Browse the list of popular laptops by trusted brands and you’ll probably notice that the touchpads on most models are centered in the middle of the chassis. This is a design choice that most people simply don’t register until they encounter a specimen with an off-center touchpad. To some, this may seem like a flaw. Funny enough, someone even complained on a Lenovo forum about shoulder pain due to the location of the touchpad on their computer.
Why do some laptops have touchpads on the left side? There’s a solid rationale behind this, although it might feel off if you’re used to centered touchpads. Let’s take this complaint from Lenovo as an example. Another commenter clarified that the alignment of the touchpad is actually correct, noting that the orientation point is the keyboard (specifically the spacebar) and not the body of the laptop itself. This makes sense because the idea behind the placement is to prevent your wrists from sliding on the touchpad when using the keyboard.
Typically, most laptops with a dedicated numpad will compensate by off-centering the touchpad. Imagine if the touchpad remained dead in the middle of a numpad-equipped laptop: your right wrist would inevitably come into contact with a touchpad as you type. So no matter how “fake” it may seem, keeping the pointing device aligned with the space bar allows you to perform all the nifty touchpad tricks and use the keyboard without making a mess.
Which touchpad location do users prefer?
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There are many misunderstandings online about some laptops having a touchpad on the left. For example, some users wonder why this happens when most people are right-handed. Naturally, this orientation would give right-handers more room for their dominant hand, but, as we mentioned earlier, this has nothing to do with which hands you use. In fact, many left-handed people have no problem using trackpads.
In another thread, others wondered if an off-center hand position would impact their posture. While this may seem like a niche complaint, many people apparently avoid laptops with a number pad for this very reason. One Reddit user hated the experience and said the off-center touchpad caused physical pain, as they inadvertently moved their entire body to the left while their eyes were focused on the center of the screen.
At the same time, many users claim to have quickly gotten used to it. If the position of the touchpad bothers you and prevents you from purchasing a particular model, it doesn’t hurt (no pun intended) to try the laptop in person. Many of Consumer Reports’ top-rated laptops have a centered touchpad anyway, so in most cases you don’t have to worry about that unless you’re specifically looking for a model with a number pad.
