PC laptop computer trackpads are actually good now. The common laptop computer trackpad works nicely, and lots of even really feel downright nice. But there’s one massive improve that may take your laptop computer trackpad expertise to the following degree — a haptic trackpad.
Haptic trackpads are nonetheless robust to search out on fashionable PC laptops, however they’re getting there — as we see in Microsoft’s latest Surface Laptops. All else being equal, haptic trackpads supply a a lot nicer controlling-a-mouse-with-your-finger expertise than typical trackpads, elevating any laptop computer to the following tier of premium really feel.
If you’ve ever used a haptic trackpad, you understand precisely what I’m speaking about. But in case you haven’t had the pleasure of utilizing one but, right here’s why they’re superior and why you’ll need your subsequent laptop computer to have one.
What is a haptic trackpad?
Let’s begin by contemplating the standard mechanical trackpad. When you press your finger down and click on, the trackpad bodily presses down and prompts a bodily swap. It’s easy and intuitive. Most laptops nonetheless embody such a typical trackpad.
On the opposite hand, a haptic trackpad doesn’t bodily transfer whenever you click on down on it. Instead, it has a number of elements — a contact sensor, a power sensor, and a haptic actuator — that detect a click on intent after which reply with suggestions to let you understand a click on was registered.
Mark Hachman / IDG
So, whenever you glide your finger over the touchpad, it senses the place you’re touching and strikes the cursor accordingly (similar to on a mechanical touchpad), however whenever you press right down to carry out a click on, the trackpad itself doesn’t transfer; as an alternative, it vibrates. It’s loads just like the haptic suggestions you expertise on fashionable Android telephones and iPhones. It’s a vibration. But it doesn’t really feel like a vibration. It feels like a click on.
How does this present an improved trackpad expertise? The variations are delicate but important. Let’s dive into why it’s higher.
Why is a haptic trackpad higher?
If you’ve ever used haptic trackpad like those in Microsoft’s newest Surface Laptops, you understand that they only really feel higher to make use of. It’s clear as quickly as you press your finger down for the primary time.
Now, to be truthful, “better” is all the time subjective. You may very well choose the traditional trackpad expertise with its bodily actuations. But for a lot of, listed here are among the tangible benefits that make haptic trackpads superior in really feel and efficiency:
- You can click on wherever on the floor of a haptic trackpad, whereas on a mechanical trackpad you’re normally solely in a position to click on on the underside half, not the highest half.
- The click on power is constant throughout all the floor of a haptic trackpad, whereas on a mechanical trackpad you will have to make use of completely different quantities of power to carry out a click on on completely different areas.
- Haptic trackpads are extra sturdy as a result of they don’t have bodily switches that may put on out. They’re additionally thinner and take up much less room within the laptop computer, making them good for thin-and-light laptops.
- You can customise how a haptic trackpad works. For instance, you’ll be able to select how a lot power is required to register a click on, and you may change the suggestions’s vibration sample. (On Windows 11, these choices can be found underneath Settings > Bluetooth & units > Touchpad in case your PC has a haptic trackpad.)
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Because haptic trackpads can measure the quantity of stress you’re making use of together with your finger, they’ll reply in a different way to completely different stress ranges and carry out completely different actions. They may also present various kinds of haptic suggestions in several purposes relying on what you’re doing. There’s plenty of potential customizability that may be unlocked by the assorted purposes that assist it.
But, for me, the largest benefit of a haptic trackpad is that it simply feels so a lot better to make use of. You can click on wherever on the floor with the identical stress degree and get crisp, responsive suggestions. It’s simply qualitatively completely different than clicking down on a mechanical trackpad.
Which laptops have haptic trackpads?
PC producers are a little bit late to the haptic trackpad sport. I hate to do it, however I’ve to level out that Apple popularized this expertise on MacBooks a very long time in the past — known as Force Touch and first launched again in 2015 on each MacBooks and MacBook Pros.
The PC trade remains to be enjoying catch-up, however they are catching up. We’re seeing an ever-increasing variety of Windows laptops with haptic trackpads, and people trackpads are made by an organization named Sensel.
Mark Knapp / Foundry
At the beginning of 2025, listed here are some noteworthy Windows laptops with haptic trackpads out there in the marketplace:
- Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 7 fashions supply haptic trackpads. That’s one of many massive benefits they’ve when in comparison with different Copilot+ PC laptops in the identical value vary. The Surface Laptop’s trackpad feels glorious, and I choose it to the mechanical trackpads on costlier laptops I’ve reviewed.
- Dell’s XPS 13 has a haptic trackpad, as do XPS 14 and XPS 16 fashions. Mark Knapp discovered the haptic trackpad on the XPS 13 to be “satisfying” in his assessment right here at PCWorld.
- Lenovo gives a number of laptops with haptic touchpads, together with the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 and ThinkPad P1 Gen 7.
Yes, this can be a very brief checklist. Microsoft Surface Laptops, a number of Dell machines, and some Lenovo machines. Is that every one? Really? Unfortunately, sure. It’s slim pickings on the market for PC customers in the intervening time, and I can solely hope extra PC producers will observe go well with and that haptic trackpads will change into extra frequent. They actually are nice.
That stated, right here’s a bit of excellent information for desktop customers: At CES 2025, Hyper announced an external haptic trackpad accessory. Some individuals do prefer desktop trackpads, however I confess I’m not one in all them. Give me a conventional mouse at my desk!
And as for mechanical trackpads…
When it involves trackpads, I personally choose the haptic one on my Surface Laptop. It blows away the mechanical trackpads on all the opposite laptops I personal and assessment. But not everybody agrees. Yes, some individuals do choose the mechanical trackpad expertise with its bodily click on.
At the tip of the day, trackpad preferences are simply that — preferences. You have to determine what you like, so I encourage you to go to any native electronics retailer, head over to the laptop computer space, and play with among the trackpads there. There’s probability they’ll have not less than a Surface Laptop on show. Again, determine what feels finest to you. (If you aren’t certain in regards to the trackpad or anything earlier than shopping for a laptop computer, you’ll be able to all the time take advantage of laptop return policies.)
I’ve spent plenty of time speaking about trackpads right here, however for the file, I choose a good physical mouse over any trackpad, even a haptic one. But once I’m engaged on a laptop computer and don’t have the choice of utilizing a separate mouse, a haptic trackpad is my very best alternative.