macbook retina 2012 or 2013 trackpad tactile touch without flesh

[Superfly611]

hi all. i have a favorite to ask. i am a quadriplegic that is i the market for a new laptop. i want a 15'' macbook pro but am concerned with the touchpad. i dont have use of my fingers so i use a typing aid that has a rubber tip to it. i was wondering if the 2012 or 2013 macbook track could be tried out with say a pencil eraser or a rubber tip of some sort with out touching the trackpad at all with flesh. hopefully you know what i mean. my 2009 is painfully slow and i spend alot of time away from my imac thanks for your response in advance

i tried upgrading my hdd to an ssd but keep getting the spinning beachball. aarrghh. its time for an upgrade..

 

[akramer]

I just tested with a pencil eraser and it has no effect on the trackpad at all. I believe a fat-tipped stylus, the kind meant aftermarket for tablets not designed for them, will work properly on apple's trackpads.

 

[Sevalv]

I've just tried using a stylus that i've purchased for my iPad, and it works like a charm.

 

[yangchewren]

Not sure how to put this OP, but you would need to have the stylus "in contact" with your skin somewhere, as there is need for electrical contact between your skin and the touchpad surface.

I may be wrong in my concept - if anyone can confirm that gloves work with stylus pens then this shouldn't be a problem.

Another thread which I found on google:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1379157/

All the best in your search OP, and I hope you find a good solution soon

 

[Superfly611]

thanks for the replies ill have to figure something out.. my typing aid looks like this.

aarrgghh! why did they make it like this. couldnt they just keep the trackpad the old way.

 

[Grohowiak]

I just tried it with http://www.macworld.com/product/884645/bamboo-stylus-for-ipad.html and works fine. Not sure about right click though.

 

[Helical-dNTP]

I have a targus stylus for my iPad that I tried on the trackpad. I put on a leather garden glove as well as a glove with rubber grip glued to it and both worked with a slight pressure applied. However I wrapped the stylus in a sock and got no response on the trackpad. Most likely the sock was too thick to allow the stylus to conduct my body's electrical charge.

Big thing here is you need to somehow connect your body to the stylus, or the electric charge that your body possesses. I actually did a little experimenting and found that if I wrapped an iron wire around my wrist and touched it to the stylus, with the sock still wrapped around I was able to use the stylus on the trackpad. The wire was very rusty and i'm sure not the greatest of conductor but it worked. I tried simply touching the stylus as well as put the wire through a loop provided at the top of the stylus as a necklace attachment and both worked fine. My suggestion would be to try something similar, use a conducting material to connect your body to the stylus. By looking at the picture, I would say that the typing aid would not conduct electricity, especially if its a rubber tip as rubber is a very poor conductor. You would need something like a stylus that can connect your body's charge with the trackpad. I'm thinking you could try a Grounding Strap used to discharge static electricity when repairing electronics. Wrap the strap around your wrist/arm and attach the alligator clip to the stylus. This seems much more comfortable to me than a wire wrapped around your wrist. Either way, do a little experimenting and good luck in your search. This would be very beneficial seeing as everything is going to touch these days

The grounding strap is available at any computer store if you don't want to purchase online. Although I suggest online since the last time I went to look for one, radio shack didn't carry them in stock and they were much more expensive at the local computer repair store.