Always Use An External Mouse Over A Touchpad On Your Laptop

In: Education By: Brian Armstrong

7 Nov 2007

It bothers me when I see people using the touch pad on their laptop while at a desk for long periods of time. I’ve never seen an official study done on it, but I’d guess that you are 25 to 30% faster using a regular external mouse instead of a touch pad. The touch pad is only there for when you are on the move and don’t have access to anything else!

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4 Responses

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    Scott Eggleston

    November 8th, 2007 at 7:40 am

    I only use the touchpad when I’ve got a small surface space (like on a plane), or need to be quiet (stealth surfing). External mice are great, and I prefer the retractable cord variety. They need no batteries, and don’t have any tiny antenna to lose!

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    Brian Armstrong

    November 8th, 2007 at 6:51 pm

    Yep airplanes are a perfect example where space is more important that speed, so the touch pad makes sense.

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    John

    November 9th, 2007 at 8:55 pm

    I completely (although respectfully) disagree.

    I tend to use keyboard shortcuts as much as possible, and having to move my hand away from home position is a time drag. I use the little eraser head that’s between the g and h keys, and it’s perfect.

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    Candy

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:33 am

    I’m laptop-challenged, I guess. I have to have an external mouse AND keyboard to be really effective. Otherwise, I move so slow, it’s hardly worth dealing with it. At the last conference I went to, my roommate gave me heck about it. I guess it comes from doing data entry, I like my keyboard to be nice and big with a 10 key on the side ;)

    I use a lot of keyboard short-cuts as well. BUT I still need that mouse. ;)

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Breaking Free is a blog for people who'd like to quit their 9-to-5, start their own business, and achieve financial freedom. It's written by web-entrepreneur Brian Armstrong. You can read more here »

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