I recently purchased a laptop from Microsoft (2015 Dell XPS 13") that uses the Microsoft Precision Touchpad. There are a few issues I'm having with this touchpad that I've never noticed with other laptops and I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing these or if there are any fixes. There is a noticeable delay when trying to make slow light movements. My finger can move several millimeters before the cursor responds. It may not sound like much, but if you're trying to make subtle movements in photoshop, or select a specific character anywhere it's very noticeable and difficult to use. The majority of the time when I lift my finger the cursor will jump several pixels, often moving away from the object I'm trying to target. If you use any browser besides IE, two finger scrolling is very choppy and has a similar delay that's experienced in the first issue. There are a few other minor annoyances, like poor palm detection and using two hands (one to move the cursor and one to click with) but the issues above are the biggest annoyances, ordered by most annoying to least. If anyone has any ways to fix these issues or install different drivers, I'd love to hear about them. Thanks!

The precision touchpad and the microsoft driver is the problem. You can track the problem over notebooks which use the precision touchpad and Win 8 or 10. Microsoft introduced something called Pointer Events (opposed to Mouse Events or Touch Events) which it uses in the Win 8 and 10 Apps, Internet Explorer and Edge. The Precision Touchpad driver scrolls incredibly well and smooth with these programs. Other software, like Google Chrome for instance do not support Pointer Events jet, so it "listens" for Mouse or Touch Events coming from the trackpad and this is where the Microsoft driver fails. While Synaptics programmed a driver which also allows good scrolling via the old methods, Microsoft does not care. One might also think Microsoft does this intentionally to either promote their browsers for smoother scrolling or to force other software makers to use Pointer Events...

This problem is not in the hardware: when you use Ubuntu or Windows 7 on same machine, touchpad works just fine. That means the hardware is OK. This is not driver problem: touchpad scrolls flawlessly in Metro mode (Start screen). That means the data fed to OS by the driver is correct. So the only conclusion is that the OS is at fault. At the PTP thread on reddit, TS said that MS has introduced new API: Direct Manipulation (DManip). So when you do a two-finger scroll they inspect active window and try to discover DManip consumer there, and if this check fails they fallback to standard behavior and inject legacy mouse wheel(or vertical scroll) event which is recognized by any software nowadays. So this is most probable place containing problems. And since 99.99% of the desktop software doesn't support DManip, we're having horrible scrolling experience everywhere (except Metro).

Dell builds using Microsoft's platform. Even if the platform they code on has an issue, Dell built on top of it, it has a problem, and then they sold it to you. You need to contact the person you gave your money to (Dell) for resolution. I gave Microsoft my money at the Microsoft Store to purchase this hardware. I've read trough enough user feedback elsewhere to be convinced that this is most likely an issue with the PTP spec on all Laptops using a PTP and not just the hardware Dell decided to use. Regardless, it's clear that this MS community is the wrong place to go to for help. In fact this has been a horrible user experience filled with nothing but bureaucratic responses or buddy buddy tag team responses. Unfortunately I'm alone on this forum so I wont be posting anymore. You can stop marking each others responses as answers because none of them have helped solve the original question. All I was hoping for is for some constructive conversation within the Microsoft community, not instant finger pointing.

Dell builds using Microsoft's platform. Even if the platform they code on has an issue, Dell built on top of it, it has a problem, and then they sold it to you. You need to contact the person you gave your money to (Dell) for resolution.

Hi, As OEM Dell is responsible for the proper operation of both the hardware and Windows. So regardless of the cause it is Dell's to resolve. And that is true even if they are not the originator of any device, software, or Windows. And you are assuming that such an issue is the controlling software when it may be the hardware. Contact Microsoft direct for more : Call Microsoft Customer Service direct - 1-800-642-7676 - hours 5 AM til 9 PM PST time (USA) - Saturday and Sunday, 6:00 AM – 3:00 PM PST time (USA). In Canada, call (877)568-2495. Contact Microsoft Customer Service http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295539 Microsoft Support - Contact Us http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support#tab0 Microsoft - Phone Numbers for Microsoft Technical Support http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319726/en-us Microsoft - Contact Us by Email http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/cu\_sc\_selector\_email?ws=support%2csupport Windows 8.1 Solution Center - there are options and a "Get live help" http://support.microsoft.com/find-solutions/windows/windows-8-1/ Windows 8 Solution Center - there are options and a "Get live help" http://support.microsoft.com/gp/windows-8 Microsoft Solution Centers - Select Product http://support.microsoft.com/select/?target=hub Hope this helps. Rob Brown - Microsoft MVP <- profile - Windows Expert - Consumer : Bicycle <- Mark Twain said it right!

Microsoft Precision Touchpad, not very precise

Anonymous

I recently purchased a laptop from Microsoft (2015 Dell XPS 13") that uses the Microsoft Precision Touchpad.

There are a few issues I'm having with this touchpad that I've never noticed with other laptops and I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing these or if there are any fixes.

There is a noticeable delay when trying to make slow light movements. My finger can move several millimeters before the cursor responds. It may not sound like much, but if you're trying to make subtle movements in photoshop, or select a specific character anywhere it's very noticeable and difficult to use.
The majority of the time when I lift my finger the cursor will jump several pixels, often moving away from the object I'm trying to target.
If you use any browser besides IE, two finger scrolling is very choppy and has a similar delay that's experienced in the first issue.

There are a few other minor annoyances, like poor palm detection and using two hands (one to move the cursor and one to click with) but the issues above are the biggest annoyances, ordered by most annoying to least.

If anyone has any ways to fix these issues or install different drivers, I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks!

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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63 answers

Anonymous

2015-08-12T13:00:38+00:00

The precision touchpad and the microsoft driver is the problem. You can track the problem over notebooks which use the precision touchpad and Win 8 or 10. Microsoft introduced something called Pointer Events (opposed to Mouse Events or Touch Events) which it uses in the Win 8 and 10 Apps, Internet Explorer and Edge. The Precision Touchpad driver scrolls incredibly well and smooth with these programs. Other software, like Google Chrome for instance do not support Pointer Events jet, so it "listens" for Mouse or Touch Events coming from the trackpad and this is where the Microsoft driver fails. While Synaptics programmed a driver which also allows good scrolling via the old methods, Microsoft does not care. One might also think Microsoft does this intentionally to either promote their browsers for smoother scrolling or to force other software makers to use Pointer Events...
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Anonymous

2015-05-14T00:45:12+00:00
1. This problem is not in the hardware: when you use Ubuntu or Windows 7 on same machine, touchpad works just fine. That means the hardware is OK.
2. This is not driver problem: touchpad scrolls flawlessly in Metro mode (Start screen). That means the data fed to OS by the driver is correct.
So the only conclusion is that the OS is at fault.

At the PTP thread on reddit, TS said that MS has introduced new API: Direct Manipulation (DManip). So when you do a two-finger scroll they inspect active window and try to discover DManip consumer there, and if this check fails they fallback to standard behavior and inject legacy mouse wheel(or vertical scroll) event which is recognized by any software nowadays.

So this is most probable place containing problems. And since 99.99% of the desktop software doesn't support DManip, we're having horrible scrolling experience everywhere (except Metro).
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Anonymous

2015-05-07T19:34:15+00:00

Dell builds using Microsoft's platform. Even if the platform they code on has an issue, Dell built on top of it, it has a problem, and then they sold it to you. You need to contact the person you gave your money to (Dell) for resolution.

I gave Microsoft my money at the Microsoft Store to purchase this hardware.

I've read trough enough user feedback elsewhere to be convinced that this is most likely an issue with the PTP spec on all Laptops using a PTP and not just the hardware Dell decided to use.

Regardless, it's clear that this MS community is the wrong place to go to for help. In fact this has been a horrible user experience filled with nothing but bureaucratic responses or buddy buddy tag team responses. Unfortunately I'm alone on this forum so I wont be posting anymore. You can stop marking each others responses as answers because none of them have helped solve the original question.

All I was hoping for is for some constructive conversation within the Microsoft community, not instant finger pointing.
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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2015-05-07T16:49:42+00:00

Dell builds using Microsoft's platform. Even if the platform they code on has an issue, Dell built on top of it, it has a problem, and then they sold it to you. You need to contact the person you gave your money to (Dell) for resolution.
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Anonymous

2015-05-07T16:36:32+00:00

Hi,

As OEM Dell is responsible for the proper operation of both the hardware and Windows.

So regardless of the cause it is Dell's to resolve. And that is true even if they are not the

originator of any device, software, or Windows. And you are assuming that such an issue

is the controlling software when it may be the hardware.

Contact Microsoft direct for more :

Call Microsoft Customer Service direct - 1-800-642-7676 - hours 5 AM

til 9 PM PST time (USA) - Saturday and Sunday, 6:00 AM – 3:00 PM

PST time (USA). In Canada, call (877)568-2495.

Contact Microsoft Customer Service

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295539

Microsoft Support - Contact Us

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support#tab0

Microsoft - Phone Numbers for Microsoft Technical Support

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319726/en-us

Microsoft - Contact Us by Email

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/cu\_sc\_selector\_email?ws=support%2csupport

Windows 8.1 Solution Center - there are options and a "Get live help"

http://support.microsoft.com/find-solutions/windows/windows-8-1/

Windows 8 Solution Center - there are options and a "Get live help"

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/windows-8

Microsoft Solution Centers - Select Product

http://support.microsoft.com/select/?target=hub

Hope this helps.

Rob Brown - Microsoft MVP <- profile - Windows Expert - Consumer : Bicycle <- Mark Twain said it right!
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