How good are you at using a touch pad?

English as a Second Language What do you want to talk about?
1

Hi,

I’ve just noticed that I’m not that good at using the touch pad on my laptop. I used to use a mouse with my laptop but I think once I practice more using the touch pad, I will be able to operate the computer more quickly. I’ve seen people using touch pad at tremendous speeds and ease so I guess it must be possible for me to better at using too.

Anyway, what are your experiences in using a computer mouse vs. a touch pad or other pointing devices?

Thanks,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: A baseball game[YSaerTTEW443543]

2

I bought my first laptop a year ago (and a mouse in the bargain, just in case) and I had thought that it would be great to use its touchpad instead of the mouse, but in time I realized that I just don’t have a knack for it (or maybe don’t have enough patience), so I gave up on using it.
I ended up using the mouse all the time. :slight_smile:

3

I am very good at it, I can even use both of my hands, usually my left thumb and my forefinger of my right hand (to make the pointer moves quicker so I won’t have to repeat the same move with one finger). But sometimes I just use my forefinger and middle finger.

And I am surprised you admired people who can use touchpad. Most people in my office think it is weird of me to be more comfortable using the touchpad than the mouse.

Also, practice, practice, practice, Torsten. I’m sure you’ll be good in no time.

4

Hi Nina,

Thanks for your encouraging words. How long did it take you to get that good at using the touch pad and why did you start using it instead of a mouse?[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: A car carrier[YSaerTTEW443543]

5

I started using it when I switched from desktop to laptop, I think for almost two years already. I can’t really say when I get that good but it’s a funny story, I never used a laptop before I had one so I was really awed by the touchpad, so using it was really fun for me. The same feeling when I tried iTouch. Have you tried it? I think the mechanism where you had to drag and ‘let go’ your finger to type in the letters on the screen is simply awesome. I haven’t bought it yet. I am waiting for the second version, they are always better.

Anyway, I am at the point where when I had to use a mouse with a desktop, my hand automatically searched for a touchpad, only there was no touchpad around!

I think if you want to be good at it, you have to completely ignore your mouse.

6

Yeh,usually i use the touchpad with my left thumb and forefinger,and at first,i did not know the usage for that “red point”,i mean the pointing device of Thinkpad series,and i’m also interested in knowing whether there are other laptops with "red point’ like Thinkpad’s.

One more question:if you going to buy a laptop,then which one you will prefer to buy?

Edwin

7

Mine do not have the red point but two buttons for scrolling.

And personally I think Toshiba has the best to offer when it comes to laptops. But I think I like Toshiba because I was impressed by the Panorama screen they introduced us before. And now I look after hard disks at work, I tend to see whose hard disk they use. But there is really no difference once they are installed in the computer.

By the way, did you know the hard disk in your computer was baked at 110 degree celcius before it reached you? And the lubricant we use to make the protective layer of it costs around USD 80000 per 1kg?

8

Hi Nina Zara,
i do think Toshiba is of high quality for its products,you know my father bought a Toshiba Tv set at the year which my elder sister was 4 years old (1985) and it still works for now,that’s incredible! and as for toshiba laptop,i think its performance will also be okay.

Edwin

9

Hi Edwin,

I think most of us would be able to give a better idea and comprehensive comparison if you had pointed out us your budget and purposes of your laptop. So it may help us to eliminate the comparison of the branded.

Regard

Herry

10

Hi Torsten,

A touch pad is as sensitive as a touchscreen. Most of the time you only need as much as 1-2scm in the middle of the pad. Try making small circles with your right middle-finger in the middle of the pad. The thing is very sensitive. Don’t look at the pad, look at the screen. Then you could place the cursor in one corner of the screen and see what happens if you lead your finger from one corner of the pad to the other. It’s magical :o Use your thumb to click on the buttons underneath (they’re quite sensitive too).

11

I don’t use a touchpad when I can avoid it, partly because I haven’t become skilled at it, but mostly because I HATE THE WAY THE SURFACE FEELS! It has the same effect on me as someone dragging fingernails down a blackboard. (Nails on a blackboard don’t bother me, but the touchpad does.) In art school, I was supposed to draw with charcoal for the first year, but I refused, because I had to rub that toothy paper with my hand, and I couldn’t stand the feeling. It’s the same thing with the touchpad.

As for a laptop to buy, I’m very satisfied with my MacBook. It’s more expensive, but I don’t have to buy any virus software or waste time scanning for viruses or spyware. The system never crashes, and it runs all of the Microsoft programs I need (or has compatible programs so that I won’t need the MS programs). It also runs all the major open-source freeware programs. If I really HAVE to run a Windows program (which I seldom do), it can run Windows as a second operating system. It’s a very good machine for people who don’t feel like wasting time maintaining their computer.

Macs are also good for foreigners who learned to type on an English keyboard before they learned to type in their own languages. For example, one of my friends never learned to type in Arabic in her own country, and she first learned to type in English here. She can’t type on the traditional Arabic keyboard layout, but she can type Arabic easily on a Mac, because it has both traditional and QWERTY layouts for most languages. She barely has to adapt at all.

12

never use it , I don’t even use a mouse, I use my mind to control the computer and other things

13

Hi Edwin,

If you are interested in buying a laptop you might want to read Anyone using a laptop or notebook? where shared ideas and experiences on laptops and notebooks. Just let me know what you think.
Regards,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: Sitting in chairs[YSaerTTEW443543]

14

Hi Torsten,
thanks for your link,and people there mentioned Toshiba,Thinkpad,Macbook,Asus,Dell and HP etc,all of those brands perform well i think.Okay,before i post this message,i’ve searched the laptops on a online-shopping website,and i learned there are more than ten brands for the notebook or laptop in China market and all of those machines were perfect advertised and self-assumed as the best one.So my question for now should be:If the machines attach with the same inner device,same screen size,same cpu,ram,wireless connection function etc…then which brand is the most reliable one?(If without regard to prices)

Let’s vote:

Apple(Macbook)
Panasonic
Samsung
Thinkpad
Siemens
Toshiba
Lenovo
Fujitsu
Hitachi
BenQ
Sony
Asus
Acer
NEC
Dell
HP
Others(China domestic brands,of course you never heard of before , :lol: )

Thanks,

Edwin

15

You need a bit of practice to get the hang out of it. I am using the touchpad right now and my notebook has a red trackpoint (which i never use at all). :wink:

Can we use a “cat” instead of a “mouse”?? :lol:

16

IBM Thinkpad. I am using it right now.

17

The machines don’t all have the same innards, so you can’t really compare them that way. All you can do is compare them for performance, what is included in the price, etc.

Apple computers don’t have the same operating system. They have a UNIX-based system that is more stable (almost never crashes), does not get computer viruses and is not affected by spyware, so they are very low-maintenance, and you don’t have to spend time on virus scans and a lot of other maintenance a Windows PC requires. I used to have a Mac desktop computer and a Windows laptop, and I intended to get another Windows laptop. However, Apple computers became more and more compatible with PCs, and after I had to waste half a day cleaning viruses out of a friend’s Windows PC (which I had recommended she buy), I decided not to buy Windows computers anymore. The computer support techs at a company where I used to work said that, despite the higher purchase price, Apple computers are $250 per year cheaper for them to run than Windows machines, just because the PCs require more maintenance and more user support and “hand-holding”.

Apple computers have a higher purchase price than PCs, but they come with software and other peripherals included that you have to buy separately with Windows computers. There are also some nice design features that you don’t find in Windows laptops, such as that an Apple laptop’s power cord is held in magnetically, so that if you trip over it or something, the computer doesn’t go crashing to the floor.

Apple computers are almost 100% compatible with Windows machines, but if you have a program or two that only runs with Windows, you can run Windows as a separate operating system on a Macintosh, and it runs as fast or faster than it would native on a PC. In my computer I can run both the Macintosh operating system and Windows at the same time, which I’ve found has some advantages I didn’t expect when I first tried it.

If you want to compare Apple computers to the other ones, you have to actually TRY one, because the different operating system makes it a much different computer to use.

The other computers you listed all run either Windows or Linux, and all you need to do with them is compare performance statistics.

18

Hi everyone,

Thanks to your advice and support I’ve already become much quicker at using my touchpad. Ralf gave me an important piece of advice yesterday pointing out that I can make several quick movements with my thumb to move the cursor across the screen instead of trying to do that in one go. I was aware of that function but didn’t really use it consciously. Another thing I stumbled upon today is that in addition to the two buttons at the bottom my touchpad also has two thin stripes along the edges (one vertical and one one horizontal) which I can use to quickly scroll a screen. As the saying goes, you live you learn…[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: Chefs in a kitchen[YSaerTTEW443543]

19

Great to hear that, Torsten.

And Jamie is right. When choosing a laptop, it depends on what you want in it. I personally am crazy of huge screens, be it plasma TVs or laptop’s monitor. So when I choose a laptop I may put its monitor above mobility. And Toshiba is great for laptops built for desktop use.

20

Yeah, you can PM me if you have any other questions regarding your laptop. I have been using laptop all my life… now, i am having problems with my HP pda.