P1 Touchpad Improver Review

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Introduction

After months of usage, the wear on your notebook’s touchpad is often noticeable.  Instead of the original grainy surface, you are left with a shiny circle that is only good for occasionally checking to see if you have anything stuck between your teeth.  The slick surface has no traction, making it difficult to properly track your pointer movement.  Before, it seemed like the only solution was to send it in to replace the touchpad, but Portable One is now offering a cheaper, simpler solution with the P1 touchpad improver.

Size and Features

When I received the P1 touchpad improver, it came sealed in a small anti-static bag. 

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Smaller than a credit card, the touchpad improver has the following dimensions:  2.32” (W) x 1.625 (H).  It is also about half the thickness of a credit card.

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At this size, it will most likely cover the majority of a touchpad, but it will leave a little space open.  Here’s an image of the improver on my Fujitsu N3530.

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Here is the touchpad of my fiancée’s old Dell Latitude with a good amount of wear.  Because of Latitude touchpad’s odd shape, the touchpad improver doesn’t fit well.  In fact, the upper corners of the improvers do not even fit on the touchpad. 

Without P1 touchpad improver on Dell Latitude (view large image)

With P1 touchpad improver on Dell Latitude (view large image)

 

The actual surface is grainy, a good bit more so than my regular touchpad on my N3530, giving it a nicer texture.

P1 touchpad improver on Fujitsu N3530 (view large image)

The backside of the improver has a 3M adhesive that sticks to your touchpad.

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I was very impressed at how well the improver would stick after repeatedly removing and reattaching it.  Also, it leaves no sticky residue. 

Touchpad Usability

So the big question is, does the P1 touchpad improver actually improve touchpad usage?  The answer: it depends. 

When I use my touchpad, I use a very light touch.  I also tap the touchpad for a click action instead of clicking mouse buttons below the touchpad.  Understandably, when you place another thin layer of material between your finger and the touchpad, it will decrease sensitivity.  Unfortunately, for people who use as soft a touch as I do (a very small portion of the notebook using population, I am sure), this may pose a problem.  I found that it didn’t track as quickly as I am used to.

Also, I had much difficulty registering my one-tap click.  Regardless of how hard I tapped at times, the tap would not register.  I quickly found out that if I just use the pad of my finger (i.e. increase the surface area that comes in contact with the touchpad) instead of the tip of my finger, this issue was resolved.  Thus, people with hands that are bigger than a 10-year-old’s shouldn’t have a problem with tapping.  Regardless of which part of my finger I used, I found that registering a double tap was not a problem.

For people with a “regular” touch, the P1 touchpad improvers can be beneficial, especially when these are used to cover up a worn touchpad.  My fiancée immediately noticed a difference in tracking after placing the P1 touchpad improvers on his Latitude.  His fingers no longer stuck to the slick part of the touchpad, making tracking much smoother.

Conclusion

Basically, if you have worn down your touchpad, you will notice improvement in tracking with the touchpad improvers.  On the other hand, this improvement can be greatly reduced if you use a light touch on the touchpad.  The decreased sensitivity due to the added layer will make things more difficult for a small subset of users.  For regular users, with normal or above-average size fingers and weightier touch, the P1 touchpad improver should cause no problems and can even be used on unworn touchpads to prevent wear.

Pros:

• Cheap (3-pack for $9.99 and free shipping)
• Easily removable/reattachable and doesn’t leave any sticky substance behind
• Increases traction on touchpad
• Prevents touchpad wear

Cons:

• Doesn’t fit perfectly on touchpad and may not fit well on touchpads that aren’t perfectly rectangular (as in older notebooks)
• Decreases sensitivity

Purchase and Availability

The P1 touchpad improver is available online from Portable One for $9.99 with free shipping within the U.S.

 

Cool. This might be able to solve the problem with A8 series Asus notebooks which the touchpad comes "slick" stock.

 

Awesome product.

I may have to invest in some of these myself.

 

Hey, for $9.99 with free shipping it's definitely worth a try with this thing if you've got a poor touchpad. If it doesn't work for your touchpad, looks like it'd be okay for anti-slide pads on the bottom of something (?). I wonder how easy it would to be to cut to size with a knife? It looks really awkward on that Latitude touchpad but okay on the N3530.

 

you can just use a pair of scissors, if you want to cut it. it cuts pretty easily.

 

I don't suppose they will ship you like a square foot of the material so you can make a template and cut the shape perfect eh? I don't need one of these, but I could see its use..

 

unfortunately i can't use this , Vaio FE has a pearl-white touchpad, and a black pattern on it looks really odd

 

That's a neat item - and a good review.

I think that for most people, by the time the touchpad needs replacing, most everything else would, too. Time for a new notebook?

 

Cool product.

Did you test if upping the touchpad's sensitivity settings had any impact on the decrease in sensitivity due to the added layer? I know I don't keep mine on it's highest level of sensitivity for normal use.

 

my touchpad software on my n3530 doesn't have a setting for sensitivity. the closest thing to it is mouse speed. i have mine set at the highest level....just comes to show you how light my touch is.

to gautam3:
wear seems to be different for different people and different notebooks. my notebook was refurbished....when i got it (no more than 4-5 months old), it already was showing a slightly shiny spot. and my fiancee doesn't plan on upgrading his 4-5 year old dell any time soon, unless i give him mine.

 

Interesting solution for those people who have this problem.

I must say, however, that this sort of problem is easily avoided. I've owned and heavily used three different laptops, or different brands, of different build quality, all with unique touchpads. I've never had a problem.

The reason is that this occurs is mainly due to the transfer of oils from your fingers to the touchpad. Eating while using your laptop will result in the formation of these "slick spots" very quickly. Also, if you have greasy, oily skin, that can also be a problem.

All you must do is simply wash your hands or make sure they are relatively clean while using your laptop. If you follow this rule, you should never have to use this product until years after your laptop has become outdated and useless.

All this aside, this looks like a great product, since this is a very common problem. I know plenty of people who have laptops with poor touchpads, most commonly among those people who share a laptop as a family with multiple children(who eat something every time they use it). I don't know why people think laptops are food go together.

 

Invariably, that spot will come. Touchpads get old. I'm a very clean person, and you can't avoid it even if you clean the touchpad area often. I don't know about you, but I spend most of my weekdays either in a car, on my bike, or in front of a notebook, so there is no point in saying that people shouldn't eat while doing work. Or in a car, or on my bike. I know you didn't mention those last two things, but I know people who would.

Wow...a four year old notebook! Does it struggle to run XP? I bet Debian/Ubuntu would run fine, though. Anyway, thanks for introducing us all to this accessory.

 

actually, he still runs windows 2000. but surprisingly my old notebook had similar specs to his, and mine ran xp just fine.

 

Great review. I think it would be helpful for those who don't like the slick touchpads that come with some notebooks. I was checking out a few systems over the last couple of weeks and noticed some have a surface that I wouldn't like to use.

Then again, I will go to some lengths to use a regular mouse anyways .

 

I bought a set of these as my touchpad is pretty warn out. But my touchpad is a little to wide for them. But tracking if great and the feel is much better even without a bit of a my touchpad covered.

 

Nice review! Interesting product.