Products · Pattern or everyday thing
touchpads
Raised as a usability problem by 98 people on Hacker News over 18 years (2009–2026), in 92 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Pressing the trackpad moves the cursor, so about one in ten clicks missUnreviewed
20092026- Buttonless touchpads cause unintended clicks and pointer movement, and make the click area unclear2024-05-27
- Clicking needs too much force and varies from top to bottom of the pad2024-02-17
- Pointer moves during click, so clicks land in the wrong place2022-12-06
Palm touches aren't rejected, so the cursor jumps while typingUnreviewed
20092026- Palm rejection errors occasionally, so trackpad input sometimes gets triggered accidentally2026-01-16
- Default touchpad driver makes the cursor jump, unusable until switching to Synaptics2023-02-10
- Palms accidentally move the pointer and finger lifts also shift the cursor2022-10-16
Cursor lags behind finger movement, making precise pointing hardUnreviewed
20092026- About one second of lag before cursor moves on every touch2021-06-21
- Cursor lags behind finger movement, making the touchpad imprecise and frustrating2020-05-05
- Touchpad is too slow and imprecise to pinpoint small targets2016-12-14
Click-and-drag is hard on a touchpad and tiring over long periodsUnreviewed
20092026- Touchpad drag-and-drop needs an extra tap, feels unnatural and has latency2025-01-19
- Click-and-drag is hard to do on a touchpad, and it doesn't suit long periods of use2019-02-08
- Click-and-drag needs a shortcut, and palm contact sends the cursor flying2019-02-08
Tap-to-click keeps triggering unintended clicksUnreviewed
20092026- Tap-to-click keeps triggering unintended clicks, so it is annoying to use2026-03-19
- Tap-to-click drag requires pausing, lifting, and tapping twice, breaking workflow flow2025-08-26
- Tapping gives no feedback and resting fingers causes accidental input2019-02-08
Taps and two-finger scrolls often need repeating; clicks need too much forceUnreviewed
20092026- Tapping and two-finger scrolling often need repeating; clicks need too much force2020-08-27
- Held-down finger on virtual button behaves unpredictably when it moves or changes pressure, and right-click is hard to hit2019-06-28
- Index finger gets strained from repetitive clicking and scrolling; small targets are hard to hit precisely2015-07-05
Touchpad scroll direction feels backwards compared to phone scrollingUnreviewed
20092026- Two-finger scrolling over pixel-art graphics feels confusing and doesn't behave as expected2022-06-11
- Touchpad scroll direction feels backwards compared to phone touch scrolling2019-09-12
- Scrollbars must be precisely targeted to scroll, and are hidden until two fingers touch the pad2012-11-20
Trackpad use leaves the hand stiff and sore after injuryUnreviewed
20092026- Causes strain and tendonitis in the hand and arm during use2023-07-23
- Touchpad dragging all day tires the fingertip and causes wrist pain2020-06-04
- Trackpad use leaves hand stiff and sore after injury, making it unusable2013-09-04
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Touchpads make games needing rapid mouse-style clicking and moving awkward2026-10-30
- Touchpad signature looks different from paper signature, so documents get rejected and resubmitted2026-08-08
- Reversed scroll direction makes the initial scroll a guessing game2026-06-10
- Tap-to-click keeps triggering unintended clicks, so it is annoying to use2026-03-19
- Holding the button down while dragging requires an awkward hand contortion2026-03-18
- Palm rejection errors occasionally, so trackpad input sometimes gets triggered accidentally2026-01-16
- Tap-to-click drag requires pausing, lifting, and tapping twice, breaking workflow flow2025-08-26
- Buttonless touchpads are hard to adjust to and frustrating to use2025-06-04
- Touchpad drag-and-drop needs an extra tap, feels unnatural and has latency2025-01-19
- Buttonless touchpads cause unintended clicks and pointer movement, and make the click area unclear2024-05-27
- Clicking needs too much force and varies from top to bottom of the pad2024-02-17
- Touchpads and touchscreens make precise control in FPS games and productivity programs very hard2024-01-26
- Two-finger scrolling sometimes triggers a middle click, accidentally pasting clipboard content2023-10-21
- Causes strain and tendonitis in the hand and arm during use2023-07-23
- Trackpads don't work well for complex tasks like CAD, coding, or Excel2023-05-21
- Typing accidentally clicks unintended areas of the screen2023-03-14
- Default touchpad driver makes the cursor jump, unusable until switching to Synaptics2023-02-10
- Pointer moves during click, so clicks land in the wrong place2022-12-06
- Palms accidentally move the pointer and finger lifts also shift the cursor2022-10-16
- Palm touches on the touchpad are not rejected, so the cursor jumps while typing2022-09-25
- PC makers still can't get smooth trackpad scrolling working right2022-08-15
- Two-finger scrolling over pixel-art graphics feels confusing and doesn't behave as expected2022-06-11
- Trackpad use is slow and inefficient, with a learning curve that plateaus early2022-05-02
- PC and Chromebook trackpads feel worse to use than older Apple trackpads2022-04-18
- Clicking in specific touchpad zones mixes up pointing and clicking, adding mental effort to every click2021-11-02
- Trackpads have bad palm rejection, edge inaccuracy, and clicks that move the cursor2021-10-17
- Accidentally moves the cursor when clicking touchpad buttons that aren't physically separate2021-10-16
- Dragging hits the pad edge, forcing awkward restarts; clicking near the top is hard2021-09-21
- Trackpad cursor gets pinned to the side of the screen2021-07-12
- About one second of lag before cursor moves on every touch2021-06-21
- Gestures are annoying and require contorting fingers for many different motions2021-01-16
- Hard to click and draw at the same time on trackpad2020-12-22
- Touchpad is unusable by modern user-experience standards2020-09-24
- Tapping and two-finger scrolling often need repeating; clicks need too much force2020-08-27
- Touchpad dragging all day tires the fingertip and causes wrist pain2020-06-04
- Accidental clicks happen constantly because any spot on the trackpad registers as a click2020-06-01
- Cursor lags behind finger movement, making the touchpad imprecise and frustrating2020-05-05
- Windows touchpad experience is atrocious and hard to get right2020-05-05
- Commenter finds touchpads very hard to use and carries a mouse instead2020-05-05
- Touchpad blocks pointer movement after a click that lasts too long2020-04-12
- Touch surface sacrifices the second click, making right-click harder to do2020-02-27
- Mouse settings split between new Settings and old Control Panel, confusing to find options2019-10-25
- Touchpad scroll direction feels backwards compared to phone touch scrolling2019-09-12
- Cursor drifts mid-movement and the trackpoint re-zeroes, forcing users to wait and zig-zag2019-07-14
- Windows notebook touchpads feel poor, so people add touchscreens to compensate2019-07-08
- Held-down finger on virtual button behaves unpredictably when it moves or changes pressure, and right-click is hard to hit2019-06-28
- Clicking the red dots does nothing, so the commenter can't tell how to play2019-03-25
- Can't tell how to switch between keyboard and touchpad modes2019-03-11
- Palm or typing brushes the trackpad and randomly moves the cursor while typing2019-03-11
- Click-and-drag is hard to do on a touchpad, and it doesn't suit long periods of use2019-02-08