Unlike your smartphone, the way we interact with our computers varies from person to person. While some people are more than happy to use the trackpad on one of the best laptopsOthers insist on using a mouse wherever they go.
As you may have guessed, I fall into that second camp. I don’t know where I would be without me Reliable trackball mouse and I even have a miniature version that I throw in my bag when I travel. However, I can still appreciate a nice big trackpad with a smooth glass surface like Apple’s. Magic touch pad.
From all the multi-touch gestures to its built-in Forced touch As for haptics, there’s a lot to like about what’s probably the iPhone maker’s most underrated accessory. Unfortunately for me, the Magic Trackpad doesn’t work with Windows; otherwise, you probably would have already acquired one.
I recently bought a open box gaming monitor at a huge discount and while trying it out, I had one of the best gaming laptops towards the left side of my desk, as I didn’t want it to steal the show. Even with the latest version of the Razer Blade 16 removed, you still needed to use its 6.5 x 4-inch glass trackpad to open programs and navigate menus. I did this with my left hand instead of my right and it made me think. What happens if I add a trackpad to mine? desktop configuration?
Well, after some research, I did just that, even though I already use a mouse. Here’s how it went and why you might want to consider doing it yourself after using a trackpad on one side of my mechanical keyboard and one mouse on the other for the past week.
Not exactly a magic trackpad
Since I knew I couldn’t convince Apple to add Windows support to the Magic Trackpad, I bought one that would work with my PC. After doing some research and taking some measurements of my desktop, I decided on Seenda’s improved trackpad ($57, Amazon) as I liked its sleek, all-black look and how slim it is. I went back and forth between this and the ProtoArc TrackPad ($55, Amazon) but I found the small line on the front a bit distracting.
Seenda’s improved trackpad is 5.4 inches wide and 4 inches wide. It’s a little smaller than Apple’s Magic TrackPad, but if you want something larger, the ProtoArc Trackpad measures 6.4 by 4.8 inches. There are no drivers to install with the trackpad I got as it is plug and play and works with both Windows 10 and Windows 11.
The device itself is quite thin, measuring just 0.15 inches on the front and 0.24 inches on the back. There’s a small LED indicator in the top left corner to let you know it’s working and on the back there’s a USB-C port. It’s worth noting that unlike the Magic Trackpad, this one isn’t wireless, but as I was hoping it would become a permanent fixture on my desk, I wasn’t too worried about that.
There are physical left and right click buttons on either side of the front of the updated Seenda Trackpad and it supports all the native gestures that other precision trackpads do with Windows. As such, in addition to one-finger tapping for left-clicking and two-finger tapping for right-clicking, you can also use three- and four-finger taps and gestures.
After unpacking the device, I connected it to my ThinkPad for the initial round of testing. Everything worked as it should, and although I still needed to get familiar with all the Windows multi-touch gestures, it was very easy to use. Additionally, its tempered glass surface felt smooth to the touch, and the rubber feet on the bottom of the trackpad kept it from sliding around my desk.
Now was the time to run some cables and make it part of my main desktop setup.
Two hands are better than one
Although I’ve tried many different mechanical mice and keyboards over the years, these days I prefer to use a split keyboard with a larger trackball mouse while I work. This allows me to keep my hands a little further apart and since my keyboard is flat on my desk matI don’t put any extra stress on my wrists while typing.
After recently using a laptop trackpad with my left hand, I noticed that there was a lot of empty space on the left side of my keyboard. I thought this would be the perfect place to add a trackpad to my desktop setup since that way I wouldn’t have to give up my trackball mouse.
So what’s it like to have two different pointing devices on either side of my keyboard? More useful than I thought it would be. Instead of switching between the two, I’ve been using them simultaneously but for different things. For example, when I write and edit, I still primarily use my trackball mouse, but when I do research that involves scrolling and opening pages in new tabs, I use the trackpad.
In the same way that you want to take a break from time to time when using one of the best standing desksI really like how I can switch to using my left hand when my right hand starts to cramp. I initially considered learning to use a mouse left-handed, as years of working on a computer and gaming have taken their toll on me. However, this way I can get the same benefits without the steep learning curve that comes with trying to do familiar activities with your non-dominant hand.
Gestures galore
Besides scrolling with two fingers and giving my dominant hand a break, gestures were one of the main reasons I always wanted to try Apple’s Magic Trackpad. Multi-touch gestures give your computer an extra level of customization and depending on how you configure them, they can almost make a trackpad. feel like a macropad.
On Windows, there aren’t as many multi-touch gestures as on macOS, but this makes sense since Apple first introduced them. Until Windows 10, laptop manufacturers were the ones implementing these gestures and they all did them a little differently. Now, with both Windows 10 and Windows 11, multi-touch gestures are standardized across devices.
Since I love delving into menus and customizing each device to my liking, I headed to the Touch Pad p in the Windows Settings menu. Here, you can configure exactly how you want three- and four-finger gestures to work with your trackpad. From switching between desktops to being able to play and pause YouTube videos with a tap, there’s a lot you can do right out of the box. Naturally, I wanted more, and to my surprise, there were only so many actions to choose from and I couldn’t create custom macros.
Just when I was about to give up and stick with my limited number of stock options, I discovered that when I set the Settings menu to full screen, there was an “Advanced Gesture Settings” just out of view on the right side. This was exactly what I was looking for.
This advanced gesture settings menu lets you do even more, although I had to scroll down a bit to find the “Custom Shortcut” option. When selected, this allows you to record your own macros, which is perfect if you want to use multi-touch gestures to quickly perform your favorite. keyboard shortcuts.
I won’t go into details, but here are some of my favorites and how I set them up to work with my new trackpad just like I did in the past with a small controller by 8BitDo.
Since I’m a tobacco addict and do most of my work in Chrome, I swipe left with four fingers (Ctrl + Shift + Tab) and right (Ctrl + Tab) configured in such a way that you can quickly switch from one tab to another. Likewise I have Ctrl+W (which closes a tab in Chrome) set to when I swipe down with three fingers while having Ctrl + Shift + Tab (which reopens the last closed tab) set to when I swipe down with four fingers.
Everyone’s workflow is different, as are the keyboard shortcuts they rely on to do more with fewer clicks. Still, I hope this gives you an idea of the kind of customization that is possible with multi-touch gestures and swipes in Windows. While I set this up using an external trackpad on my desktop, this would also work with the actual trackpad on one of the best Windows laptops.
Part mouse, part macropad
In my experience, there is nothing better than a multipurpose device that changes the way you work or use your computer. Sure, there are plenty of single-use products you can get to spruce up your desk or workspace setup, but if a device does double duty, all the better.
While I thought I was simply adding a second mouse for my left hand to use when my right hand got tired, I ended up with something more like a programmable macropad. After discovering the advanced gesture settings in Windows, I was able to do almost everything I wanted in terms of gestures with my new trackpad. I’ll probably continue to look for ways to modify its functionality even further, but for now I’m pretty happy with the outcome of this little experiment of mine.
It just goes to show that even though I prefer a desktop computer to a laptop, there are still things I can learn from a computer that isn’t connected to my desktop. If you’ve been experiencing pain or fatigue in your dominant hand and want to get some rest while working, you may want to consider purchasing an external trackpad as well. Plus, at just over $50, this is an affordable upgrade that could make a big difference in your own workflow.
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