Use Synaptics touchpad instead of Alps

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Use Synaptics touchpad instead of Alps

350 points posted to Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Laptops by programatix Mar 8 **REVIEWED**

I believe majority of laptop brands out there use Synaptics touchpad. Further more, it provide more functions.

The scrolling and coasting functions are a lot better and smoother than Alps.

Please see matt_d's comment

jervis961 Mar 8	Don't they use both on different products?
programatix Mar 8	Not sure about that. But the XPS 1530 uses Alps touchpad.
jervis961 Mar 9	The driver download for the m1530 only says "Dell touchpad". Very strange as most others list the manufacturer. I think we will have to wait for a Dell person to explain.
matt_d Mar 9	My M1330 uses Synaptics... $ dmesg \| grep -i synaptics Synaptics Touchpad, model: 1, fw: 6.3, id: 0x1c0b1, caps: 0xa04753/0x200000 input: SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad as /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input2
programatix Mar 9	Dell Touchpad on my XPS M1530 is Alps (modified control panel) but the About button will show that it is Alps. Now, this is weird as matt_d mentioned that his M1330 uses Synaptics... any other M1330 can confirm this? If this is true, why uses different touchpad for M1330 and M1530?
lugo02 Mar 9	My XPS M140 has a Synaptics Touchpad. My work Dell D610 has an Alps touchpad
programatix Mar 9	So, lugo02, you like the Alps touchpad?
lugo02 Mar 9	I am just confirming that Dell already use Sunaptics touchpad, not on all products, but it's used where they see it fit. I use my Latitude for work and I do not miss the scroll functions of my XPS laptop. When I use the Alps touchpad at work. On my XPS laptop that I use in a different way, the synaptics pad is better for me.
programatix Mar 10	Ok, thanks... this also confirmed that you like synaptics touchpad better. The question is why use Alps touchpad at all? If Dell make it in such a way, say, all business laptop use Alps and home laptop use Synaptics, then it should be understandable. But now, XPS M1330 uses Synaptic but XPS M1530 uses Alps? A bit weird, right?
matt_d Mar 10	Dell often works with multiple companies for similar components - touchpad, NICs, processors, etc. Based on desired features for a given target product, and the development schedules for those components from each vendor and for the product as a whole, some will have components by one manufacturer, while others will have a similar component by another manufacturer. We also prefer to have more than one company produce a given type of component - it reduces our overall risk (should anything untoward happen at one vendor, we have options...) and increases the overall competition for that component, which keeps costs down and innovation high. In addition, commodity components, such as RAM and hard disks, which are effectively interchangeable, are validated from several of our partner vendors, which gives us great flexibility in terms of building a particular system, in terms of daily component availability and costs.
programatix Mar 11	matt_d, do you mean that for XPS M1530, some unit will come with synaptics touchpad and some with alps touchpad?
matt_d Mar 11	programatix, I doubt it, but I'm not on the hardware design side of the business anymore. :-) Touchpads, as far as I know, stay constant for a given product, or at least changed very infrequently. Hard disks, however, can change from day to day (based on validation/qualification efforts of course).
mattmiller747 Mar 25	HI Folks YES, my 1530 uses an ALPs with a (Dell)Synaptics driver! I figured this out, by downloading the newest Driver off on Dells site and during the install it 'showed' me it was a Synaptics Driver. AND Dell EXEC Tech Support confirmed this! Matt-d's explanation while informative and believable, does NOT address, that to some of us, the 'useabiltiy' of the ALPS feature set in regards to Virtual Scrolling and Long Distance Coasting is FAR inferior to the Synaptics, and therefore shouldn't have even been considered!!!!!! Which, unfortunatley suggests that the 'decision' makers are not 'power users' of their own products :-(((((( I've already suggested that EXEC Tech Support put me touch with these folks, but I'm not holding by breath ;-) :-( ! If somehow this wants to change.......I'm readily available for a telephone consult! ;-)
desplin Mar 31	I don't so much have a problem with the scrolling. what I really miss is the gestures ie. being able to go back in IE or to middle click by hitting a certain area of the touchpad. I'm amazed that there is NO ability to customize the ALPS.
programatix Mar 31	Yes, the point is about the ability to customize the touchpad. ALPS touchpad has limited features compared to Synaptics.
khisel Apr 16	The Alps on my 1525 is haphazard in detecting single and double clicks and is not smooth for scrolling. It also lacks the special features the Synaptics pad has on my 1501. They really are like night and day. I don't know if it's the hardware but the software definitely needs a lot of work! Please Dell, either improve the Alps or dump 'em and go back to using the better-developed Synaptics pads.
koda611 May 2	I just got a new Latitude D830. It shows that I have an Alps touchpad with driver version 7.1.101.6. What happened to the gesters? The ability to move forward and back was something I took for granted. When I called support about it they said that is the way it is... I spend a lot of time on the net and the has really become an annoying issue. I am considering sending this laptop back if I can't fix the issue.
jackie_c May 29	Changed status to REVIEWED.
thekaib Jun 8	I found a solution to enable gestures, tap zones, and other "missing" features for alps touchapds. The original information can be found at this forum thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/archive/index.php/t-158131.html They refer to an old (11/2006) Alps VISTA driver that enables all the features. I found a similar Win XP driver (dated 2005/2006?) here: http://support.us.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&re... So far, it works fine on my D430 running XP Home. However the back/forward gestures don't seem to work for Firefox browsers. This seems to be a known problem with Alps touchpads on other non-DELL systems as well. IE and your Windows Explorer will work fine.
bmikulla Jun 18	I have been using a Fujitsu driver to enable the missing functionality on my 1530, which has been working well. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3502888#post3502888 I have nothing against the Alps touch pad itself, I just do not understand why Dell cannot provide a better driver (and ensure that Alps updates their code to work with Firefox without having to use workarounds - it's only been how many years since Firefox first came out?).

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