# How do laptop touchpads work?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-laptop-touchpads-work/115812>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 25, 2002, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-laptop-touchpads-work/115812 "2002-06-25T02:54:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-laptop-touchpads-work/115812/1 "2002-06-25T02:54:32Z")

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[How the TouchPad Works](http://www.synaptics.com/technology/cps.cfm)

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**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-laptop-touchpads-work/115812/2 "2002-06-25T03:19:23Z")

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nice link.

It’s a pretty slick piece of technology, isn’t it?

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**Author:** ![GopherGod72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-laptop-touchpads-work/115812/3 "2002-06-25T04:24:06Z")

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What happened to my OP? Oh well…

Someone had mentioned to me something about the electro conductive way but I’ve also heard that some rely on tracking heat from ones finger. I don’t think I can beleive that . Has anyone heard that before.

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-laptop-touchpads-work/115812/4 "2002-06-25T06:29:10Z")

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Who was the first computer maker to use a touchpad in a PC, anyway?

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-laptop-touchpads-work/115812/5 "2002-06-25T14:06:58Z")

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[howstuffworks.com](http://howstuffworks.com) is a great site too. aka [howthingswork.com](http://howthingswork.com)

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**Author:** ![GopherGod72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-laptop-touchpads-work/115812/6 "2002-06-26T06:25:59Z")

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I tried that site before I posted and they had nothing, but thanks handy.