sbakers Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 All,I luckily use an external mouse and keyboard routinely which means I dont have to use the build in trackpad or keyboard very often. However, on Tuesday I needed to travel and wasnt in a spot to attach an external mouse. The trackpad is horrible. It doesnt scroll properly, or feel right in anyway. I read through the forums and disassembled the laptop to apply new tape and move current tape with no real change in behavior. I have the synaptics version of the trackpad. Has anyone else had any luck making this more useful? I even tried to adjust the settings and run through the "practice" maze utility provided by Synaptics and I can barely get it to move.Any additional guidance or help would be much appreciated.Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberperson Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 All,I luckily use an external mouse and keyboard routinely which means I dont have to use the build in trackpad or keyboard very often. However, on Tuesday I needed to travel and wasnt in a spot to attach an external mouse. The trackpad is horrible. It doesnt scroll properly, or feel right in anyway. I read through the forums and disassembled the laptop to apply new tape and move current tape with no real change in behavior. I have the synaptics version of the trackpad. Has anyone else had any luck making this more useful? I even tried to adjust the settings and run through the "practice" maze utility provided by Synaptics and I can barely get it to move.Any additional guidance or help would be much appreciated.ThanksYeah, it sucks. But almost every review on the laptop mentions it. It did help me a little to put a texture skin over the pad, but it is still bad. Just make sure you use the two finger scrolling gesture, I was not used to any of the gestures when I bought the laptop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbakers Posted August 9, 2013 Author Share Posted August 9, 2013 Yeah, it sucks. But almost every review on the laptop mentions it. It did help me a little to put a texture skin over the pad, but it is still bad. Just make sure you use the two finger scrolling gesture, I was not used to any of the gestures when I bought the laptop.Agreed. The usage of this trackpad is not like any I have used before. Seems less intuitive. I havent seen anyone post anything, but I would like something that just removes all the fancy capabilties and just gives me basic motions and nothing else. If I wanted to have lots of gestures I would use my Mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XXBrain Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 I feel like you. No matter if Windows 8, Windows 7 or linux. This is horrable and for me just accaptable because the price of this machine was so good. I tried it with deactivating all gestures and it was just half worse. I can live without all these gesture stuff but i realy have problems with doing left or right clicks in the proper situations. I hate it. Sometimes less is more. It would better have two real buttons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assitch Posted August 9, 2013 Share Posted August 9, 2013 I agree, this trackpad feels and looks chincy. I usually alwasy use an external mouse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chad2625 Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 IDK it has some annyoing default features, but I really like the fact that I can click any on the track pad to click. not necessary, but it is a nice feature (read apple puts it in). Turn the sensitivity up, and disable some features I Forget wich and it works alot better, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JiTee Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 I have the first version of the laptop, that been shipped in November to Canada, and I never had any issue other than the driver crashing for no reason 1 time on 5 when I wake it up from sleep mode. My friend, that bought the exact same pc, but, this month, never had any problem on his side, not even the driver issue that I experience. Are they using different trackpads from synaptics (I'm aware that they used a trackpad from another company that I don't know the name off)? It's really weird that a lot of people experience different issues with it.Btw, I have the Synaptics version of the trackpad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberperson Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 The worst part is if I rest my wrist to the left or right of the trackpad(not touching the trackpad) just the weight of my wrist causes the mouse to start moving, then I just get upset and ~_~ at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celosdedma Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Yes i agree with you guys. I think the trackpad is where they cut costs. It feels like it'll break easily. Sways when you click on it. And the response is just horrible. Using the 2 finger scrolling is indeed useful since click-dragging on this is really bad. I would highly recommend using a mouse. The y580's trackpad is better. To me the Y500's trackpad feels like a cheap imitation of the apple macbook pro's trackpad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CadetChristmas Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 I WAS in the same boat as you guys, the Y500 trackpad just wasn't cutting it. And this is coming from an old Gateway....but THEN I turned up the sensitivity all the way. I believe all you have to do is go into the Synaptics pointing device tool, go to Ponting DEvice Properties, then go to the Device Settings tab and hit the OTHER small settings button underneath the white box listing the touchpad. Then, it'll look like a Help Menu, but you can change all sorts of crap in here. Go down to Pointing, expand it, go to Sensitivity, expand it, and then go to Touch Sensitivity and turn it all the way to "Light touch." There are plenty of other things you can turn on and off in this settings menu, and I'd go into more detail but for some reason pressing the enter key does nothing on these forums for me and I can't separate my paragraphs. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skweeG Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 I had a similar experience on my Y400, but then I installed the latest Synaptics driver from their site - it made a HUGE difference. It's still not an ideal trackpad by a long shot (I'm spoiled by my MBP...) but the sensitivity is fixed without having to turn it up all the way and living with the associated twitchy movement. You can grab it here: Drivers | Synaptics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
octiceps Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Don't install the Synaptics driver from their website, use the one provided by Lenovo because the one from the Synaptics website is different and is missing some functionality as well as not working properly with the laptop Fn hotkey for the touchpad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kh90123 Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 I installed the one from Synaptics before, and it worked for me. But yeah, you need to install a driver so that all the Fn key works. The trackpad on the Y500 is not very good, then again, the trackpad on the Alienware is just cutting it barely. No one makes touchpad as good as the glass touchpad on Macbooks. Those just feel like an extension of your fingers, rather than feeling like a touchpad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skweeG Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 I installed the Synaptics driver and my Fn key functionality didn't change at all... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eban44 Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 I haven't noticed any issues with mine, but I also tend to use to a mouse when using the laptop. Do you have one of the original trackpads that was made by a different company? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noveriot Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 I'd have to agree... I always use a wireless mouse regardless but it seems trackpads of late have been declining in quality... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbakers Posted August 16, 2013 Author Share Posted August 16, 2013 I use my mac book trackpad all the time, and it does as it should all the time. And I understand that sometimes you get what you pay for (e.g expensive Mac versus relatively inexpensive Lenovo), but I have been using trackpads for a long time and this just seems less about physical quality and more about someone in Lenovo actually trying this thing out before being released to the public. I am forced to use an external mouse all the time. Just seems archaic to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eban44 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 Yeah I guess if the trackpad was as good as a macbooks then I would possibly use it more, but I mostly use the laptop for gaming, so a mouse is needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harsh2193 Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 Got the Y500 in december of 2012. Barely a day after the first boot the trackpad started jumping around opening random things up. Been using an external mouse ever since. It's very inconvenient especially when you're lying in bed, watching a movie. Guess there isn't much i can do since i bought the laptop in the USA but am living in india so i can't even ask them to replace the touchpad assembly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsan1129 Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Supposedly Windows 8.1 is supposed to fix some stuff (assuming Synaptics updates their driver for it) but yeah just find a good little wireless mouse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
av24man Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 The trackpad is bad and I have dual-booted with Windows 8 and Arch Linux and both have the same issues so I have a hard time believing that it is a driver issueI've read articles about a bios flash that is supposed to fix the issues but there are no bios updates on Lenovo's siteI wish that they would have placed the trackpad more to the right, my wrist hits it as hit the space bar and cursor goes flying...it's one thing to use a mouse to avoid the use of the trackpad but i shouldn't have to use an external keyboard so that i don't make contact with the trackpad while using the spacebar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
octiceps Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 The trackpad is bad and I have dual-booted with Windows 8 and Arch Linux and both have the same issues so I have a hard time believing that it is a driver issueI've read articles about a bios flash that is supposed to fix the issues but there are no bios updates on Lenovo's siteI wish that they would have placed the trackpad more to the right, my wrist hits it as hit the space bar and cursor goes flying...it's one thing to use a mouse to avoid the use of the trackpad but i shouldn't have to use an external keyboard so that i don't make contact with the trackpad while using the spacebarI agree the touchpad stinks but you can disable it with Fn+F6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
av24man Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Holy, cow! I totally missed that Function + F6 would disable the trackpad completely. Thank you very much octiceps, I will be using that immediately! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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