You are likely to be wrong on the integration side. A good example is how sensor hubs went discrete in 2012 (everybody only noticed Apple last year but plenty other devices went there before them). Guess doing touch and sensor hub in the same chip could work so maybe that's a future. For laptop keyboards one has to wonder how big the market will be in 10years. With foldable screens , tablets get killed unless they go huge , 14 inch or more that we can use as a huge tablet or as a laptop with half the screen being the keyboard. Going offtopic here - desk size flexible touchscreens would be interesting , used either flat or bent at an angle and we would need a proper UI for it. As for Synaptics being acquired, even if someone would want to buy into the tech they just cost too much ,there are far cheaper buys out there.
After using a Mac, I've never been satisfied with a Windows PC's touchpad, including Synaptics. They drive me nuts every time I try to use them. They scroll when I don't want to scroll, they don't scroll when I do want them to scroll, they click when I don't want them to click.... It's a total mystery how a random windows trackpad will work because they are all configured differently. The Synaptics control panels are a total mess of stupid worthless options and setting after setting of gimmicky garbage. Anand, I just don't understand what you're talking about when you say Synaptics has made a lot of progress. Maybe I'm just not using the new parts? I would be shocked if the software is any better now than it has been in the past.
Strange. I have no such issues on the (tiny) Synaptics touchpad in my X220 tablet. Scrolls with two-fingers (you can set the old-fashion edge-scroll or chiral scrolling if you prefer those), clicks just fine between one to 4 fingers and even does gestures fine....
Just about the only complaint I have is that they removed the physical buttons, although it is understandable given the buttons for the trackpoint (that I use a lot more) have to go somewhere. I hate clickpads (even the apple ones) and much prefer having two (or more), real, physical buttons instead!
I've got a Thinkpad X121e, about the same generation and also with a Synaptics touchpad. For the 1st half year it was completely unusable, now after countless driver updates and setting tweaks it's merely "OK" but still a lot worse than my old Thinkpad T61.
For the Asus + Synaptic: I actually had an business/multimedia Asus notebook that had Synaptic touchpad, back in 2004. Besides size, it was the best touchpad I've seen for at leaast 6-8 years after that, and I've reviewed about a dozen or two notebooks in that time.
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jjj - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
You are likely to be wrong on the integration side. A good example is how sensor hubs went discrete in 2012 (everybody only noticed Apple last year but plenty other devices went there before them). Guess doing touch and sensor hub in the same chip could work so maybe that's a future.For laptop keyboards one has to wonder how big the market will be in 10years. With foldable screens , tablets get killed unless they go huge , 14 inch or more that we can use as a huge tablet or as a laptop with half the screen being the keyboard. Going offtopic here - desk size flexible touchscreens would be interesting , used either flat or bent at an angle and we would need a proper UI for it.
As for Synaptics being acquired, even if someone would want to buy into the tech they just cost too much ,there are far cheaper buys out there.
A5 - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
Integrating the touch sensor makes more sense since it is far more likely the CPU will be awake anyway when the user wants to do touch actions.I also fully expect the motion/voice/etc sensors to be folded back into the SoC as power gating continues to advance.
cosmotic - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
After using a Mac, I've never been satisfied with a Windows PC's touchpad, including Synaptics. They drive me nuts every time I try to use them. They scroll when I don't want to scroll, they don't scroll when I do want them to scroll, they click when I don't want them to click.... It's a total mystery how a random windows trackpad will work because they are all configured differently. The Synaptics control panels are a total mess of stupid worthless options and setting after setting of gimmicky garbage. Anand, I just don't understand what you're talking about when you say Synaptics has made a lot of progress. Maybe I'm just not using the new parts? I would be shocked if the software is any better now than it has been in the past.ZeDestructor - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
Strange. I have no such issues on the (tiny) Synaptics touchpad in my X220 tablet. Scrolls with two-fingers (you can set the old-fashion edge-scroll or chiral scrolling if you prefer those), clicks just fine between one to 4 fingers and even does gestures fine....Just about the only complaint I have is that they removed the physical buttons, although it is understandable given the buttons for the trackpoint (that I use a lot more) have to go somewhere. I hate clickpads (even the apple ones) and much prefer having two (or more), real, physical buttons instead!
MrSpadge - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
I've got a Thinkpad X121e, about the same generation and also with a Synaptics touchpad. For the 1st half year it was completely unusable, now after countless driver updates and setting tweaks it's merely "OK" but still a lot worse than my old Thinkpad T61.thesavvymage - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
For a while, I wanted a macbook ONLY because of the trackpad...nagi603 - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
For the Asus + Synaptic: I actually had an business/multimedia Asus notebook that had Synaptic touchpad, back in 2004. Besides size, it was the best touchpad I've seen for at leaast 6-8 years after that, and I've reviewed about a dozen or two notebooks in that time.silenz - Monday, February 3, 2014 - link
great, could you translate all that into fixing the synaptics trackpads that are already out on the market? thanks.