# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/21 "2010-03-24T08:24:48Z")
I’ve never found tapping useful, the settings are either too sensitive, and not sensitive enough. And it makes hovering difficult. For me, if I accidentally click one time, that’s one time too many. I keep my thumb on the buttons, and it works fine. > [@Rigamarole](#): > > There is, at least on my computer. A button near the power button can enable or disable the touchpad. It that is unavailable, you should be able to shut it off in the BIOS. And, if you have a separate mouse, you should have an option in Control Panel or System Preferences that will shut off the trackpad while it is plugged in. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/22 "2010-03-24T10:10:03Z")
I love the trackpad. I’m a tap-to-click and a swipe-to-scroll type of guy. Although I find myself using the left button to double-click. I find it’s easier than trying to tap quickly twice in a row. ---
**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, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/23 "2010-03-24T11:06:10Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > I hate touchpads. I wish there was a way to completely turn them off. What kind of laptop do you have? You can turn the touchpad on a Dell off [like this](http://www.killertechtips.com/2009/04/30/disable-touchpad-dell/), so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a way to shut it off on other laptop brands too. ---
**Author:** ![GreatStuffMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f04885/32.png) [@GreatStuffMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreatStuffMan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/24 "2010-03-24T12:43:40Z")
Clickety-click! ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/25 "2010-03-24T14:07:49Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > I just learned I can use my touchpad to tap and to scroll. :eek: I find this so weird. I mean…this technology has been around for about 10 years, and you just now noticed it? I mean…maybe you don’t use a lot of laptops, but I found out about tap to click within the first five minutes of using a laptop that had it. I am ALWAYS accidentally tapping on things and opening windows and programs I didn’t want to…how you somehow managed to avoid even one accidental ‘tap to click’ baffles me…😕 I guess you just have a much lighter touch than me… But in case you can’t tell, I always turn it off. I hate it. I don’t like trackapds in general, but I do prefer them over the nub/nipple mouse/clit mouse. Those always seem to break for me, resulting in the mouse pointer drifting to one side or the other when I’m not even touching it. I always try to being an external mouse with me if I can. And whatever happened to laptops that had little mini-trackballs in them?! Thse were the best! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/26 "2010-03-24T15:21:43Z")
Both. Mainly tapping for navigating links, double-tap to open file, double-tap and hold to grab a scrollbar or a title bar for dragging a window, but I still use clicks when I want to carefully select a group of things, or part of an image for cropping, and right-clicks when I want to drag and move, rather than accept the default of copying. ---
**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, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/27 "2010-03-24T16:04:14Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I find this so weird. I mean…this technology has been around for about 10 years, and you just now noticed it? I mean…maybe you don’t use a lot of laptops, but I found out about tap to click within the first five minutes of using a laptop that had it. I am ALWAYS accidentally tapping on things and opening windows and programs I didn’t want to…how you somehow managed to avoid even one accidental ‘tap to click’ baffles me…😕 > > I guess you just have a much lighter touch than me… I do have a light touch, that’s true. And I’ve used laptops for years and years, I just never noticed this feature. When I realized this is a possibility last night, I checked the settings on my Dell- everything was turned to Cave Man Pound sensitivity and suuuper slow scrolling and clicks. So, I imagine that’s why I’ve never noticed it before on this laptop at least. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/28 "2010-03-25T04:23:20Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > 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. Yes, but you have to avoid the faulty taps just to get far enough to turn them off! I must be too heavy-handed or clumsy. I don’t even try to use laptops without external mouse. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/29 "2010-03-25T18:07:11Z")
I turn off tapping. Too easy to misclick. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/30 "2010-03-25T21:29:14Z")
Tap, now. Thanks a million! ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519/31 "2010-03-26T12:14:20Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > Does anyone know when tapping was introduced on laptops? And what do you prefer? According to Wikipedia, the Apple Powerbook 500, introduced in 1994, was the first laptop with a touch pad. Apollo desktop computers had touchpads to the right of the keyboard (probably before the Powerbook). I’m not familiar with these, but AFAIK every laptop I’ve ever seen with a touchpad has had “tap to click”. This goes back to at least the late 1990s in my personal experience (sorry, I’m not great with remembering what dates trivial stuff like this occurred). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tap-or-click-on-your-laptop/533519.md?page=1)