Built-in Touchpad or External Mouse - What is your preference?

I'm pretty sure at least some PC notebook drivers do let you control this; I remember the Synaptics control panel having a sensitivity setting specifically designed to keep it from registering false movements from simply brushing against the trackpad accidentally.

-Zadillo

 

I get frustrated with the touchpad when I am at home. I can bear with it in class or at the library becasue I am just writing, but touchpads are annoying.

 

I feel like the only one that might have perfected the touch pad.

The one that my Acer(in Sig) has are the best IMO. It's much easier to scroll using the middle directional pad. Much easier than the other types of touch pads I have tried.

 

Before I got my laptop (current and the first one =), I thought a friend of mine was crazy for not having a mouse for his. But I'm one of them now! Seriously, I meant to get a mouse, but I couldn't find one I liked fast enough before I got used to the touchpad. So I'm one of them now!

With that said, it was insanely annoying using the touchpad for Excel and the like when I had to work from home for a week during the transit strike (NY, there's no transit in Amherst for which to strike!) OMG I was going crazy having to take a whole second to get diagonally across the screen! It was super awesome to work on a WS monitor, but the mouse, the mouse! But the strike's been over so I never have to work from home for more than 1-2 hrs at a time, so I can handle it, yay!

With that said, I did see a very attractive mouse recently (online), much better than the previously most attractive mouse that'll match my laptop (by Macally, nice but too small) - so I'm thinking of buying it. I don't want to have any more wires on my desk than I already do (power, security lock since I'm in a dorm, printer, and speakers), so I'll be keeping it in my desk drawer and taking it out for those times when eh.. I'm trying to find something frantically online I guess.

Malia

EDIT: Oh and I got a scrollwheel-type-thing between my touchpad buttons that's actually better than a scrollwheel, it's so good! I've taken a liking to Page Up/Page Down though recently.

 

I've never used a touchpad that I liked. I'm sure one is out there... I just haven't come across it.

 

I find the touchpad on my macbook pro to be very nice. It's big and it responds well...when my hands aren't sweaty or wet. Needless to say, I wipe it down like once a week to keep it from getting disgusting.

But other than that, touchpad will do fine. Besides, I don't even use the right click anymore in OSX.

 

And when I use iTunes, I just use the Apple remote that came with my mbp.

 

I have not read this thread but am surprised that so many people use a mouse with their laptops. Touchpads take some getting used to from laptop to laptop, but once your use to it........I cant STAND using mice for computers. I work as an audio editor and use a kensington trackball as do most people I know. Only had a laptop for years as my main computer and always am amazed at people that want to carry something around with them for their laptop. I have enough trouble justifying the **** power brick. But my battery lasts 5 min as it needs replacing - another story.

dont see how a mouse is ever more efficient than something that you dont have to move your whole arm. Im touchpad all the way. its much more "intimate"

 

I'm a mouse man also . I can't stand the touchpad, even after two years of using laptops. When I have to, I use it, but I find the mouse easier to use.

 

I love my bluetooth mouse that i just got, but if im laying on my bed with my lappy on my lap, or if im traveling in the car, then i use the touchpad. But almost all the time i use my bluetooth mouse.

 

I like external mice - much better for gaming - but the touch pad is a necessity on the road. :yes:

 

I like using just an external mouse because it is so much better for gaming and more comfortable. I use both though because I don't know how to turn off my touchpad. If anyone knows how to turn it off on a dell inspiron 6400/e1505 just hit me up.

 

My touch pads always gets in the way when I'm typing. I'll accidently hit the thing and end up typing part of a sentence a quarter up the page from where it is supposed to be. I always use an external mouse and 99% of the time in my left hand despite being right handed. Using a touch pad for me is like trying to aim properly using an x-box controller without auto-aim turned on.

 

I've noticed a lot of laptops now have settings in their trackpad control panels that allow it to detect and ignore accidental touches and input like that.

 

External mouse 99.9999% of the time wit hthe remainder going to the built-in touch pad.

Love my new LG S1 which has a key to disable the touch pad on the fly.

Never really got used to using a touch pad ever since they appeared on laptops and I have been a lappy user for 20 years.

 

Mostly both.. I have a little 10 $ corded mouse (with the little thingy to tie the cord around itself) and it works wonders whenever I get frustrated with the touchpad, or I've been playing too long and the touchpad gets a little warm.

 

I'm about half and half, but I prefer the external mouse. I use the touchpad a lot, but the external just feels so much more natural. Not to mention gaming on a trackpad is pretty pointless...

 

External mouse 99.9% of the time.

 

How can a touchpad be compared to a pointing stick?

O_O I can navigate with a pointing stick, but I can't use touchpads... the cursor flies around when I try to use it.

When my laptop with a touchpad comes, im getting a external mouse.

 

It's usually possible to adjust the sensitivity of touchpads so that you can get much more precise control. I've noticed from playing around with Sonys, HPs, Toshibas, Apples and Dells that they seem to often have different default settings (so that some will have more precise movement right off the bat, while others will "fly around" at the slightest touch).

 

98% ext mouse/ 2% touchpad

 

I just bought the Bluetooth Macally Btmouse and it paired nicely with my Dell Vostro 1400 running Vista Premium. It has a charging cradle and so my plan is to pop the mouse into the charger everynight at home and just put in into my laptop backpack (Ogio Metro) along with my laptop everytime I'm bringing it to college.

So far the performance is pretty good. There's not really any problems except that there's only three buttons and they are not customizable. In fact, there are no drivers available. It just runs off the Microsoft default mouse stack, I guess.

I got it at Fry's Electronic for $39.99, a bargain for a bluetooth mouse with rechargable batteries and a charging cradle.

 

Mouse - Every time.

I love sitting at a proper desk in a nice chair, with an external mouse.

Touchpad can never replace that comfort - they make my wrist ache after while.

 

im just wondering...why cant they put the left and right clicks of a touchpad above it rather than below it... it would make more sense.

 

Well, generally speaking, most people typically control the touchpad itself with their index finger, and then use the thumb to left or right click. If you placed the left and right click buttons above the trackpad, you would expect the typical user to use their index finger/etc. to click them, which would leave the thumb as the only useful digit to control the trackpad itself.... which would be far less accurate than an index finger when doing an operation like a click and drag, etc.

-Zadillo

 

Well I prefer External Mouse because it allows way more flexibility and precise movement. I haven't gotten my BT mouse yet but I would imagine that I'd use my BT mouse 90% of the time and use touchpad only if I'm in constrained places or if I'm just too lazy to get my BT mouse out.

I've set my touchpad's sensitivity to max because I believe if you can reach 1 point to another with the slightest touch then you're saving energy in a long run =)

 

98.99% ibm track point (red eraser head)
1% logitech vx rev
.01% touchpad

 

Even if the review are good for the g1s touchpad, I must say I hate those device...so I'm 99% of the time on a external mouse
In Class with a Mx Revolution, and at home with the mx518 that come with it(coupled with a g15, nice gaming rig )

 

External all the way, I find it difficult to use a touchpad and takes longer to get the cursor to where I want to go. But if I'm in a lecture, a touchpad will do fine.

 

i loath touch pads.

 

Wow, do people use their index finger for the trackpad? I have always used my thumb so I an keep my fingers on the keyboard.

 

I can't stretch mine that far on this laptop. If i have to go without a mouse, i'd rather have an eraser head... thingie...

I was using the touch pad on this laptop one time and apparently had some static electricity built up because i zapped it. Hasn't worked correctly since.

 

Both. I like the feel and response of my touchpad, but my Razer Diamondback is far too enticing to ignore.

 

mogo x45 mouse, stores inside express card, so instead of using both, its a combo of both

 

how can you play games with a touchpad? how can you even browse the net?

 

I use a MX400 laser mouse 97% of the time, I really dislike the touchpad, too inefficient. I also use a G15 keyboard with my laptop for typing on, but I will use the laptop keyboard too, it isn't too bad, but the full size, full key press of a desktop keyboard cannot be beat.

 

I use an external about 99% of the time. I just hate touchpads. Of course I use my laptops for occasional gaming and that just spoils you.

I just got a VAIO SZ680 and am curious what a good small and light travel mouse would be? Corded or not. I like the concept of blue tooth to save room without a cord, however that seems negated by having to carry batteries for the mouse with you.