# Do you tap or click on your laptop? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 23, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519 "2010-03-23T19:50:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/1 "2010-03-23T19:50:27Z")
I bought my first laptop a few months back and the biggest surprise has been that you could tap to select items. I have used laptops casually for years and had never realized this was possible. Now, I almost always tap instead of clicking; for one thing it’s a lot easier to use with one hand. Does anyone know when tapping was introduced on laptops? And what do you prefer? ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/2 "2010-03-23T20:14:54Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > I bought my first laptop a few months back and the biggest surprise has been that you could tap to select items. I have used laptops casually for years and had never realized this was possible. Now, I almost always tap instead of clicking; for one thing it’s a lot easier to use with one hand. > > Does anyone know when tapping was introduced on laptops? And what do you prefer? My Dell from 2002 had tap to click. Apple has been adding more and more “gestures” to their track pads using multitouch, which is the same technology as used in the iphone/ipod touch/MAXiPad devices and their newest mouse. So not only can you tap, but you can zoom in and out, twist things, double click, scroll, go back and forth on things be swiping and… well I think that’s it. A friend of mine sold Apple at least some of the intellectual property they use for it, although I don`t know how much of it really. He owned a company that designed multitouch input devices and Apple bought it. That’s the extent of my knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/3 "2010-03-23T20:20:55Z")
My Acer laptop has a bunch of multitouch gestures as well which I mainly use for zooming in and out. Overall I am impressed with the quality of the trackpad; occasionally I even prefer it to a mouse. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/4 "2010-03-23T20:22:30Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > I bought my first laptop a few months back and the biggest surprise has been that you could tap to select items. I tap as well. Did you also know you can scroll by rubbing up and down on the far right of the trackpad? ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/5 "2010-03-23T20:32:39Z")
Yes, once I found out about the tapping I checked out all the different settings in the control panel. There are a whole bunch of gestures though for the most part I just use tapping and pinch-zooming. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/6 "2010-03-23T20:42:32Z")
I usually turn off the “tap = mouse-click” on laptops; otherwise, I’m always mouse-clicking on random bits of the screen whenever I move the pointer. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/7 "2010-03-23T21:15:03Z")
I prefer my bluetooth mouse, but if I don’t have it I like to tap. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/8 "2010-03-23T21:46:48Z")
I have a Macbook Pro, and use only that. I have disabled both “tap to click” and “pinch to zoom” because they seem to work better when I’m not trying than when I am. The other gestures are cool, but tap and pinch are too sensitive. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/9 "2010-03-24T00:54:00Z")
I haaaate tapping. My computer keeps turning it back on after I turn it off. I end up accidentally clicking on things just by touching the mouse pad thing just the wrong way all the time. So I turn it off and almost never use it intentionally. I do use the scrolling thing on the side, though. That is very useful. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/10 "2010-03-24T00:56:23Z")
Neither. I use a mouse. I tried to get used to using the trackpad, but it still annoys me, so I’m on mouse #2 at this point. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/11 "2010-03-24T01:51:17Z")
Tap. Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap. Never use the button; I’d get rid of it in a second. This is on both PC and Macbooks (though for scrolling, if I don’t have an actual mouse plugged in, I prefer using the keyboard [fn+arrows or command+arrows]). ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/12 "2010-03-24T01:51:56Z")
I just learned I can use my touchpad to tap and to scroll. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/13 "2010-03-24T01:54:25Z")
I’m with **hogarth** and **SurrenderDorothy**. Really, I think the pads in general are a laptop’s greatest evil. I miss my old IBM ThinkPad, with what my ex-wife used to refer to affectionately as the “clit mouse.” That’s how you navigate with a laptop, dammit! But these days, I have a trackball specifically for my laptop. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/14 "2010-03-24T01:55:44Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > I just learned I can use my touchpad to tap and to scroll. :eek: This bugs the crap out of me when I use someone’s PC laptop. I’m used to dragging two fingers on my PowerBook’s touchpad. On a PC laptop (at least the ones I’ve used) I drag and drag and nothing happens. For the OP: I tap or click depending on what feels right at the time. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/15 "2010-03-24T02:04:43Z")
I tap. As for scrolling, my PC laptop allows you to scroll if you drag on the right-hand side of the little pad. This prevents me from accidentally scrolling when I’m trying to click. I will admit I do sometimes click, typically when I’m not actually typing but just flipping through pages in a document or something. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/16 "2010-03-24T02:12:34Z")
I’ve tried to use the tap but I can’t get it to work consistantly. So I gave up on it ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/17 "2010-03-24T03:23:57Z")
my fingers get twitchy sometimes so i HAAAAAATE the tap feature. i never leave my the house with my laptop unless my usb mouse is in my bag. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/18 "2010-03-24T03:38:33Z")
I hate touchpads. I wish there was a way to completely turn them off. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/19 "2010-03-24T05:35:10Z")
I do both. And use a mouse. Whatever’s convenient. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/20 "2010-03-24T07:27:49Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > I hate touchpads. I wish there was a way to completely turn them off. There is, at least on my computer. A button near the power button can enable or disable the touchpad. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519.md?page=2)