I know that a full review of my Acer Aspire One is getting overdue and I have had a few people ping me on it now. Rest assured that it’s something I am working on, but I have to ask for patience as the workload from my day job is nearly overwhelming me. As an element of that larger review, I thought I would post my thoughts on the touchpad in response to a reader’s question.
Honestly, this was something I was quite concerned about when I ordered the device. There were two things that were the cause for concern: the unconventional button placement and the finish of the pad. Let me address these separately.
I personally use the tap functionality of the touchpad for my 95% of my left-click needs. I find that it’s much faster and more natural than hitting a separate button when I use the touchpad on any laptop. That having been said, the left-click button is not an issue to me. The only time I ever use it is when I am dragging a window or scrollbar for more than a short distance (I use the tap and hold feature for short drags). Reaching to the side instead of the bottom actually feels more natural for me when doing this because I tend to use my left hand for the button and the right hand for movement.
That only leaves right-clicking as a concern and I made the adjustment to the side button in about a tenth of a second. It makes absolutely no difference to me. My only complaint is that the buttons are a little on the loud side when you click. This isn’t an issue in most circumstances, but in very quiet environments is something that I have noticed.
Enough about the button placement, let me share what I thought was going to be a bigger deal for me: the surface finish of the touchpad. Unlike most laptop manufacturers, Acer decided to paint the touchpad with the same paint used for the casing. It is a high gloss paint that you tend to stick to instead of glide over. At first, it bugged me a good deal, but either the “stickiness” is wearing off or I am getting used to it since it no longer bothers me in the least.
Like most touchpads today, it features vertical scrolling functionality by dragging your finger along the right side of the pad and horizontal scrolling by dragging along the bottom. When scrolling, the mouse cursor changes to a unique icon that looks something like the top view of a mouse pointer being pulled into a tornado. The driver has way more options than the driver on my Lenovo laptop which allow adjustment for the scroll zones, sensitivity, tap and drag functionality, and lots more (I have included a screen shot of all the options here). There is an option for what they call “coasting” where you can start a long document scrolling and it will continue to scroll even after you have lifted your finger off the touchpad (and until you tap the pad again) that is surprisingly useful for web browsing. Overall, I am pleased with the options Acer provides for their touchpad.
In summary, neither of the two concerns I had about the touchpad when I purchased the unit have turned out to be issues at all. The reality is that the Acer Aspire One is a very usable device and the touchpad is no exception to that observation. And there you have it – more than I thought I would ever write about the touchpad on a mobile computer. If there is anything you would like to know that I didn’t cover here, simply leave a comment or shoot me an email and I’ll gladly fill you in!
[...] I have written a full post about the touchpad on this device and will not repeat that content here other than to say there has been a lot written about the less-than-conventional design, but I got used to it in about 10 seconds. Read more here. [...]
Hi Brian,
I am going insane here and am desperate for help! I just bought the Aspire One for my daughter (pink of course). She was on Webkinz World (which is an online game) and we are having problems scrolling up and down. When we first go to http://www.webkinz.com there is a scroll bar to the right which I can scroll up and down on. When we click to the login page, the scroll bar to the right disappears. Then every page after this one still does not have the scroll bar either!
So I tried your trick of pressing on the touchpad and scrolling up and down……it didn’t work.
By chance are there any other tricks?
Thanks,
Julie
Make sure you’re clear on the right side of the track pad. Your finger should be almost on the right button to make the scroll work.
Good evening Brian,
I bought the Aspire One for my daughter. She was on Webkinz World (which is an online game) and we are having problems scrolling up and down. When we first go to http://www.webkinz.com there is a scroll bar to the right which I can scroll up and down on. When we click to the login page, the scroll bar to the right disappears. Then every page after this one still does not have the scroll bar either! There is not a maximize button either. I did play with the resolution and my daughter can log on but it is not a full page so therefore she can not see her pet, nor the pets status.
So I tried your trick of pressing on the touchpad and scrolling up and down……it didn’t work on webkinz, but it did work on every other page. Can you please tell me any other tricks if not I am going to have to return it. I know this is weird but most kids 8 to 12 asked for a computer to get on webkinz. Thanks!
Michelle – here’s what I bet is happening. It has nothing to do with the trackpad or scrolling.
I’m almost certain the Webkinz site is a Flash application that is hard coded to a larger size than what the browser can display on a 1024×600 pixel display, which is what your Acer has. Basically, they made their site too big for a screen so small. It’s poor design, if you ask me, but they’re not likely to change it.
There are a couple of things you can try.
First, put your web browser in Full Screen mode (usually the F11 key will do this). That might give you enough room to use the oversized site.
Second, most netbooks like the Acer can use a larger “virtual” screen size, and pan around to display it all. The Acer’s native screen size is 1024×600. Try setting it to 1024×768. You’ll have to pan/scroll around, but it might work.
If none of that works, remember that it’s an issue with the small screen, and not the trackpad. The same problem will exist on any computer with the same small 1024×600 screen (that is, another brand of netbook won’t fix it). Hope that helps!
The other thing you might try is using the A1CTL utility to tweak the display to run 1024×768. You can find it at http://nodadev.wordpress.com/
Hi ive got a new laptop an ACER ASPIRE 5535.
And ive having lots of problems with the touchpad.
Then i move it around it stops and i get this cross shape drag cursor and then its hard to move, then zooms the page in and out, and sometimes locks. how do i stop it doing it?
There is something wrong with your unit and I suggest you put in a call to Acer. Does the keyboard work correctly? If pages are zooming in and out, it almost sounds like you’ve got a Ctrl key stuck down or something.
Clint:
I found the same thing, but it is actually a feature.
If you keep your left finger on the touchpad and try to scroll across with your right, you get the ability to zoom and unzoom the screen.
I don’t use it often, but I think your “problem” is that you probably have two fingers on the touch pad at the same time.
I find it works best to put the tip of your left finger in on the bottom left of the touchpad. Then drag your right finger from left to right or right to left on the touchpad. It takes some practice, but the touchpad is designed to do what you are describing.
I just use cntrl + (actually cntrl shift =) to zoom in and cntrl – to zoom out. cntrl 0 (the number) will return the screen to normal size.
Hope this helps!! Enjoy your new toy. I love my little Acer One!!
Hello, I just bought the acer today, and when I first when onto the internet I accidentally made my type smaller by pressing something on the left side of the touch pad, and I was wondering if you could help me on figuring out to make it slightly bigger. Thanks!
Sarah, if you made the text smaller, it might be you accidentally used the pinch gesture on the touchpad. If you use two fingers on the touchpad and move them apart, the text will enlarge. If you bring them together, the text will diminish (in many applications). I hope that helps. If you have Windows on your Aspire One, I recommend you look at the settings under Control Panel/Mouse/Device Settings/Settings. This has a lot of information about the different functions of the touchpad.
We bought 3 acer aspire one’s last Christmas and love them. One of them however, does not have the tapping function on the mouse pad and I need assistance in how to get it to work.
Beth, it’s a bit involved. Here is how it works on my system:
Open the Control Panel
Open Mouse Properties
Click on the “Device Settings” tab
Click the “Settings” button
Click on “Tapping” in the left hand navigation tree
Click on the “Enable Tapping” check box on the right hand side
Hope that your setup is the same (should be if you’re using the latest drivers under Windows XP).
hii..my touchpad has just turned off and i cant find anywhere to get it back on. its properly really east im just not very good with computer to you have any ideas?
thanks
hi i have just found it thanks anyway
I bought an aspire one yesterday. My touchpad worked for about an hour. Decided to use a plug in mouse and after a little while I noticed my tapping feature stopped working. I have done everything. I have enabled it to come back on… I have hit the Fn and F7 key together in order to enable it as well…. I have even taken out my plug in mouse, turned off the computer,restarted…and still nothing. Mind you my touch pad is working …just not the left button or the tapping feature!?
Any thoughts???? anything I can try????? Thanks!!!
-Rhonda
Rhonda, you should be able to re-enable tap through the mouse properties in the control panel. Another option would be Acer support if you just bought it!
I am going crazy with the zoom funtion on the touchpad on my Acer laptop is there any way to override this function without disabling it completely?
Many thanks
Hey, I by accident clicked on disable clicking using my touch pad, any ideas on how i can enable it, as it’s how I do most of my clicking. Thanks.
Beth, can you click Fn+F7. That disables and enables your touch pad. Just look at the little blue symbol.Although, I’m not sure if you have them because I am in Canada, and in Canada they only sell them with a multi-linguial keyboard. So, I’m not sure, but that’s my best guess.
I hope I helped!!
**A lot of the answers to these questions are:
Start>Control Panel>Printers and Other Hardware>mouse>device settings
This is the added control for the synaptics hardware (mouse).
Hi !
I have been watching movies/videos (.flv files) from the USB memory with my Acer Aspire One (Linpus -> Fedora). Somehow I lost the volume when fiddling the touchpanel. When trying to get the volume back to normal, the speed of the video doubled. As I´m a complete blockhead with Linpus, can you give me a hint how to solve these problems?
rnoynet, I do not use Linpus on my system. Maybe someone else here may have some help.
Simply wanting to say thank you to Brian and those who are contributing suggestions about the use of the Acer One here. I have never tried to learn how to use a laptop touchpad before except for very rudimentary things like scrolling. I’ve decided to see if I can get used to it and these suggestions have been very helpful. I discovered how to lock text for dragging by enabling this feature under “settings” as suggested. After I rebooted, it worked! Whoo hoo! Simple joy at learning simple tasks when you’re somewhat a computer illiterate. Thanks, again, for your contributions.
hi brian. i just bought an acer timeline, and i guess they have a similar touchpad. i can’t seem to make the multi-gesture function to work. it’s supposed to support scrolling, zoom, etc. any ideas?
Hello Sir,
Many thanks for your review. I have been having problems with my touchpad and wonder if you have any illumination as to why…
I have the ZG5 model since January 2009. I switched out the RAM at that time to the 1.5 total. We have kept bios updated since and the touchpad has worked well. About a month ago I opened up the unit again to swap out the wireless card to the 4695AGN, which was a success, but afterwards the touchpad stopped working. I researched the issue and tried every solution to no avail, and began using a usb mouse. About a week ago I found the latest synaptics driver and installed it. The touchpad was still not recognized. Now a week later, suddenly the icon is there, the touchpad is recognized and enabled.
Do you have any idea why the touchpad is suddenly back? I had concluded after opening up the AOA 3 or 4 times with no luck that it must have been a hardware problem, to replace it was the only solution. I ordered a new faceplate on ebay at $55 and it should arrive any day now.
Any experience or advice would be much appreciated!
Ed Sanders
hi i just bought a new acer aspitr 5535 today andi cant seem to get the special features of my touchpad working like zoom and scrolling, i go into mouse properties in controle panel then device settings but theres nothing in there that i can clik on to enter its settings to see if i can change them like previeous posts
plz help
I just wanted to say that this post and the comments were very helpful. I didn’t even need to ask my question and I learned about features I didn’t even know my touchpad had! Great stuff!
All of a sudden, I can’t use my keys, but the touchpad is working. Any ideas? My daughter touched something…
Hello barb,
Sounds like she hit control/F7 which quick enables/disables it.
Hope it helps. Cheers, Ed
To Bryan,
Look for the latest Synaptics driver, the one I have is 12.2.11.0 I had a bit of trouble to find, so I left you a copy at http://cosfun.com/media/downloads/ Once installed you will find under the device settings tab another button for settings, this will open a whole new page of settings that will greatly improve performance as stated above. Hope this helps. Cheers, Ed
Barb,
Sorry, I meant Fn key, not control.
My touchpad on the Aspire One died after installing the AT&T wireless USB device. I was getting a yellow exclamation over the mouse in device manager and it said the device could not be started.
Check this:
http://www.wireless.att.com/answer-center/main.jsp?t=solutionTab&ft=searchTab&ps=solutionPanels&locale=en_US&_dyncharset=UTF-8&solutionId=KB97497
I reinstalled my mouse driver and it works fine.
Good luck all!
I am setting up an Aspire One for my parents, and the “zoom” function is really irritating to try and use. Is there a way to take the “zoom” movement (using 2 fingers on the trackpad), and use that same movement to scroll up and down instead?
Or at least eliminate it?? That would be fine with me as having to resize the browser screen would be a challenge for my parents to get used to! I’ve only used this for a short time and I’m already aggravated with this “feature”. I think the scroll function would be more useful.
That’s my 2 cents
Other than this issue It seems like a pretty nice little box!
Thanks.
for Buddy, et al.,
Take a look at the virtual scrolling section, scrolling regions, I believe this is what you wish to do. Otherwise, just about every feature of the touchpad can be enabled/disabled in the settings (Mouse Properties/Device Settings/Settings tab).
[img src="http://cosfun.com/media/pics/shots/synapticsvirtualscrollingshot.png"]
[img src="http://cosfun.com/media/pics/shots/synapticsvirtualscrollingregionsshot.png"]
Hope it helps. Try the practice tab. Cheers, Ed
Ahh! You are a lifesaver. I had given up using the trackpad on my AA1 and was only using a bluetooth mouse, but with this insight I think I will persevere! I have found though that the touchable trackpad is NOT the width of the physical trackpad on the keyboard – about 3mm on the outer edges don’t pick up anything.
A friend has an aspire one and finds the touchpad too sensitive for him. I’ve been to the mouse control settings and all I am seeing is options for a mouse on PS/2, no touchpad controls at all. However, there is currently no mouse attached.
Can you please give me some idea as to where I need to go to find the right area to reduce the sensitivity of the touchpad?
Jemma, those edge regions are for scrolling up/down and left/right…
Hope it helps. Cheers, Ed
WOW! Thanks so much for your site and above posts…Have spent the last four hours trying to unlock my touchpad after toddlers played around with keyboard and locked it somehow so that touchpad would not work! and finally after many google attempts found this link and the FN + F7 function listed above…So relieved to have solved this!! Thank you
how do i get into control panel on my aspire one? thank you anita
Thanks so much for this especially to Lee. The zoom function was driving me crazy too and I’ve been searching everywhere for an answer. Apart from that I love the Acer too!
Hi
I have an aspire 9302wsmi
The scrolling on the pad suddenly disappear withe no reason, than it comes back, again, with no reason. any ideas on how to solve this?
thanks in advance.
thanks about the fn F7 to re-enable touchpad. It was not working in windows or ubuntu. I checked the cables and everything! who knew it was so simple. Thanks!!! I must have accidently turned it off when I was doing a fn F8 to turn the sound off. Thanks!!!
I am looking for a replacement touchpad that has the buttons on the bottom instead of the buttons on the side.
Anyone done that?
i have an Acer 10.1″ AOD2501185. The touchpad mouse works for about a minute, then starts jumping all over the screen and then will only move horizontally (when not jumping). Help!
Funny… I’ve been working on a friend’s laptop after she got it nice and infected, and the touchpad has been driving me nuts! It stops and gets this circle with ripples in it, things on the screen fly up and down, and I was trying to fix it.
I had no idea that these touchpads had evolved to the point of having built-in scroll and zoom functions… I think I just found the “fix” — learn how to use the blasted thing, instead of trying to fix it.
If you hadn’t guessed, I normally work on desktops….
Thanks boy
the scroll function on my acer one was not working at all and i didnt had the cd or boxes so i was not aware about the name or were to get the drivers.
I got them and scrolling is AWESOME
BTW Michelle was a link-planter, she was telling you about it so you can access to that funky website (which i didnt because thats what she/he is wanting you to do)
how do I activate the touchpad on a acer aspire 5315?