Touchpad driver/options: Inspiron 13, 7347, Signature Edition

It is a new model, and I have one.  Mine was ordered direct from Dell - not a signature version.  There are no Synaptics drivers available online, and there are none installed on the machine.  I just got off the phone with Dell Support, and they told me that it uses the "default windows driver" for the touchpad.  But mine is working horribly.  When the laptop is plugged in, it works "okay".  Gesture scrolling works, pinch-to-zoom sort of works (won't hold, just snaps back when you let go).  But if I unplug the laptop from power (go on battery), the touchpad becomes almost unusable.  Single touches cause clicks.  Other times the clicks don't register.  Two finger scrolling no longer works.  Lags/sticks.  Two fingers are not recognized over one finger 80% of the time so pinch fails.  Plug the power back in, and it becomes MUCH better again.  It's instantaneous when you plug in or unplug.  But there's absolutely NO adjustment of the settings without a driver or control panel.  The Microsoft windows mouse panel is the only thing on this machine.  The two button-zones at the bottom of the pad are "hot" at all times...so right clicking causes a big mouse jump, etc.  Support told me that there's no need for the Synaptics panel...but this doesn't make any sense.  How do you adjust the sensitivity to ignore palm strikes?  How do you enable or disable double tap?  How do you invert the scrolling?  How do you change the hot zones.  All these customizations are available in every other Dell I've used via the Dell (Synaptics) control panel for touchpads.  But there isn't one on this machine...just a mouse panel.   This makes zero sense. I'm calling Dell back tomorrow.  I suspect this machine was put on the market without full driver build-out.  I'm not going to use a laptop "plugged in" constantly to get passable use...  Something is way wrong here...

Hi Daniel, wow that sounds harsh. And it's not exactly the same as my experience. Maybe your hardware is a bit different or maybe the non-Signature driver is different. My Device Manager just shows the touchpad as a PS/2 mouse (!).

I found in the first few days of owning the laptop a particular quirk: If I was two-finger scrolling, and then removed one finger to pan around with the mouse, it would continue as if there were two fingers on the pad. I can't seem to reproduce that behaviour anymore and I wonder if that is due to the most recent Windows update I applied. I am definitely overall though missing the level of customization that I would prefer to have.

In regards to plugged/unplugged behaviour, I am not noticing anything of the sort *except* - at one point I tried putting a plastic screen protector (like on cellphones) on the touchpad to make it smoother and nicer to use. I found it worked great as long as the laptop was in some way electrically grounded, i.e. either plugged in, or on my lap, or my hand was resting on the underside, or one entire hand was splayed out across the keyboard. So this tells me there are quirks of this touchpad related to grounding. Maybe you can confirm this - if the laptop is unplugged and you place one hand on its underside, does the touchpad behave the same way as when it's plugged in?

If you have not installed all Windows updates yet, check and install, check and install, keep doing it until nothing is left. There is definitely some minor improvement that must have come from a recent update. Aside from that though I have not had any success trying to get any Synaptics drivers working on this (Is it even a Synaptics pad? No idea).

It's been about 5 days now. Still have not decided whether to keep it "warts and all" or return it for its quirks. I do find myself enjoying the use of the stylus in "stand mode" to play Hearthstone. But the response to the stylus is rather inconsistent and I often find myself in an app (desktop mode) where I jam at a target with the stylus repeatedly and it refuses to respond to that or my finger, until I finally flip the keyboard back out and use the touchpad mouse to do the same thing.

I have a similar problem. Have the Inspiron 15, 7000 series. 

The trackpad is fussy. 

I want to have scrolling also, but there's no options for this on the smartpad options. 

The mouse driver is simply the 2006 start windowds hd compliant mouse. 

It's really, really, really annoying me!

EDIT: I did realize though that the option to disable taps was hidden in the Metro-style Touchpad menu. Look for the option "To help prevent the cursor from accidentally moving while you type, turn off taps or change the delay before taps work." -> The menu under this has an option to turn off taps. FINALLY - I'd been trying to figure that out all week.

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Incidentally -

I tried the driver for the current gen Inspiron 11 and it won't install.

I tried the one for the current gen Inspiron 14/15/17 and it does install!

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=15K08&fileId=3382729973&osCode=W864&productCode=inspiron-15-7537&languageCode=EN&categoryId=IN

However - Once I've rebooted after installing it, I can see that it's now Dell Touchpad in Device Manager, and now I get some Dell Touchpad options in Control Panel > Mouse. Unfortunately changing those options does not actually appear to alter the behaviour of the touchpad itself. Even turning the touchpad off in that menu doesn't have an effect.

The link provided from Dell Support is the standard Synaptics driver provided on the Synaptics website...  Not helpful.  I already tried to install this, and the installation aborts.  Says the "hardware does not support this installation, contact your hardware manufacturer".   Um, yeah...they sent me here.  I really like the size, screen and feature set on this laptop.  It didn't even occur to me the touchpad would simply omit all the features found on every other Dell laptop I've used...   I don't get it.  Even if there is a hardware defect on my particular machine, the omission of any trackpad customization is ridiculous.

http://drivers.synaptics.com/Synaptics_v17_0_19_C_XP32_Vista32_Win7-32_XP64_Vista64_Win7-64_Acme_Inc.zip

My main issue was the lack of scrolling.

I discovered though that the precision touchpad settings under windows 8 works, and I was at least able to get this :

But still not good enough!

[View:windows.microsoft.com/.../touchpad:550:0]

I spoke with Dell again today.  I was very explicit that I would be willing to entertain any troubleshooting option they would like, but I won't accept that this laptop won't support any of the touchpad customization that is offered on any other Dell laptop I've used or owned...including the 3 year old Latitude laptop I'm typing on right now, and a brand new Inspiron 3000 series that I used a couple months ago.  There are a host of configuration options in the touchpad panel that are essential to these machines.  Inertial Scrolling, Scroll Speed, Pressure Sensitivity, Pointer Speed, Touchguard sensitivity (to ignore touch while typing), inverted scrolling, circular scrolling...  I won't accept that this model (or any other Inspiron) simply has to do without these features or options.   The representative told me he would find the appropriate touchpad driver/utility and send me a link to it.  He seemed certain there was a driver, he just needed to research the manufacturer and model a little further.  I asked specifically when I could expect it.  He said he'd send it within a few minutes of our call.  No link so far.  But when it arrives, I will update here.

Camisotro - you were absolutely RIGHT on the grounding issue...  Crazy.  If I place the laptop on my kitchen table (wood) with no power cord, the trackpad behaves horribly.  Lags, stalls, missed gestures, jumpy motion, etc.  If I rest the laptop in my LAP, like I'm doing now, the trackpad works fine.  Or if I keep one hand under the laptop, etc.  It is grounding on contact. This also explains the power cord.  If you plug the power in at the kitchen table, there's a hard ground, and it's fine.  Unplug it - back to erratic mess.

Now the question will can Dell actually resolve the problem with replacement parts. I guess I'll find out.  I'm still disappointed that there are no touchpad drivers for this machine.  Thanks for the tip on the Metro Win 8.1 trackpad options. Better than nothing.  I also tried to install a Inspiron 14 driver (model 7447, vs. the 7347 for the 13).  Same outcome you had.  Panel is live, and looks like it's working, but none of the settings actually apply.  The settings don't actually change the trackpad behavior.  Unfortunate.  But at least I have an answer to the erratic touchpad.   Thanks again.  I'll report back after the repair attempt. 

Dell, any update on this ? It's unbelievable that you're selling laptops without any proper drivers to make it work. How is that possible to not be able to change any settings of the touchpad on a laptop ?

My users are really un-happy with the default touchpad behavior, and we are really hoping that the drivers will be released soon.

Thanks to at least provide an update on this, we tried a bunch of drivers and no one is working for this touchpad.

We just ordered 2 for a client, and were promised by the sales guy at Dell that there was a way of disabling the touchpad in favour of a normal mouse before the order, and guess what - there isn't.

Both will be sent back - clearly Dell have rushed out this product, and it's DISGUSTING !

You need to get a driver out FAST Dell of people will be binning these machines and slating them online very soon.

If you just want to disable the touchpad completely and use a USB or Bluetooth mouse, the option should be in the Metro UI PC Settings under Mouse and Touchpad. Fortunately this menu is easy to access by touch screen, in case you need to re enable it.

One month later, still waiting for any driver release... First time in my life I get a such poor touchpad. All my users now wants to change laptop because they can't work with it. Can't do anything as nobody is answering at DELL, however I have contacted every websites that did a review of this laptop to include this big problem in their reviews, maybe this will prevent other users to be up. Thanks for your great support Dell..

I just recently bought this laptop from the MS Store online, and found the touchpad to be very unusable. The delay in detecting multi touch was too long, and I was hoping I could find a solution to this. Now that I know there are no drivers for the touchpad, I'm inclined to return this laptop.

It's the only thing that's holding me back from keeping it around.