Thinkpads Forum

Hi folks,
I looking to modify the trackpad on my t540p laptop with the one from the t550, the ones that has the three buttons on the top. The reason why I don't like the current t540p trackpad is because the whole trackpad is a button, and does not feel rigid and stable to use. also modifying the trackpad to have the actual physical button is a plus, however, if the whole trackpad is still a "floating design" that you can press in like a button, then I'll just leave mine the way it is.
so my question for any of you who owns a t450 or t550 laptop is, can you please tell me whether the trackpad is rigid, meaning the whole trackpad is non-floating, and not a button that you press in.

Thanks

Tam

Hey, I just did the swap a couple weeks ago on my t540p. I bought a trackpad from ebay that was listed as a replacement for t450 t550 etc. The touchpad itself has three buttons on top, and the trackpad section right under the 3 buttons is actually a hinge, for the lower half to be pressed down like buttons. The hinge is not clickable or moveable, but tap to click works fine for me on that section as well. The touchpad is worth the effort and price to replace, like a factor of x20 times better to the previous touchpad. The buttons are effortless, but sturdy and a joy to use. The noise of the buttons on top, or hinge buttons on bottom are around a 1/3 of the volume of clickpad clicks. The new touchpad does not sink or move around at all which very nice compared. You could consider it non-floating.

If you do this swap, be careful of taking the keyboard bezel off, I damaged one clip out of 20ish, and also could not reseat another back on correctly. I recommend using a credit card or your fingernail along the outer edges to help loosen it up. The area where your wrists go, and to the right of the touchpad seemed to be the hardest for me to pull off.

Whats the deal with the track pads on the 540's and 550's? I've looked at the HMM's for the W540 and W550. No buttons below the pad. How do they work? I use the track pad exclusively with taps suppressed. When I get one of these machines I want to be able to use the same way.