

 

[buickman50401]

Originally Posted By: Donald
However for the left button one can tap the TouchPad once or twice. I do not think there is an alternative for the R button. To select some text to change its color in a Word document I normally use the R button and then move the TrackBall to select the desired text. On the TouchPad that is very awkward.


Depending on the driver, you can define different areas of the pad for different functions. The Synaptics/Alps driver update in Win7 left me without a middle click function (click both L&R keys at the same time). To work around it, I defined the bottom right corner of the pad as "middle click" - just tap once in that area - which I use mainly for browsing to open a link in a new tab.

 

[Donald]

I decided to get a new Logitech Trackball with the mini buttons. The adapter for my older trackball is half what a new trackball costs and my older trackball does not have configurable mini buttons.

Thats for everyone's input.

 

[CivicFan]

The last few corporate laptops I have had have been HP-s. They all have been very unpleasant to use as laptops ( I always use them as on docking stations with external monitor, keyboard, mouse). The 17" EliteBook with i7 processor I am using now is no exception.

Are the consumer models more pleasant to use?

 

[Donald]

This is my first non Thinkpad. The screen is great, keyboard is fine, eSATA port is nice for my RAID backup drives, but the touchpad leaves something to be desired. However I always used Thinkpads with the trackpoint until now. I may not be the right person to compare HP laptops.

 

[CivicFan]

My main complaint is the #$*# screen in HP-s. I'm glad you have been luckier as far as the screen goes.

Those corporate IT types (don't get me started on them) don't really care about their clients so a [censored] screen is not a problem to them. Fortunately, I managed to obtain a nice Samsung monitor to hook up to the laptop.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
The last few corporate laptops I have had have been HP-s. They all have been very unpleasant to use as laptops ( I always use them as on docking stations with external monitor, keyboard, mouse). The 17" EliteBook with i7 processor I am using now is no exception.

Are the consumer models more pleasant to use?


They've had the highest failure rate of any laptop I've ever used. I avoid them like the plague.

(The irony here is that I'm typing this on an HP....)

 

[Scorch]

The laptop I'm currently typing on was manufactured in September of 2001. 1 1/2 years into owning it the screen completely stopped working, went to best buy since I had the "Insurance" plan and showed them. They had to send it away, 2 weeks later I get a call that it's all set, I show up and low and behold a $349 bill for a new motherboard because the onboard graphics card had fried. Have never done business with best buy again but that's beside the point.

1 year later the SAME EXACT THING happens. No video output through VGA or on the laptop display. So I got angry, and threw the laptop in the closet for the next 3 years. Then 2 years later being more technically inclined I brought it out, pulled it apart, and started searching for the culprit. Removing the stock CPU/GPU heatsink which was shared revealed burn marks on the metal and the GPU appeared to have separated from the motherboard. So I decided to try the trick that works on Xbox 360's when they RRoD; I baked the motherboard in the oven with just the GPU/CPU attached at 160* for 2 hours. Took it out and mounted up an aftermarket dedicated gpu heatsink and cpu heatsink, put together with arctic silver and peiced the computer back together.

Powered it on a voila! Been running various linux distros and besides a new harddrive and more ram I've had no other problems.

As far as screens go, the new HP/Compaq screens suck. The laptop I got my girlfriend is perfect if you are viewing it straight on, Up, down, left or right in even the slightest and you get washed out colors and reflective blacks. Terrible for watching movies.

 

[97tbird]

I hate touchpads - LOVE trackpoints on our ThinkPads.
we have disabled the annoying (to us) touchpads on both.

Due to this very reason, we'll always stay with Lenovos ot high(er) end Toshibas...I think some Toshibas have them...

perhaps so HPs, but not sure..

 

[Donald]

Having an eSATA connection was also important and it seems Lenovo was the last to include them. I like the trackpoint also, but the Logitech trackball is better yet.