Built-in Touchpad or External Mouse - What is your preference?

Built-in Touchpad (or Pointing Stick) or External Mouse - What is your preference?

 

I use the touchpad when i'm on the road/in class and a logitech v270 bt mouse when i'm at a desk.

 

I use touchpad because I dont like having external things that are already bulit in the notebook.

JC

 

External 90% of the time. Its nearly impossible to click on the exact spot I need on a photo with the touchpad, not to mention its horrible for gaming. So external for me.

 

I'm half and half. It actually depends on my mood.

 

i use touchpad when I'm not at a desk, doing stuff like watching dvd, typing up homework, sometimes for surfing web.
the other 85% of the time, I use a mouse.

 

Half and half. Though if I'm going to be using my notebook for extended periods, I'll use an external mouse more.

Although I do like the convenience of the touchpad; I don't have to move my hands as far to get to it, as I do an external mouse.

 

I like the touchpad for the reasons stated above. With it, i can achieve the perfect union of man and machine. Add in an external mouse and the harmony is broken.

 

70% ext. Mouse 30% touchpad

 

95% Ext Mouse, 5% Touchpad.

 

A touchpad when I dont have a flat surface to work on, otherwise a mouse is the only way to go.

 

I've never really figured out the intricacies of touchpad use--and much prefer an external mouse. I'll even take my external mouse with me in my PC bag, but I will use the touchpad when it will suffice for simple tasks on the road.

 

When I am just surfing the net and goofing around the touchpad, any kind of gaming and the G5 comes out.

 

i use my G7 most of the time, probalby 90-95%

 

I use my V400 about 90% of the time. Depending on location and mood, ill sometimes use the touchpad.

 

I usually use my mouse, unless I am either to lazy to get it out of my bag, or my batteries died and I don't have any charged ones. I'd rather use an external mouse though.

 

same with me


including the mouse

 

easily the touchpad, can't see what is the problem with it. a mouse just takes up additional bag real estate.

 

Touchpads are aweful. Used to use a wireless (dongle) mouse but the dongle kept on banging inn to things and broke the USB port. Now I happily use a bluetooth mouse...

 

never used an External Mouse for over year now and i play wow and aoe just fine

 

I voted external mouse for two reasons. One, I've spent years behind desktops so I was used to the mouse. Two, my touchpad is not working under Vista RC1 so I can't use it anyway.

 

I'm about 80% mouse, 20% touchpad. I only use the touchpad when I'm not at my desk (which is only when I'm on the road or in class). At any other time I use a mouse. It's just more comfortable, accurate, and quicker.

 

exactly the same for me

 

Use touchpad Most of the time. It's too hard to use a mouse if I'm in the sack or on the couch with laptop on my lap.

I use a external mouse only on certain games that are too hard to play with touchpad.

I love the touchpad on my Acer. I HATE the red point stick on the IBM think pads.

 

65% mouse 35% touchpad. I use the touchpad when I'm at lectures.

Personally, I wouldn't use touchpad unless I had to.

 

I've always loathed touchpads, kept clicking on things when I didn't mean to and so on, but I absolutely love the trackpoint on my thinkpad and so I still haven't gotten around to getting a bluetooth mouse for it over a year after I got the notebook.

 

Mouse > trackpoint > touchpad

That's my preference anyway. I use my wired & BT mouse whenever I can.

I would say 80% mouse, 20% touchpad.

I've owned an IBM T41 before and would say 80% mouse, 15% trackpoint, 5% touchpad.

 

depend on the mood and condition; if it were just casual browsing or there is no or little room for using the mouse etc. i use trackpad, if i were in a bit of a hurry then external is the way to go.

 

I prefer the BT mouse, but frankly the bluetooth on this new m1210 isn't nearly as bombproof as my old inspiron was so it's kind of a hassle to use it. Still worth it most of the time though...

 

I was planning to buy a wireless mouse after I got my laptop. But after few hours I got used to the touchpad. Now I hv dropped the idea of the mouse. Why add another external item to carry around.

I even created some images for a web site with PhotoShop using the touchpad.
So i guess I'm happy with it.

 

Yup, same here.

 

99.5% external mouse, .5% touchpad.

I don't necessairly dislike touchpads, but I simply do not use them. I have probably used the touchpad on my Sager for all of about two minutes in the year I have owned it.
Normally, I'm at my desk and use a Razer Copperhead; away from the desk, I use a Microsoft Notebook Laser Mouse 6000.

 

Even though I'm not a fan of the Touch pad, I do work on a bench with many hazardous materials and having things connected to my notebook while working could be a problem. Space is really important so I use my touchpad 100% of the time even when I'm at home, also because I left my mouse at a cafe and I haven't had a chance to buy another one

 

70% external mouse, 30% touch pad. I use touch pad when I have to move my note book around the house.

 

That makes 3 of us.

 

How do you like that Notebook Laser Mouse? I've been looking at a good notebook mouse to get, and was looking at that, the VX Revolution and the Logitech v270 bluetooth mouse. I'm especially curious about one that would be wireless but still be useful for gaming (the main reason I'd want to use an external mouse and not my trackpad).

 

I just posted my thoughts on it here before I ran across this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=1626736#post1626736
To add a bit more to what I said there, I have never had any problems with the accuracy of the mouse (no skipping), and it is extremely compact (which is why I bought it). Battery life is also excellent. I have been using it for almost four weeks now on a single AA battery and have not gotten the low battery warning (the four weeks is comprised of two weeks of daily usage for several hours per day and two weeks on & off usage).

Feel free to PM me if you would like to know more.

 

That's cool, I think the ergonomics of it also probably concerned me a bit (just from holding the demo model they had at best buy). I was actually pretty impressed with the "feel" and ergonomics of the Logitech VX Revolution.

 

The VX is a beautiful mouse without a doubt. I would like to get one, but right now it is cost-prohibitive. I don't necessairly have a problem spending $80 on something, but $80 for a mouse is too much.

 

Yeah, as much as I like it, I definitely can't see paying $80 for it. I've seen some sales where it is closer to $65. I think when it gets to the point I can get it for around $55 I will probably pick one up.

 

I find it very very very annoying to use those touchpads. My laptop has a button that will turn my touchpad on/off and it hasnt been turned on since the first day i got my laptop!

 

It depends on the surface and where I am, at home i have a desk so the external mouse is a must. But if I'm on my bed or on the road the laptop is in my lap or something and an external mouse isn't feasible. I hate the stick mouse on some laptops, I've yet to master it lol, the touchpad is a great invention.

 

That's like a one-armed man saying he's a fast typist. Relatively he may be, but it's still not as good as it could be. Fortunately AoE and WOW don't need precision, fast mousing like a FPS does. Otherwise you'd see the error of your ways

 

I use an external mouse, keyboard and monitor when at home, but use the pointing stick when not at home. I can't bear touchpads though. They just feel so unresponsive.

 

I'm left handed and use the touchpad with my left hand and the mouse with my right hand - I got used to having a mouse on the right when computers were shared resources. Overall about 50%, 50%.

John

 

I'm left-handed also. I use the external mouse with my right hand, while I use my left hand to write and take notes.

I almost exculsively use the external mouse and currently have the touchpad disabled. I disabled the touchpad because occassionally I accidentally touched it while typing and lost some text.

My notebook includes a pointstick as well which I use briefly if the external mouse is not plugged-in. While the pointstick takes getting used to, I have never accidentally lost any text as a result of it being enabled.

 

both
It depends on what I feel like using at the time.

 

I have my pink saitek notebook mouse for when i'm working or at the desk and the touchpad for when i'm in bed or lounging around with the laptop on my knee.

 

98% Ext. Mouse. 2% Touchpad.

The mouse is faster and less tiring on the hand and wrist for me. Heehee, so lazy.

 

touch pads make me want to kill myself. when i type sometimes my hand grazes over the touch pad and it moves the cursor and i start typing on different lines and stuff. god i hate it. is there anyway to turn it off?