Any hope for the touchpad?

Framework Laptop 13
1

Hi Everyone -

I just got my new Framework 13 with AMD. For the most part I’m really happy, though the one thing just absolutely ruining it is the touchpad. Coming from a Mac, I’m used to the touchpad experience there. I bought a Logitech MX3, but within a few hours I started having wrist pains. Now I’m looking to get a Magic Mouse and use some drivers to hopefully work that way.

My main questions:

  • Is there any development on the drivers for the touchpad that would improve responsiveness or are we stuck?
  • Would there ever be an option for a ‘premium’ touchpad that we could swap out?

I’m seriously considering returning this laptop, which is a real shame. Hopefully the Magic Trackpad saves things.

Thanks,
Mike

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a) This seemed more like a community question. Support would ask if it was broken. It technically works.
b) I had only found 1 and that person went to a Magic Trackpad previously. Must have been how I was searching. Glad to know I’m not alone.

2 Likes
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Hey Michael,

I miss the Magic Trackpad of my Retina MacBook Pro. I’m getting used to right-clicking with the bottom right edge of the pad, but clicking with two fingers anywhere it’s so much nicer. (I keep my laptops on a stand with 20-30° tilt to it which helps avoid wrist pain, check your workspace setup to avoid it causing you harm.)

I’ve got my eyes peeled for anyone offering an alternative Input Cover with multi-touch capacitive trackpad – and ideally haptic feedback like a Magic Trackpad – or modding an Input Cover to house the parts of an Apple Magic Trackpad 2.

K3n.

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I don’t exactly love the touchpad. It’s decent, but no magic trackpad (which is what I use with my desktops.) That said, I am able to right click with a two finger click anywhere. FWIW.

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This is not really related to the trackpad but how your OS is configured. What OS do you use? You can most likely configure it to right click with two fingers.

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That’s how the framework touchpad works too though, 2 fingers for right click, 3 for middle.

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As a person who suffers from RSI, if you found a MX3 painful then a trackpad will likely exacerbate problems. I’d suggest that you consider looking into trackballs or vertical mice (there are even combination vertical trackballs which I’ve found to be very comfortable).

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Sorry to hear that - it’s a painful thing. I haven’t had any issues for the past 8-9 years (or since the time I started using the Mac trackpad). Prior to that I did have pain in my wrists. It might just have to do with movement for me? I’m going to try out the external mac trackpad, but if its sticks around I’ll take up your suggestions - thanks!

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An update - I bought a magic trackpad and it appears this may be more of a Windows Driver thing vs. Apple Hardware being great. I tried it out with both the open source driver (it was on par with the existing Framework touchpad) and the ‘Magic tools’ software that you have to pay for on subscription (!) (did not work well). Neither felt like the actual mac trackpad. I think my biggest gripes are:

  • The Mac taught me that I could rest my thumb in the bottom left. This is where the left button used to be and they intelligently let you treat it as such when they took it away. I’ve gotten used to it over time and now I’m trying to unlearn this. If I take my thumb off while working the Framework touchpad is far less error prone. Easier said than done - it’s a natural place to have your thumb to click.

  • Windows seems to get stuck in it’s current task. For example, if I start scrolling it won’t respond immediately if you change direction. If it’s going north / south, you can’t all of a sudden go diagonal. It’s subtle, but I think that’s something that makes it feel more responsive. This is less important. Curious if Linux has this issue.

I don’t think Framework can address the Windows scroll thing, but I’d be interested to see if they can address the thumb placement. If you did that, I think it’d go a long way to improving the experience.

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To my knowledge the touchpad is a “precision” touchpad, which means it only reports to the OS and/or application touch positions and movements. It’s up to said OS and applications to interpret them in the manner that suits the situation.

In other words it’s up to Microsoft (if you’re using Windows) to implement OS level settings to suit your desires. You can use the Feedback Hub to suggest said features to them, and while I haven’t had much luck doing so in the past, maybe you will.

Sorry, even though Framework is easier to reach or convince sometimes, I don’t think there is much they can do on this front.

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I found the settings in my Linux Desktop Environment, thank you @Moxinilian and @Adrian_Joachim for prompting me to make this change.

K3n.