Hands-on with the Synaptics ForcePad for Windows 8

Hands-on with the Synaptics ForcePad for Windows 8

Gearing up for the shift to Windows 8, Synaptics wants PC makers to switch to an entirely new kind of touchpad, called the ForcePad. We recently met with the company in New York to take this new touch interface, which eliminates moving parts and adds pressure sensitivity, for a test drive.

Synaptics invented the touchpad in 1995, and since then, touch has become an increasingly important part of our interaction with technology (and the company now makes touch screens for phones, tablets, and laptops as well).

But laptop touchpads have also been a frequent pain point for consumers, with laggy response, tiny mouse buttons, and poor multitouch gestures. At least some of the problem stems from PC makers switching between suppliers at will to save on production costs, so many laptops have had inconsistent touchpad experiences.

(Credit: CNET/Scott Stein)

Another part of the problem is the antiquated notion of clicking down on a physical button of some kind, whether it's a set of tiny left and right mouse buttons, or entire quadrants of the pad itself.

The original design for touchpads involved sacrificing finger space to fit in those left and right buttons, making finger navigation difficult. Later came the style known as the clickpad, as seen in the last several generations of MacBook laptops, and now systems fro... [Read more]