[PConline Miscellaneous] A while ago, the author often felt a little sore in his wrists, and sometimes he would have numbness. After searching on Baidu, he found that he had a "mouse hand". Mouse hand, that is, carpal tunnel syndrome, is a modern epidemic. The only way to alleviate it is to reduce the screen rate of computers. However, as a senior social animal, the author will never be separated from his work. Obviously another way is to use the mouse and trackpad interchangeably, but to be honest, the trackpad function of the Windows system is really too difficult to use...
1. Why do everyone think that the trackpad of the Windows laptop is difficult to use?
In fact, technology has developed to this day, and the difference in surface materials of the trackpad has been infinitely reduced, and the basic smoothness is already very guaranteed. What makes Windows trackpad crazy is its "inconsistency".
1. Press feedback is incoherent.
Generally speaking, we move the cursor by sliding the fingers on the trackpad. Clicking means the selection operation. From moving to clicking, most people's habit is to move to the target element and press directly, such as selecting an icon, such as quickly opening an application, and then continuing to move operations, such as selecting a paragraph of text, etc. But if you often use the Windows laptop's trackpad, you will find that it has a huge bug. The press feedback of the Win-based trackpad is not consistent in all areas, but shows a very obvious linear change from the top to the bottom - the top is almost unpressed, and the closer it is to the bottom, the easier it is to be pressed down.
This leads to an experience failure when we use the trackpad. For example, our fingers move upwards on the trackpad. If we want to click on the small red cross in the upper right corner to close the page window, we find that the trackpad cannot be pressed. We must lift our fingers again and move them to the bottom of the trackpad and click again. With such results repeatedly and high frequency, the trackpad experience is basically declared zero.
2. System control is incoherent and the gestures and system operations of Macbook are highly unified, and most third-party software optimizes the touchpad basically consistent with the system). However, Windows has not yet been able to make detailed and special optimizations for different devices. For example, when switching programs or call out menu bar in the system interface, the experience is still very smooth and smooth, but once you switch to other third-party software, the entire operation will change greatly, and most of the changes will reduce the smoothness. In this way, it is difficult to form a one-time operating experience within the entire system operation range.
2. Where is the easy-to-use trackpad for Mac?
We all know that the MacBook’s trackpad is very useful. Apple attaches great importance to the touch experience, so it makes the MacBook’s trackpad area bigger and bigger. Advanced touch technology and rich touch gesture support have in turn made the touchpad a major selling point of MacBook series laptops. Even Mac desktops have specially equipped them with MagicTrackpad.
1, ForceTouch pressure sensing
Currently, most Win-based notebook touchpads have one-sided pressing structure, which is a bit similar to the springboard state, but this causes the upper half of the keyboard to be fixed and cannot be pressed. If you want to press and click, you can only go down, resulting in only half of the usability of the touchpad in this action, which is the problem of incoherent press feedback mentioned earlier in the article.
MacBook was the first to be equipped with a ForceTouch pressure trackpad on the 2015 MacBook, which has completely subverted the usage experience of the laptop trackpad. The core of ForceTouch technology is to use a vibrating motor to simulate the pressure feedback instead of the traditional mechanical structure, which Apple calls it the Taptic Engine. In addition, a force sensor is added to all four corners, which can detect multi-dimensional gesture scenes of point force, and even send tactile feedback through vibration. The advantage of this approach is that the same touch feel can be achieved throughout the entire area of the touchpad, and the situation where the touchpad cannot be directly pressed after moving upward will never happen again.
2, Multi-Touch Multi-finger touch
The so-called Multi-Touch is simply multi-touch, which is a technology that uses multi-finger gestures to identify triggering actions, thereby greatly improving the practicality of touch devices. Users can prefer the trackpad in the accessibility function. The improvements of these small details have been accumulated, making the MacBook's trackpad far away from other laptop trackpads.
3. In fact, the trackpad of Windows laptops is also catching up with
. In fact, in the face of the shortcomings of the trackpad, both Microsoft and Win-based OEM manufacturers have also made many attempts. Let’s talk about some key "improvement achievements" below.
1, Huawei FreeTouch
In recent years, Huawei has been committed to the transformation of laptop products. The MateBookX touchpad, which was just launched this year, not only uses a more silky glass material, but also has added the HUAWEIFreeTouch design for the first time. The built-in linear motor can realize the pressing sensing of the entire area, allowing this pressure touchpad to get a sensitive response no matter where it clicks.
At the same time, Huawei has also expanded the area of the touchpad again and again. After all, the touchpad is operated through the user's fingers. The movable range of the finger is closely related to user's operation. When the area of the touchpad is large enough, it can effectively reduce the frequent lifting and falling of the fingers.
2, ASUS ScreenPad
ASUS's exploration in touchpad is even more unique. The Lingyao XPro launched two years ago is equipped with a unique ScreenPad (screen trackpad), combining the trackpad and the touch screen into one.
ASUS has designed different operating logic for this screen trackpad. Among them, the traditional touchpad mode is to run the screen trackpad with the second level of auxiliary interactive logic outside the keyboard and mouse + screen, but it is not used as the main input and output means. In ScreenPad mode, Asus provides a set of ScreenPadApps (screen trackpad program), including shortcut launchers, player controllers, calculators, calendars, keyboards, etc., and can also set shortcut keys for software such as Office on the auxiliary screen.
The subsequent Lingyao X2Pro is equipped with ScreenPad's comprehensive evolution version of ScreenPad, which not only has a larger screen visual space, but also doubles the expansion and efficiency of control. It can also be divided into three independent areas to meet the multi-task work usage that users synchronize. At the same time, ScreenPadPlus also supports delicate feedback from special stylus, which is very friendly to professionals and users with professional software needs.
3, Thinkpad Little Red Riding Hood
TrackPoint Little Red Riding Hood is a classic continuation of ThinkPad. Naturally, it cannot be ignored. Its appearance effectively solves the operating troubles that will occur in different working environments, and is also a powerful complement to the touchpad. Just push the pointing rod with your fingertips, and the ceramic plate at the bottom will produce subtle bends. The 4 bend sensors installed on the ceramic plate will immediately sense the direction and size of the force. During operation, your fingers can quickly complete the operation of moving the pointer substantially without leaving the keyboard. It is not a dream to say goodbye to the mouse completely.
In recent years, although ThinkPad has continuously improved the touchpad experience, the upgrade of Little Red Riding Hood has not been interrupted. For example, the floating point on Little Red Riding Hood in the new X1Corban in 2019 is more dense, effectively dispersing the friction of fingertips, making it more durable, and operating smoother. With the classic three-key design above the touchpad, it is efficient and linear UP.
4, Windows Precision Trackpad
Microsoft jointly with Intel, Yilong Electronics and Synopsys Technology’s concept of precision trackpad proposed by Microsoft, the new Surface uses this type of precision trackpad, which supports multi-finger gestures, is more sensitive, and has better accuracy. It is directly controlled by the Windows operating system rather than a third-party driver, which can provide users with a better interactive experience.
What if you don’t have the urge to change your laptop recently and want to improve your trackpad? In fact, there is not no opportunity for improvement. As long as it is the touch solution of Elan/Synaptics, you can get an experience similar to a new precise trackpad after updating the driver. It can be said to be a new update for some old laptops.
Summary:
Although the trackpad of Windows laptops is constantly changing and upgrading, so far, the trackpad of MacBook still has the best user experience. However, we believe that quantitative change will always trigger qualitative change. As more and more Windows brands are willing to spend money to innovate and polish the trackpad, in the future, we will have an increasingly better touch experience.
