Replace the MSI Wind’s touchpad for $8

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Apparently MSI has recently swapped out the Synaptics touchpad on the MSI Wind with a touchpad from Sentellic. What’s the difference, you might ask? Well, that thing you’re able to do with Synaptics touchpads where you gently stroke your finger up and down the right-hand side of the pad to scroll up and down web pages and documents isn’t available on the Sentellic models “due to legal issues,” according to Mobility Today. The Sentellic pad has tap zones instead, where tapping your finger creates up and down movement — might as well just use the keyboard’s arrow keys.

For Wind owners who long for the days of Synaptics-stroking, members at the MSIWind.net forums have outlined how to order an $8 replacement Synaptics pad from MSI’s competitor, ASUS (here’s the product page). Installation isn’t for the faint of heart, but if you’ve ever cracked open a notebook, it shouldn’t be too bad.