C610 Synaptics user moving to D530 Alps: Ideas?

I've been doing a fair amount of looking tonight about this issue, and came here as new member to see if y'all had any input. I've had a total of 3 Latitude Cxxx models over last few yrs (all bought used) and which used Synaptics for touch pad, which I've grown accustomed to in terms of the extra features, like corner tapping, etc. Well, I didn't have any idea that Dell had switched to Alps for their Dxxx series, so I ordered a D530 and when I got it and started to set it up, I went: WHAT??? Where's all the options that I use? There is only this very limited Dell utility that has the basics but not the good stuff. So started doing some research and it seems that Lenovo may also use Alps (at least that's what I saw some traces of when I looked at one in Office Depot)...and I thought I saw some of those functions via their interface.

Thus now I'm beginning to wonder IF maybe these extended functions are there within the actual driver, but it's the interface utility that is lacking?
Since by looking in the Dell D530 "Apfiltr.inf" file, I see some entries that end up in Registry that seem promising...at least as to how they're named.

Has anyone had any experience trying a non-Dell module that is similar to DellTPad.exe (which appears to be the Utility/GUI) but leaving the actual driver code from Dell?

Because, even though I got a real good price (I'm happy anyway) on the D530 and its other spces fit my needs almost exactly better than Lenovo, this lack of touchpad functionality may lead me to consider other options!

thanks!

 

See this thread, I asked about the same thing...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2843814

 

So...did you try it and were you satisfied? It might keep me from having to switch to another laptop!

And which exact vers did you use? links?

 

I did download it but just haven't had time to try it out yet. I plan on doing it this weekend.

The model is: LifeBook® N6460 Notebook

The link to find the driver is: http://support.fujitsupc.com/CS/Portal/supportsearch.do

Put in the model number and then click on "pointing" to download the driver.

 

Ok...I've been working on this most ALL of today! I was able to get in touch with someone with a bit of insider knowledge who pointed me to the fact that (at least for Win XP users), the prior vers for the model D520 had a more complete GUI and which is much closer to the Synaptics setup...not 100% equal, but a WHOLE lot better!

So instead of trying other vendors (Toshiba/Fujitsu/etc), I tried this R113813.exe at http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R113813&SystemID=LATITUDE%20D520&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=2514&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=1&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=17&fileid=149404
It's title is: Alps GlidePoint/StickPointer, Driver, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Multi Language, Multi System, v.5.4.104.4, A10 Release Date: 1/11/2006

and so far...it seems to work just great!

 

I hate the Alps pads, they seem to not recognize many tap gestures and clicks, and just plain aren't as responsive as Synaptics pads I've used. I resort to using the pointing stick on my Precision which I like a lot, or use an external mouse.