My wife thinks that on Chromebooks the kids use a “two finger drag”.
(That sounds like a quite controversial topic on FR if it’s not about computers!)
Turn it off! I drag my thumbs, hate touchpad. Absolutely distruptive for typing.
The bottom of the touchpad has a click function, like you click a mouse. You have the usual right-click and left click function. You just click and hold down while dragging your finger across the main portion of the pad to highlight text, etc. It functions just like a mouse, you’re not losing anything. You can buy a USB mouse if you want, but it’s not necessary.
I hate trackpads. I connect a USB wireless mouse.
Message Hunter Biden. He has a lot of experience fingering laptops.
Hi.
For starters, 8gb ram minimum is a must if you use office applications.
Most touchpads still have the same buttons but they’re not mechanical - they’re zones on the touchpad.
A godsend for me is the Logitech MX Anywhere mouse - it’s wireless, works on any surface even glass, and charges over usb so you only need it plugged in when charging it.
Adaptors from USB to HDMI or displayport are cheap enough. I have 3 curved ultrawide monitors connected together with displayport and there’s just one usb cable to the laptop... giving me 4 screens in total.
I convinced my company to buy an ultrawide monitor for each desk when replacing old VGA dual monitors - cheaper, uses less electricity, more ergonomic, leaves an extra free power socket on every desk, and gives you the ability to put two documents side by side for comparisons.
With 28” or bigger, an ultrawide can display twice as many columns in a spreadsheet at once than the laptop screen.
So a good Black Friday deal on one of those can be a really good investment if you use it for work.
My brother-in-law, which has extensive experience in and teaches IT Security who also has a gazillion different computers, laptops, etc., swears up and down on Chromebook.
What I suggest is to drop by an Office Depot kind of place if convenient and purchase a mouse that's either blue tooth enabled or has a USB dongle that can plug into the laptop. Batteries in the mouse will last a very long time. Emphasize long long time.
First time you fire up the laptop with the new mouse, the laptop will automatically recognize the new device and will activate on board drivers or download drivers via the internet. From my 30 year experience with laptops, this is the easiest and best laptop improvement that can be made. If you can, get a mouse with the scroll wheel on top and side buttons. Once you get used to the buttons and wheel, you can really zip through things fast with low effort.
What I suggest is to drop by an Office Depot kind of place if convenient and purchase a mouse that's either blue tooth enabled or has a USB dongle that can plug into the laptop. Batteries in the mouse will last a very long time. Emphasize long long time.
First time you fire up the laptop with the new mouse, the laptop will automatically recognize the new device and will activate on board drivers or download drivers via the internet. From my 30 year experience with laptops, this is the easiest and best laptop improvement that can be made. If you can, get a mouse with the scroll wheel on top and side buttons. Once you get used to the buttons and wheel, you can really zip through things fast with low effort.
I am with what seems to be the majority here ... touch-pads are a pain in the a$$. Include roller-balls in that assessment.
Unless you are blessed with the dexterity of a watch-maker, touch-pads are maddeningly imprecise. Get a mouse with at least two buttons, a wheel, and uses USB wireless connection. I have a Logitech M310 that I have had for 5-6 years - about $35 on Amazon last I checked. Gotta feed it a new ‘AA’ about twice a year but that’s it.
Sorry for the double post ...
My son just found this Black Friday deal at Best Buy:
Big memory, big SSD, big screen ... all for about $650 out the door (your tax burden may vary).
I thought it was just me, hating on touchpads. Been using a mouse since I was 4 years old, and “set in my ways.”
Every machine I get, I turn off the touchpad. Big waste of space imo.
I can think of several different solutions:
Go to your touch pad settings and turn on the feature that allows a click and drag. You tap on the touchpad twice but on the second tap do not lift your fing and drag instead.
Click and hold while holding down the CTRL key
Click and hold down the SHIFT key where you want to start the selection, then click where you want the selection to stop.
Use whatever “gesture” your keypad supports. That would be a multi finger like possibly 2 finger drag. These can vary by manufacturer.
There may be more I am missing. Assessabillity settings can help as well.
I use a USB wireless mouse.
Touchpads, especially on used laptops are just horrible.
I never got used to a touch pad... Always just got a sensor USB and external mouse and keyboard...
Great day for shopping. BradsDeals.com lists great deals, and has a Black Friday sales link. I’m pretty sure you can search for an item.
I find the best way to use a touchpad is to plug in a mouse and ignore the touchpad...
Buy a wireless mouse.
The touchpads are great. However, I still prefer using a mouse on the non-Apple laptops. On my Apple MacBook, I've never had need for a mouse as the touchpad works so perfectly once you've mastered the basic skills.
Keep looking then. I'm a Thinkpad business series fan. W series(W500 - W530 etc) or the newer P series(P50, P70 etc)
Lenovo leases out their business series laptops by the many thousands to large companies so they're made prettyw well, else said companies would go with some other brand. I buy mine used off of ebay.