Authors:
Lei Q. Chen - lchen@wam.umd.edu
Alice C. Han -nerki@wam.umd.edu

Abstract

This project was an analysis of various notebook computer input devices. Particularly, we conducted this experiment to study the ease of the input devices, AccuPoint, TouchPad, and TrackBall in operations pointing, clicking, dragging, and releasing. This experiment evaluated accuracy, speed, and subjective preference on each input device. We conducted this experiment on 15 subjects who use the standard mouse as their primary input device. Because of the subjects' familiarity with the standard mouse, we hypothesized the TrackBall to be optimum in both performance as well as personal preference due to the similar ball-rolling mechanical structure. However, from our experiment, we found the TouchPad to preform the best, but with statistics too marginal to make a strong conclusion of any of the input devices to be optimum in the areas of speed, accuracy, and subjective preference.

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