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!

Hi, This thread is about a touchpad on a Dell computer, not a Surface. If you have a problem with a Surface please post in the Surface Forums. Rob - SpiritX

When the updated Dell XPS-13 comes out next week, I suspect it will utilize an OEM driver because Dell is well-aware of Microsoft's FAILING in this area. It doesn't matter which driver used: if a Dell device has the issue, you have to talk to Dell. Even if it was the MS Driver, it's Dell's device. If they shipped it with a bug, even Microsoft's bug, you have to talk to them. They integrated it and chose to use that driver, and they are responsible for everything, even the core OS they use. That's their commitment. If they also believe the fault lies with Microsoft, they will work with Microsoft to open their own support case. On the other hand, if you own a device manufactured by Microsoft (like a Surface) and have this issue, then you should open a support case with Microsoft ( http://support.microsoft.com ). I understand the frustration and I'm not trying to be malicious, that's just how it works. The OEM is exclusively responsible for what they sold, including all software they included with it, from the OS to the pre-installed apps.

I'd like to chime in as an ACER laptop user that I have the exact same problems. So I very much support the position of users like Bill945 that this is not a Dell problem. Now of course, moderators, I understand perfectly about OEMs being strictly speaking exclusively responsible for such problems. But it's like saying the OEMs are strictly responsible for picking Windows instead of over, say, a Linux build. As Microsoft representatives do you really want us to conclude that it's the fault of Dell or Acer that they choose Microsoft? The point about whether the OEMs are responsible are therefore irrelevant here. What we want to hear that is at least something like "The devs in our company are aware of the problem and will work on improving things in the future", or that "They will work with the OEMs to improve user experience." If you guys the moderators here are not allowed to say such things or feed user inputs here to the devs in some way, I sincerely suggest you start interviewing for a better job, if I may be a little blunt.

The point about whether the OEMs are responsible are therefore irrelevant here. What we want to hear that is at least something like "The devs in our company are aware of the problem and will work on improving things in the future", or that "They will work with the OEMs to improve user experience." They certainly will do that -- once someone opens a support case (open a ticket) and an engineer is assigned to solve the problem. I don't know if any of the previous people in this conversation have tickets open, but that's the first step, regardless of who built the computer. Get a ticket open, and we'll get an engineer assigned to it. Just note that opening the ticket requires contacting your OEM.

I opened a ticket with Dell weeks ago. The tech support rep said that the behavior I described (lag when initiating small motions on the trackpad) is NOT by design and that something is not working properly. I informed him that there are countless blog posts describing this behavior in numerous units, but he insisted (over the phone) that this is not normal. He performed remote troubleshooting, which found no hardware/software/driver issues. The next step is to have a technician replace the actual trackpad. I'm hesitantly proceeding with replacement, but I suspect that it won't remove the lag. I'll post if/when I get it replaced.

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

2015-10-24T21:56:27+00:00

Hi,

This thread is about a touchpad on a Dell computer, not a Surface.

If you have a problem with a Surface please post in the Surface Forums.

Rob - SpiritX
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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2015-10-25T01:47:42+00:00

When the updated Dell XPS-13 comes out next week, I suspect it will utilize an OEM driver because Dell is well-aware of Microsoft's FAILING in this area.

It doesn't matter which driver used: if a Dell device has the issue, you have to talk to Dell. Even if it was the MS Driver, it's Dell's device. If they shipped it with a bug, even Microsoft's bug, you have to talk to them. They integrated it and chose to use that driver, and they are responsible for everything, even the core OS they use. That's their commitment. If they also believe the fault lies with Microsoft, they will work with Microsoft to open their own support case.

On the other hand, if you own a device manufactured by Microsoft (like a Surface) and have this issue, then you should open a support case with Microsoft (http://support.microsoft.com).

I understand the frustration and I'm not trying to be malicious, that's just how it works. The OEM is exclusively responsible for what they sold, including all software they included with it, from the OS to the pre-installed apps.
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Anonymous

2015-11-03T02:11:06+00:00

I'd like to chime in as an ACER laptop user that I have the exact same problems. So I very much support the position of users like Bill945 that this is not a Dell problem. Now of course, moderators, I understand perfectly about OEMs being strictly speaking exclusively responsible for such problems. But it's like saying the OEMs are strictly responsible for picking Windows instead of over, say, a Linux build. As Microsoft representatives do you really want us to conclude that it's the fault of Dell or Acer that they choose Microsoft?

The point about whether the OEMs are responsible are therefore irrelevant here. What we want to hear that is at least something like "The devs in our company are aware of the problem and will work on improving things in the future", or that "They will work with the OEMs to improve user experience." If you guys the moderators here are not allowed to say such things or feed user inputs here to the devs in some way, I sincerely suggest you start interviewing for a better job, if I may be a little blunt.
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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2015-11-03T06:43:02+00:00

The point about whether the OEMs are responsible are therefore irrelevant here. What we want to hear that is at least something like "The devs in our company are aware of the problem and will work on improving things in the future", or that "They will work with the OEMs to improve user experience."

They certainly will do that -- once someone opens a support case (open a ticket) and an engineer is assigned to solve the problem. I don't know if any of the previous people in this conversation have tickets open, but that's the first step, regardless of who built the computer. Get a ticket open, and we'll get an engineer assigned to it. Just note that opening the ticket requires contacting your OEM.
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Anonymous

2015-11-03T15:26:28+00:00

I opened a ticket with Dell weeks ago. The tech support rep said that the behavior I described (lag when initiating small motions on the trackpad) is NOT by design and that something is not working properly. I informed him that there are countless blog posts describing this behavior in numerous units, but he insisted (over the phone) that this is not normal.

He performed remote troubleshooting, which found no hardware/software/driver issues. The next step is to have a technician replace the actual trackpad. I'm hesitantly proceeding with replacement, but I suspect that it won't remove the lag. I'll post if/when I get it replaced.
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1 person found this answer helpful.

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