touchpad

touchpad

(1) See HP TouchPad.

(2) The built-in pointing device on most all laptop and netbook computers. It provides a small, flat surface for sliding a finger the same way one would use a mouse. Residing below the touchpad, two physical buttons emulate the two mouse buttons; however, the touchpad surface can be tapped instead of pressing the left button. In addition, the right side of the touchpad surface often emulates the mouse's scroll wheel. Newer multitouch touchpads accept movement from two to four fingers to enable functions such as Next Page, Previous Page, Next Application, etc. See mouse, trackball and pointing stick.

Touchpads

The touchpad has become especially popular on laptops, but external units for desktop computers have also been produced.

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(hardware)

touchpad - (Or "trackpad") A stationary pointing device used mainly on laptop computers. Touchpads provide a small, flat surface that you slide your finger over using the same movements as you would a mouse. They were originally developed to provide a more natural and intuitive connection for the computer user than the mouse. Touchpads use a principle called coupling capacitance, and requires a conductive pointer such as a finger. They contain a two-layer grid of electrodes which are connected to an integrated circuit (IC) mounted under the pad. The upper layer contains vertical electrode strips while the lower layer is composed of horizontal electrode strips. Capacitance from each of the horizontal electrodes to each of the vertical electrodes is measured by the IC. A finger near the intersection of two electrodes modifies the capacitance between them, since a finger has very different dielectric properties than air. The position of the finger is precisely determined based on these changes at various locations. According to one correspondent, you can use any part of your body, which is not surprising, but not a McDonalds Chicken McCrispy. You can use reheated Pizza Hut Christmas Pizza though. Synaptics.