Seriously Lenovo, no touchpad?!

NOPE.

P.S. But as far as trackpoint goes, I definitely prefer the fuzzy dome to the other two varieties--it also looks the best

 

Also you can use a trackpoint with damp fingers unlike a touch pad.

And part of my middle finger is not skin so I wich I had a trackpoint.

 

I wish they come up with more color choices, for example, deep golden yellow would look nice on a black keyboard --is there any request more modest and easier to meet than this one, Lenovo?

 

Because it is an Ideapad and is mass marketed. If it was next to some other subnotebook the user might say "Well this one has buttons on the side of the touch pad, ..this one has this stupid eraser head..and this one has the good one" (good one being a normal touch pad)

I wish they would make a thinkpad netbook that has 2 ram slots.

 

x200s is the closest you are likely to get (lighter than a netbook, with a much better keyboard/TrackPoint, 2 RAM slots). Unfortunately it is 3-5 times the price of most netbooks (depending on configuration).

 

Do you mean in order to upgrade the memory in an ideapad you have to take out the original memory card and replace it, rather than just adding one?

 

I am pretty sure that is the case with the S10. I believe the U110 and U330 have 2 RAM slots.

 

Scrolling with the TrackPoint is easier than the touchpad. In fact, scrolling with the TrackPoint is even easier than 2 finger scrolling on my MBP.

Just increase the sensitivity of the TrackPoint a few notches and it should be lighter on the finger.

IMHO, I still like using my high end gaming mouse a lot.

High-end mouse > TrackPoint > Low-end mouse > Touchpad

 

The decision to put only a touchpad on the Dell E4200 as opposed to having only a trackpoint (assuming they had to axe one or the other) is one of the biggest drawbacks of that notebook (the non-standard home/end pgup/pgdwn key locations is also annoying). Lenovo made the right decision on both situations.

 

I wanted to thank Zaz for his balance in reporting. Zaz, I have tried them both, and like you, like the touchpad as opposed to the trackpoint.

Renee

 

SONY - welcome to the trackpoint proponents club!
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/29/sony-teases-the-vaio-ps-keyboard-and-tracking-nub/

 

Glad to see it. Although I doubt they will make it work as well as IBM/Lenovo does (I remain tremendously disappointed by the TrackPoint equivalents on Dell/HP business laptops).

 

I agree.

Nonetheless, it's nice to see the pointing stick used in a netbook. Hope other makers pick it up.

 

I'm banking on the fact that I'll adjust to the Trackpoint after over a decade of Touchpad use -- I just ordered the X200 Tablet yesterday...

At least the tablet has the stylus to fall back on...

 

Start your TrackPoint exercises/tuning from a contents scrolling (vertically and horizontally).
It is both the simplest and (one of) the most spectacular way of navigation!
:wink:

 

The scrolling feature of the TrackPoint is definitely the sweetest feature. Normally, with a mouse, whenever you middle click on an image or link in a browser, it would open in a new window/tab, but with the middle click on the TrackPoint, you can middle click anywhere and scroll without worrying about that. Also, the speed of scrolling depends on the pressure you put on the nub. Very sophisticated.

 

This is definitely one of the best features. However, I am currently having trouble getting it to work on my desktop. I use a Space Saver II (PS/2 model) and Vista drivers (especially 64 bit) don't seem to exist. So I am having to make do with smooth scrolling on my desktop for the moment .

One other tip for the TrackPoint is to reduce the touch required to activate it. By default I think it is way too stiff and slow (the pressure sensitivity makes even the lightest touch setting work for very precise movements).

You should also try the different nub options. Your ThinkPad should come with 3 different ones: soft dome (installed), classic dome (eraserhead), and soft rim (concave). I have historically preferred the classic dome as it is the easiest to use (tremendous traction due to its texture). However, the classic dome is textured like sandpaper and it can get fatiguing with continuous use so I am currently using the soft rim.

 

Thanks for all the tips, folks!

That little nub is a lot more versatile and full-featured than I thought!

 

I have a T61p with the ultranav, and I solely use the trackpoint. I went into the Thinkvantage fn-F8 and completely turned off the touchpad. I hate touchpads. The trackpoint is fantastic. I even converted my wife from touchpads to the trackpoint, and she won't use the touchpad anymore either.

 

I shall use your wife's experience as an inspiration!

 

i disabled touchpad on my X300 from BIOS , who uses touchpad when trackpoint is there !

 

I use both since there are certainly benefits to each. It wouldn't kill Lenovo to include both.

 

Not in the small space of a 12" or smaller laptop. In fact I wish more netbook manufacturers would include a trackpoint or optical.

 

Agreed.

Many of the ThinkPad imitators (HP Compaq, and Dell Latitude) use both a touchpad and pointing stick in 12" laptops. Invariably the pointing stick suffers (undersized buttons, no scroll, etc.).

It is not possible to have a 7 row keyboard, quality TrackPoint, AND quality touchpad in a 12.1" notebook. Even on the 13.3" x300 (and to a lesser degree the 14.1" T400) the touchpad is undersized compared to notebooks that only carry the touchpad (especially Apple with their extremely generous Touchpads).

In my opinion, TrackPoint is the only way to go, especially on notebooks of 12.1" or less.

 

Any ideas if trackpoint gets less stiff over time?

The one on 12" hp notebook was much much softer, but now I use T61 for a few months, and the thing still requires a decent push to move cursor from one corner of a screen to another.

 

TrackPoint sensitivity is ADJUSTABLE.

1. Press Fn+F8 to bring up the configuration tool.
2. This will bring up mouse properties.
3. Click on the TrackPoint or UltraNav tab.
4. Set it to your desired level (I prefer one notch left of the lightest touch)
5. Standard scrolling also generally works better with TrackPoints

This should fix your problem.

 

I also have HP with a TrackPoint (aka PointStick). And, indeed, it is much more sensitive.
For instance, with HP, it is easy to drag'n'drop (or select a text) only by pressing (not tapping) slightly the knob. Actually, my left PointStick button is almost unused.

I cannot make the ThinkPad's TrackPoint equally sensitive either.

 

TrackPoints rock. I have always liked them and now that I actually have an X200 plus a T400 in our household I have to say that even when there is a touchpad on your ThinkPad, not only is the TrackPoint far superior, but the touchpads on ThinkPads suck! Not to mention both ThinkPad and TrackPoint are abbreviated TP .

 

Another poster gave you the information about changing the settings, but I wanted to clear up what I think is a misconception - the trackpoint itself does not move. It measures the amount of pressure placed on it and uses that to move the pointer.

This is one reason that, when users complain about the pointer drifting, the first piece of advice is to take their finger off it when not actually moving the pointer as it will measure the (slight) pressure and constantly try to recalibrate its position.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trackpoint

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/TrackPoint

 

Just received X200s.

With a soft dome cap,
TrackPoint Stick set to Light touch,
Press-to-select set to Slow press, and with
Enable dragging On,
I managed to mimic a (highly comfortable) HP's PointStick sensitivity :wink:

 

Just thought to clarify the names of the trackpoint,
classic dome = fuzzy dome = pencil eraser = the smallest cute trackpoint that has frictions all over, correct?
(I had mistaken the "classic dome" to be the soft dome because the latter is usually the one that comes with the product)

 

Yes - see the link I provided with the latest post. Or... simply below:
- classic dome

- soft dome

- soft rim

 

Thanks menos! I wonder why they don't put the classic one on the product.

 

They actually do! (all three are provided) :wink:

 

I only got the soft dome on mine... (X200)

 

I've actually disabled the trackpad in the BIOS on my T400. It simply can't compare to the TrackPoint. In fact, even a regular mouse is annoying compared to the TrackPoint now. It's amazing not having to move my finger/hand to move the cursor; I don't have to reposition my finger/mouse when I've moved the cursor too far across the screen.

Oh, and the TrackPoint scrolling feature is really nice too.

 

I started to read through all 9 pages of this thread and then decided it was mostly people debating personal preference, so I'll just add mine here.

1. I much prefer trackpoint to touchpad.
2. There is a very noticeable difference in feel and usability between the trackpoint on ThinkPads and that found on notebooks from other brands. IMO, you really can't reasonably say you don't like the trackpoint unless you've tried using them on a ThinkPad.
3. I *very* much miss the ThinkPad models of old that offered *only* a trackpoint. I would love it if they offered the choice of having either or. I understand the production costs of that, but hey, I want what I want. Plus, I think that implementing two separate sets of mouse buttons makes for a very cluttered look.

FWIW.