Touch pads, pointer, or mouse

Diy-Computer-Repair can help!

Touch pads, pointer, or mouse for your laptop.

Most laptops come with a built in pointing device (yes there are some that don't but that is not our concern they are fairly old). Your computer may have two of the three, a touch pad, a pointer (some people call them erasers - they look like a pencil eraser!) or a mini-joy stick (which it really is).

You will find more information on repairing your laptop in the Self Computer Repair Unleashed! E-Book.

As for a mouse they are an external device that you attach to a port on the exterior of the computer. The port may be a true mouse/keyboard port (more on this later) or USB.

Touch pad, the touch pad is a material that is conductive sensitive. By conductive sensitive I mean that your body is conductive, the pad is sensitive to the conduction your body creates. To be non-technical, when you touch the pad or move your finger across the pad the pointer on the screen moves. Magic.

The pointer or mini-joy stick in the keyboard also moves the pointer on the screen in the direction you push it. More Magic.

There is good news and bad news about these devices, good news is they seldom break or fail. Bad news is that if the mini-joy stick in the keyboard fails you have to replace the keyboard. If the touch pad fails sometimes it is only the touch pad that has to be replaced, but I have seen keyboards with the touchpad attached. So be prepared to buy a keyboard and if you only have to buy a touch pad you save some money.

To replace the mini-joy stick or touch pad you would use the keyboard page for disassembly instructions.

Mouse, you can attach an external mouse to your computer if the touch pad or mini-joy stick is uncomfortable or you don't like the way it is setup. (I have two mice I carry with my laptop, wired and wireless. Wired for on an aircraft, wireless for any other place). Older laptops had a port that was both keyboard and mouse connections, it was wired to accept either device, you can still find the little 'Y' cable that you plug into the keyboard/mouse port then plug in the keyboard to one connector and the mouse to the other, neat. Newer computers use USB for the mouse so you will have to buy a USB mouse to connect an external mouse to your laptop. Be aware that Wireless mice are NOT useable on an aircraft because they use a radio frequency that interferes with the Aircraft electronics.

Since writing this article I have added more information about laptop pointing devices and keyboards in the Self Computer Repair Unleashed! E-Book.

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