Hey, I recently got a Lenovo W540, expecting it to live up to the standard of the earlier machines in the W-series as a high-performance mobile workstation, and for the most part it does, but the TouchPad is a giant flaw. I understand that the design is the way it is to implement more Windows 8-specific features, but just because Microsoft has decided to snub their core consumer base (i.e. people who actually use their computer to do real, actual work), that doesn't mean that Lenovo has to follow suit.

Because of the removal of physical buttons, I find myself performing a process of moving the cursor to where I want to click, removing my hand from the touchpad, and then quickly hammering down on it to get it to register a click instead of a drag, and you can probably see why this isn't exactly optimal. As for actually dragging something, I don't even bother anymore.

Now that we've established that this TouchPad is an atrocity that has actually managed to outperform the original iMac hockey puck-mouse in the unusability department, allow me to suggest what might serve as a quick patch, since no true solution can be said to exist unless Lenovo recalls the entire W540 production run and installs W530 touchpads on them:

Allow me to check a little box in the options that makes the bottom centimeter or so of the touchpad completely oblivious to finger movement, and only serves as a click/hold area.

Until that day, I guess I'll have to lug an external mouse around and cover the TouchPad up with a Post-It and try to forget that it somehow got past QA.

Your wanted option already exists:

- Disable the TouchPad in BIOS

- Enable "Classic TrackPoint only" mode in the Windows driver

Another un-Feature.  OK, this is a "Workstation".   But, while progranming and compiling, I may crash the system.  MY FAULT!..... but now to hard reset/shut down I have to hold the on/off switch for 'x' seconds.

I have an SSD, and all is quiet.  When my finger is no the switch, I can't see the light!!!!!  Brilliant, or should I say, black box....

Similarly the dreaded <Operations are in progress, please wait. The machine will be turned off automatically after the operations are completed.> with no end in sight - never know what is under the hood. Due to the lack of critical indicator lights, this is NOT a WORKSTATION.

This is absolutely the worst trackpad I've ever used.

I just got a brand new W540 in the mail and I'm extremely dissapointed and seriously considering returning it. Unlike others, I don't care so much about the physical buttons, but that's not even the problem.

First off... The trackpad drivers are using some kind of crazy method in the code for scrolling... WHY? I bought lightroom with this laptop and scroll doesn't even work in the program! I can't scroll my catalog and I can't use scroll to adjust brush sizes.

The keyboard problem is Lightroom related, too. When I have an adjustment brush selected, there is a modifier key - hold space bar to change from the adjustment brush to a click-to-zoom function. This simply does not work at all. The cursor changes to indicate that Lightroom has registered the key press, but the mouse button press does nothing - no zoom function activated. I have to switch out of my tool, then zoom, then switch back to my tool. This slows my workflow down immensely!

Lenovo sold me the software, but they couldn't even make their drivers work with it. I feel insulted.

In other applications, especially in windows that have multiple scrollable content items, like facebook, or web forms with dropdown boxes, the scroll has a tendency to either not work at all, or get stuck on a particular item, despite clicking away from it. It's really frustrating to be attempting to fill out a form and when trying to scroll down through the form, it instead refuses to do anything except scroll through the options of a drop-down menu. I have very mixed results with scrolling sections of javascript pop-up windows, as well. It likes to scroll the window behind the pop-up, instead of the actual item that is in focus, do nothing at all, or even worse, erratic glitchy behavior because it can't seem to decide what it wants to do.

The clicks are painfully implemented as well. The physical click of the trackpad has such a long travel that when I click, the cursor has a tendency to jump (and often quite far!) because the trackpad is detecting motion as my finger rolls just slightly while the pad moves.

The other terrible thing about the clicks is the designated button zone. Why give me the option to enable two-finger anywhere-click for right mouse button, but not SHUT OFF the designated click zone!? I'm frequently making accidental right-clicks because I'm a lefty, and my hand tends to drift to the right side of the touch pad, since it's off center. This is incredibly annoying!

The problem that is really driving me crazy, though, on a fairly regular basis there is an apparently intermittant problem where, in the middle of moving the cursor with the trackpad, it will suddenly freeze movement and then start jittering - despite the fact that I have 16gb of ram and a Core i7 processor and all I've got running is a single application (in otherwords, the system is not bogged down).

To top it all off - EVERY SINGLE one of these problems goes away when I attach a USB mouse! Even lightroom functions normally - so it's CLEARLY the fault of the drivers! And yes, I did try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers, to no avail.

Lenovo - why are you trying to reinvent the wheel? Use standard system calls instead of what ever BS you've got going on and make this crap work properly!

So, despite the fact that this machine is blazingly fast and has an incredibly beautiful screen, I feel like I must return it because the touch pad is the thing inhibiting my workflow. Give me a break! Did you guys even test this thing before you started shipping them with machines?

Moderator Note; subject edited; post merged in. Was; Brand new W540 - Trackpad is terrible... I might have to return it.

It's no trackpad.  It's a fistfad.  Moronic design and one of many reasons we no longer buy 'em.

The original message on this thread asked for:  “Allow me to check a little box in the options that makes the bottom centimeter or so of the touchpad completely oblivious to finger movement, and only serves as a click/hold area.”

My W540 has that capability incorporated in the mouse driver.

Be sure you are running the latest mouse driver.  Try this URL: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS034647

Then:  Go to your control panel> Mouse Properties> ThinkPad> Advanced

When you get to the “Advanced” screen, click the far right “advanced” tab (yes, a second “advance”), then select the “Smart Check” tab.

On that screen you can graphically and individually change the area of the touchpad that will respond to taps and to gestures.  You can also maximize the pad’s resistance to responding to your hand moving over the pad as you type.  It’s a bit more flexible than just checking a little box, and if you mess with it a bit, you may find you have less need for an external mouse.

For the record, I have also experienced the two-fingered scrolling function seeming to work with some applications, but not with others.  However, the two-fingered tap (right click), and 1 fingered tap (left click) function nicely, so it's been weeks since I've actually had to "push" the touchpad down.

I'm a happy camper, but I can fully understand why others, using different software, and with differing needs, might be upset.  Even if the capability to tame the touchpad is there, Lenovo seems not to care much about telling people about it.

Finally, I visited an Apple store the other day--just to see why my colleagues who use those products are not complaining.  The Apple touchpad software is not as complete as the Lenovo/Synaptics software.  It need not be because while the pad is a similar size, the top edge is about a half inch farther from the space key than the set-up on the W540.  Use the software to deactivate the top half inch or so of the touchpad, and you will be in a similar ballpark.  I've also trimmed the left and right sides.  Those moves alone will cut the irritation factor by about 80%.

There is definitely a learning curve involved.  

> When you get to the “Advanced” screen, click the far right “advanced” tab (yes, a second “advance”), then select the

> “Smart Check” tab.

> On that screen you can graphically and individually change the area of the touchpad that will respond to taps and to

> gestures.  You can also maximize the pad’s resistance to responding to your hand moving over the pad as you type. 

> It’s a bit more flexible than just checking a little box, and if you mess with it a bit, you may find you have less need for an > external mouse.

Those options actually do exactly the opposite of what OP was asking for. The gesture setting only affects things like 2-finger scroll, not track movement.