Quote:
|
Originally Posted by the_marq
Uhh, no they aren't.
Touch pads work on the basis of capacitance (electrical differential).
If it was heat and pressure you could operate a touch pad with a fresh warm McDonald's french fry (you can't, I've tried).
|
Your right and wrong.
Older Synaptics touchpads worked on heat and pressure in exactly the same way touch sensative elevator buttons do. The reason? Synaptics also makes those elevator buttons.
Newer models (read: post 1999) work on capacitance.
Synaptics still makes the heat sensative touchpads, and quite a few 2nd teir notbook companies still use that reference design. The
only reason I have any clue whatsoever about this was from speaking to an engineer from synaptics about heat sensative buttons for a building in the last office I worked in.