E6500 Touchpad - what brand?

Who makes the touchpad for the E6500?
Alps, Synaptics, or someone else?
The Driver/Downloads page doesn't say.

 

It's an Alps touchpad.

 

It's an Alps. For future reference, you can check your touchpad manufacture in your device manager. Go into your "Mouse and other pointing devices" -> right click on "Dell Touchpad" and select properties. Select the driver tab and you should see who the touchpad driver manufacture is.

 

Even quicker: Double-click on the touchpad icon in the system tray then click on the "Version" button near the bottom right of touchpad control screen.

John

 

Thanks. I don't own a Latitude and the reason for my question. I have had bad luck with Alps touchpads on Dell computers. I am searching for a new 15.4" laptop without an Alps touchpad. I can't seem to find a Dell without a Alps touchpad. It looks like Lenova is my best bet right now.

 

My mom just bought an E6400 with the Alps pad...it's not too bad. I prefer the pointing stick anyway, although I admit that it's not nearly as good as the Lenovo ThinkPad pointing sticks.

I believe the Studio XPS series, and possibly the new Studio 1555 have Synaptics touchpads, which are generally reputed to be much better than Alps. The Studio XPS models come in 13.3 or 16", and the Studio 1555 is 15.6".

 

It really sucks that the manufacturers are forcing us to a shorter/less-vertical display.
I bought a Dell Inspiron 5150 with a 15" 16:12 aspect ratio that is 12" wide and 9" tall about 6 years ago, with a perfectly working Synaptics touchpad.

As I am now shopping around to replace the 5150 the tallest screens are 15.4" 16:10 screens which are 13.06" wide and 8.16" tall. The 15.6" 16:9's are 7.65" tall. The only way to get a 9" tall screen is to buy a 17" wide screen which are way too wide for my use.

I really like buying Dells. I have owned 3 laptops and my wife owns one too.
That is all we buy. But Dell's crappy Alps touchpads and limited 15.4" offerings are forcing me to shop elsewhere.

 

It really is a shame. You can still get the XPS M1530, a true 16:10 15.4" notebook, now in the Small Business section of the website. It's a good machine, although I advise avoiding the 8600M GT graphics option, considering its history of heat damage issues. I can't say for certain, but I think it has a Synaptics touchpad as well.

 

Unfortunately the XPS 1530 has an Alps touchpad that consistently freezes/stalls. I just returned 2 new units to Dell for a refund because the crappy Alps touchpad on both of them kept freezing.