Best Computer Touchpad Reviews 2020

A good computer touchpad does not have to cost an arm and a leg but it is not exactly cheap either. By the way, cheap computer touchpads are a really bad idea. They mostly lack in tactile feel, lag a lot, and require a lot of pressure to recognize a simple gesture. You’ll find yourself going back to your mouse pretty fast. So, get yourself a good product. A good computer touchpad can go for as little as $30 or as much as $200. Anything within this price range will at least give you the basics. But if you desire the bells and whistles (wireless, rechargeable battery, etc), then, get ready to spend more.

Understandably, touchpads vary from brand to brand and depending on what you want, certain touchpads present different areas of strength. So, if you’re looking to get a touchpad, here are some features to consider before making a purchase.

• Supported Platforms
• Achievable Gestures
• Size
• Power Source
• Connectivity

Scroll down a little for the details.

So what goes on “behind the scenes” when you use a touchpad and how does it work? It’s a little complicated but we’ll summarize the gist in a non-geeky form.

So, basically, there are several layers of material in a touchpad but because we are not in an engineering class, we clump everything up into three distinct parts: the circuit board, the electrode layer, and the top layer. The top layer is pretty basic – it’s just the part you actually tap.

The electrode layer, like the name implies, is a layer of electrodes. “Isn’t that dangerous for me?” asks an innocent you. Well, no. And that’s because, even though it’s powered by an alternating current, it’s separated from the top layer (where you tap) by a thin insulation. Then there’s the circuit board. Let’s just say that’s the brain of your touchpad. It’s where everything goes down. That’s where every tap, scroll, zoom, and gesture is interpreted.

So, when you tap your screen, you interrupt the flow of current and the circuit board detects that. The place you touched is registered by the circuit and subsequent actions are executed relative to that point.

Now we’ve covered the techy science bit, let’s look into some features.

Some touchpads contain two places where you can left and right click like a conventional mouse, and sense a single or double tap made anywhere at all on the pad.

Another thing you should equally consider is if your touchpad is wired or wireless. Some manufacturers make their touchpads without a wire so you can use it comfortably without the inconvenience that comes with using wired devices.

Some touchpads connect via Bluetooth (wireless), but many wireless pads actually still connect using USB, via a dongle in a USB port. This has its advantages and disadvantages…

For a USB-connect touchpad, setup will be extremely easy as you just plug in and go. Most do not even require a driver to install. But then you have one less USB port that you might have rather used for something else. And whenever you have to go out, you must of necessity not forget to take your dongle along, else you might just get stranded.

If that’s something you can deal with then, by all means, go ahead. But if you cannot stand it, then go for something that connects via Bluetooth. That option might be a more expensive one, though, and requires Bluetooth capability on the device you’re connecting to – this is still quite uncommon in desktop computers, for example.

In performance, a touchpad closely resembles a mouse and a laptop trackpad with the advantage of an increased surface area which permits more manipulations than you can normally obtain with a mouse, such as multi-touch support, or at least more gestures than an average laptop trackpad.

Touchpads are mostly designed to work best with a particular platform. For instance, some are designed to work best with Mac and Windows computers, others will work with only Mac, some also work with Android, and so on.

Arguably, this is the number one feature to look out for in any touchpad you might buy. There’s no point spending hard-earned money on something that won’t work and then deal with buyers’ remorse on top of all of that. So, get something that works with your OS. Look out for the platforms your touchpad supports.

Touchpads are powered differently from model to model. While some use disposable batteries, others are rechargeable. A rechargeable model is always more preferable as it saves you the hassle of buying new sets of batteries after you exhaust the old. Although more expensive, rechargeable touchpads pay themselves off in the end. Most rechargeable touchpads usually have enough power to go for a whole month after just one charge.

You also need to know what gestures your touchpad is designed to support, which governs the freedom your touchpad allows you while navigating your computer. Check out its intended gesture range, which should include scrolling, clicking, rotating and zooming, etc.

Will it support the use of more than one finger at a time? Can you pinch, can you not? Is the ability to pinch to zoom of great importance to you? How much pressure do you need to actually get something clicked, etc? If you need to press so hard to get anything done, you end up bending your fingers back, you’re better off with your old mouse. Don’t even bother. Return it if you’ve bought it already.

Also, gestures should be easy to recollect, not overtly complicated. Why should you always have to consult a manual to get any single thing done on your computer? If that’s the package, please just avoid.

As for size, there are varying sizes for a touchpad. Although smaller means more portable, it also means less workspace and ultimately less you can do. A larger surface area gives you more workspace for gesture controls and more accurate positioning of the pointer.