How to properly use the new Lenovo touchpads

Question

I'll admit to hating Lenovo's new touchpads at first (I purchased a Thinkpad T540p for myself and a relative got an IdeaPad). It felt impossible to click with any accuracy and I was close to returning my laptop largely because of the touchpad. Then I discovered I was using it completely wrong.
Most of us are accustomed to having dedicated physical buttons for left/middle/right clicking below the touchpad. With physical buttons, we usually had a finger on the touchpad and a thumb on the buttons. Because I was used to this style of doing things, I was trying to do that with the new touchpads: I would have my index finger sweeping around on the touchpad while my thumb was at the bottom for clicking. This led to all sorts of inaccuracies because the movement of my thumb and index finger would conflict with each other. Worse yet, when I clicked with my thumb this conflict would sometimes lead the cursor to move off of the item I was trying to click on.
Sound familiar? After I changed how I used my touchpad, I had a much more pleasant experience.
The thing to understand is that the new touchpads are basically a giant button. In other words, the entire touchpad surface can be used for clicking. You can press down anywhere on the touchpad and it will register as a click. Instead of keeping your thumb at the bottom of the touchpad for clicking, just use a your index finger to navigate around. When your cursor is over something you want to click, don't use your thumb! Just leave your index finger where it is and press down on the touchpad. "Click!" You don't have to use the bottom of the touchpad for clicking; the entire touchpad is one big button!
The next logical question: how do I right-click accurately? Yes, you could use the bottom right corner for right-clicking, but there's an easier way: place two fingers (e.g. your index and middle finger on the touchpad) and then press down. "Click!" Two fingers pressed down anywhere on the surface of the touchpad (aside from the corners which have already been assigned specific functions) will register as a right click.
Basically: just use your index finger to navigate to where you want the cursor to be, then use your index finger to press down to left-click or your index + middle finger to press down to right-click. DON'T use your thumb! It takes a little getting used to but now I completely enjoy Lenovo's new touchpad.
Alternatively: you can also gently tap with one or two fingers on the touchpad to left and right-click respectively. A "tap" is when you touch the touchpad and lift your finger(s) without pushing the touchpad down; a "click" is when you press down on the touchpad with your finger(s) with enough force to actually move the touchpad down and make an audible "click".
Hope this helps somebody!

Answer 1

Apologies for the double post, but I've made a video demonstration of how to use the new-style touchpads for those who are visual learners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH3lpHDHaPw
Hope it helps somebody!