L521X touchpad problem

I am not used to this touchpad's drag-and-drop (without using bottons).
To my previous experience with Dell toutchpad, if I need to drag a window, I place the cursor on the window title, touch the pad (not clicking the button) briefly, lift the finger, then touch the pad again and drag the window without lifting the finger. It has been very convenient for me.
However for L521X, I can still can do this, but the interval between the two touches must be very short, thus the second touch can only move the cursor.
I don't find a setting in toupad configuration to adjust this.
Any idea about this?

I know I can always click and hold the button to drag, but that's inconvenient for me, as I need to use two fingers.

 

Nobody entered this problem?

 

i haven't seen it mentioned.

then again, Dell just released new touchpad drivers.

 

I installed the new touchpad driver but it is the same. I must tap very quickly twice to be able to grab the window. What is your own experience, or am I too slow?

 

I don't feel like I have I e too quick on the tap-drag, but maybe there is and adjustment - or it shares tap speed setting with the double-click setting.


Sent from my brain using neurons fueled by glucose

 

Seems not. I tried adjusting double-click setting but it remained same.

 

I think many people use this tap-drag feature?

 

compare the old version xps, not more people like this new version. better buy macbook. new xps just a copycat, why not buy original ?

 

... off the top of my head, in no particular order ...

- don't want to spend extra money ($500+, ending up with less disk space, fewer USB, no standard ethernet, 1/2 VRAM)
- want an easily repairable and upgradable machine
- don't want to run OS X

... and on a personal note, while I wouldn't exactly hold out Dell as a paragon of corporate behavior, I absolutely despise Apple's corporate behavior over the last few years. That alone is enough to keep me from giving them more of my cash. Of course, I also believe that anything related to patents that aren't at their core about physical objects should be dissolved (e.g. no software patents of any kind).

I am not an irrational anti-fan-boi though.

I honestly believe that for many people the apple products are a better way to go.

The total support effort has gone down dramatically for me, the more of my older relatives have been encouraged to get Apple computers - because the OS usually requires less user maintenance for smooth running and is less likely to enable them to screw up the machine.

Also, more and more, apple is obviously focusing themselves away from the niche nerd-centric good-stuff to consumer-centric okay-stuff. Witness their drive to 'simplify' / 'unify' OS X and iOS behaviors. This makes COMPLETE SENSE from the business point of view as iOS devices are what *made* them as successful as they are.

I'd *love* to have a retinal-quality display on *all* my lcd-type devices, but I'm *not* willing to pay the current premium for it. I'll wait for the industry to force the quality across the board and even out the cost.

I currently have two apple products that I use daily, an older iPod Nano, and a iPhone 4s. My next phone will likely not be an iPhone though, but 2 years is a hard tech-evolution time to project to. The biggest factor in my previous phone purchase was which one could I get a waterproof case for it that I could use it as-is, and have it still fit in my jeans pocket (Lifeproof for iPhone was the only option).

 

Because no self-respecting person would pay 200% for 50% the product.

Because no intelligent person would use MacOS, which was designed for slow-learners.

Because Cupertino churns out digital tinker toys for children-of-the-mind, who have no identity of their own and cannot grasp the concept of being an individual.

Thanks. I'll pass.

 

Same problem for me, on a new Sony SVS13A. Seems to be a problem with the Synaptics drivers, as the release notes for version 16.2 says they increased the delay (I think from .1 seconds to .5 seconds) to male tap and drag workable again.

However, on my Sony I can't install a newer version of the driver, since it crashes. Help!

 

Did you try adjusting the double-click speed? Traditionally the feature you are talking about utilizes the mouse pad left click feature. So if you tap your finger on the pad and not the button, it registers a left click. If you double-click with the mousepad and hold down on the second click it should allow you to drag the window. So I would think by changing the double-click speed you can change this behavior.

 

Also note, under the Windows mouse settings there are two places to change double click speed. Within the Windows options and the Dell touchpad options. I don't know which takes priority or what, but you should experiment with both to see if it helps.

 

Oh come on now...really? I use mac at work (I'm a system admin), does that I'm a "slow-learner" too? IMHO that was really low...

 

Come on guys, you're better than this, someone reported and asked us to intervene so i'm leaving a note.

This comment is almost a textbook example of a flamebait post (intentional or not doesn't matter, it's still flamebait)

You may have your reasons for not wanting a mac or OS X, but those kind of comments are unnecessary as well, sometimes it's not what you say, it's how you say it.

Keep it civil, avoid making flamebait comments, avoid replying to said flamebait and avoid insulting the intellectual capabilities of other members please.

Stay on topic and carry on.

 

If you go into touchpad settings, you can enable draglock to get the feature back. You tap it once, hold for a bit, and then you're free to move the window around.

 

Thanks for your help - this works, but I will have to get used to it, as it is not the same as the previous system (where a double-tap and hold was used). Still, I'm glad to be able to drag things with one hand again!

 

Draglock doesn't enable this feature. It modifies it. With draglock you can able to drag a window longer distances by lifting your finger off the pad for a short time to move your finger back to the other side without unsticking the window. I have my draglock disabled, but I can still do the double-pad-tap and hold thing where it moves the window. Sometimes it doesn't register. I am chalking this up to the crappy touchpad on the L521X.

In response to the original problem, I find no difference in the feature you are asking about. The time interval is the same for me as my previous Dells. This is the first Dell I've noticed a double-click speed option in two different places, so who knows what issues that causes.

 

Actually, you're right. What I did was change a registry entry called "TouchHoldToDragTimeOut", from 0 to 500. I also changed "TappingSpeed" from 250 to 750, not sure what this did (again in the registry)... However, this seems to have enabled the feature mentioned above, where you tap and hold *once* to then drag. Works for me, but I am still puzzled as to why only a few people seem to have this problem.

 

Yeah I have the same problem and don't really want to have to use tapdrag as it seems to cause more problems than it solves. I wonder if there is a way of reducing the amount of functional sensitive space on the trackpad so that the bottom 1cm or so does not detect anything...

 

Welcome to the forum Hampster Slide. Check out the master thread for this computer:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/673630-xps-15-l521x-owners-lounge.html

It's pretty long, but many have commented on various touchpad problems. Unfortunately they are inherent to the flawed design, IMO. So, basically, no real fix exists to solve all the issues.

 

Thanks for the reply e6bwhiz. I still believe that there may be a fix however I have no idea how. I read that it can be done in linux (see: [SOLVED] Can I Reduce Sensitive Area of Touchpad? - Ubuntu Forums) however I cannot find the BottomEdge or
synclient AreaBottomEdge parameters in the Windows 7 registry which would make it easy. There must be some kind of reg parameter which can be changed, I just don't know where... hmmmm

 

I FOUND A FIX

Although this is embarrassingly obvious, but going downloading the synaptics drivers from their website ( Drivers | Synaptics) instead of using the dell ones works. However I found the trick was to competely uninstall all the touchpad drivers before installing any new ones worked the best. Using the Synaptics drivers v16.3.15.1 or above actually let you choose how much of the touchpad is touch sensitive. Settings > SmartSense > Restrict pointing to zone. Just what I was looking for

Done!