laptop mousepad settings help....

I have a dell insperon 8600 and can't find figure out how to speed up my cursor on the mousepad. I've checked in help on windows but can't find anything out about it. First of all, is that what its called? or is it a touchpad? neither worked for me.

Where do I go to change it's settings? speed it up etc??

regards, mitch

 

Control panel/mouse/pointer settings/pointer speed I have mine set all the way up which is still a little slow.

 

It is called a touchpad.

If the speed up solution Rikky provided does not speed it up enough, then your only option may be to use a regular mouse or some other external input device, such as a trackball, or external touchpad. All notebooks should allow it.

 

My wife has an Inspiron 8500 and had the same issue with her touch pad speed. We ended up getting her a Logitech Trackman Marble trackball (it's stationary and fits in your hand, index finger rolls ball).

Sam

 

Trackballs take some getting used to (but no more so than getting used to touchpads when you are used to a mouse). The biggest advantage to trackballs are as Sam indicated, they are stationary, so you don't need a lot of desk space. A lot of seniors and other people with limited dexterity in their hands and fingers find trackballs much easier to use than a mouse or touchpad. Many computer aided designers find trackballs allow for much greater precision edits.

 

I've never liked using a touchpad. This is what I use: Logitech V220 Dark Gray 3 Buttons 1 x Wheel Cordless Optical 1000 dpi Mouse For Notebooks

 

While we are waiting for anvilring to come back (not wanting to drive his thread off topic)...

The problem I have with mice made for notebooks is they tend to be very small - almost for a child's hand. That's most likely great for road-warriors, but I find them awkward. But then as a right-hander who uses the mouse with his left hand, I have a hard time finding any mouse that feels right. Most are "contoured" for the right-handed person, even though they often say they are oriented for both hands. There are a few left-handed mice out there but they are hard to find. But to make matters worse for me, I like the buttons and wheels to be in a right-handed configuration, even though I move the mouse around with my left hand. I think that is part of the reason the smaller mice don't work for me too.

I just (like yesterday, as a matter of fact) bought a Microsoft Wireless Mouse 5000. I must say, I don't know who makes Microsoft hardware, but the quality is top notch. Anyway, so far, I really like this mouse - both how it feels in my hand, and how it smoothly tracks across the woodgrain of my desk. But it's actually heavy for a mouse so may not be suitable for someone wanting to travel light.

 

I was afraid I might not like the smaller size mouse when I bought the Logitech V220 for my laptop, but I've experienced no difficulty in switching between using the laptop and using a regular size mouse with my desktop system.

I don't know where you've shopped but have not found "most" of them to be contoured for the right-handed person. The V220 is, as Logitech states, the same for either hand. In other words, it's perfectly symmetrical between the two sides.

This simply is not an issue. I don't know of any mouse, except perhaps the most basic two-button ones, that do not allow configuring the buttons and wheel to do a wide variety of functions.

 

You are right, there are many that are symentrical both left and right, I should have said I can't seem to find many that I like - the stores that do have models on display may have many models, but it seems most are display (not real), or broken, contoured, too small, too big!, or not on a good suface for testing.

And as for configuring the buttons, again you are right, almost, if not all let you do that too. What I meant, and did not make clear, is those that are contoured for the right hand feel even more odd (to me) when you reconfigure the buttons for the left.

I am sure it is just a matter of time and we can get used to just about any mouse, and in time will just be an extension of our fingers - as it should be.

That said, I am often asked for advice on buying a keyboard or mouse and I just can't give it. The keyboard and mouse are our personal interfaces between us and the computer and as such, are very much a personal decision that should only be made by touching and feeling for ourselves. That perhaps is more important with a keyboard as there are many shapes and sizes to them too. A friend bought one he loved at the store, but when he go home and put it on his slide-out keyboard tray, sitting at the desk the angle was different (from standing at the store shelf) he found it uncomfortable on his wrists, and then the thing was so wide, it was crowding out his mouse on the tray.