ThinkPad TrackPoint red caps!

Found a great place to order these!
Cheaper than eBay.
Only 1.79$ per pack (3pcs). Ordered 3 packs and recently got them. The only drawback is that it takes about 2 weeks (at least for Canadian customers) to get those.

Hope this helps someone save time and money

 

is it cheaper than this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/3-X-Pointer-Tra...em&pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item335cc2e139
only 0.99$, free worldwide shipping

//I would have purchased this if stupid Paypal has not limited my account for no reason

 

Oh, then I missed it
Anyway, you don't need to have a PayPal account if ordering from Suntekstore. They can directly charge your credit card (that's what I did).

 

I've heard these caps are not as good as the OEMs though... Are the differences noticeable?

 

We have a W510 at home and its stock cap looks and feels exactly as the new ones. I don't sense any difference. Plus, I replaced the 8740w' stock one with the TP cap and it feel 10x better now.
So dunno...

 

Are these interchangeable between the 3?

 

yup, you can use all of these on your Thinkpad (but one at a time, of course)

 

Haha thanks! Of course one at a time!

 

I also find the TP caps to do better than the stock ones on HP Elitebooks. Funny...

 

I've had a genuine, red Lenovo TrackPoint cover on my HP Elitebook 6930p since December. Keyboard is still awful. ;-)

 

Thanks for the heads up Vimvq1987... Just ordered 3 packs.

 

no doubt about this. I found Elitebook and Latitude's caps are far worse than Tp's ones. Just doubt why HP and Dell not do some R&D to improve their quality

 

Yes.

This is not my experience. I ordered these cheap TrackPoint caps from 2 different sellers on eBay.

While these caps from i.e. Hong Kong are very cheap and look more or less exactly like the genuine ones, the rubber compound is different and more oily. If you look very closely at the attachment area (bottom) and the edge of the Soft Dome, you will see slight differences in thickness and surface.

Especially on the Soft Dome you will feel it being much more slippery and less solid in texture compared to the genuine one and a real PITA to use if you're used to the great feel of the real thing. If you try to wash the "oil" off with i.e. detergent it will only help a little bit for a short while and become all slippery within no time.

It is less apparent on the Soft Rim and Classic Dome due to the different design.

Of course, if you are one of those types who has the sensitivity of a brick wall, you would probably disagree

 

@Jabba: interesting to know it. have not had a chance to try myself. So, have you purchased some "genuine" trackcaps? Can you please tell us where to order them?

 

Have you ordered yours from eBay or Suntekstore?
Maybe I have a poor sensitivity, but as a person who had a very good frag-rate in AA2.x and was even banned for eliminating entire clans (using TP instead as a mouse), -
I don't feel any difference between the original and the new ones. They are not oily or slippery. They look and feel identical.
But that's my personal , biased impression of course.

 

at last Paypal restored my acc, just ordered it, now, just wait and see

 

Is there any place that sells black TP track point caps? I’m using one of the track points from my HP on my x200t, because I think the black makes the overall appearance of the laptop look better. If I could buy the TP track point in black, I would buy a fair amount of them.


NOTE: Even the blue that the enter key is colored would work.

 

don't think Lenovo/IBM produced Trackpoint in any other colour other than red for the trackpoint.

 

Perhaps the ones sold by Suntekstore are really as good as the genuine ones - but at that price I doubt it. The one's I ordered were from 2 different stores on eBay at similar price (0.99$ per pack). Again the cap that is most noticeable is definitely the Soft Dome.

 

I have ordered some from that 99 cent place. They have been shipped. Will report how they are. Considering Lenovo want $13.00 plus shipping for a set...Its worth a try.

Not to mention they show the packaging in the picture which is the same as the IBM ones I have from 7 or 8 years ago. So I am betting they are just fine and the exact same thing, probably come from the same factory.

We will see I guess, its only 3 bucks and 9 caps if they suck!

 

Soft Dome is the one I'm using all the time.
I switched to the suntek ones about a week ago, will report if there's a change but so far - perfect both on my old R40 and HP8740w (funny that TP caps work far better on those than their stock tips, lol )

 

Interesting. Perhaps I'll order a set from SuntekStore and try it out. Not that I need extra caps, but curious to find out.

 

My order from the ebay link for 99cent's for 3 arrived today. They are exactly the same item that Lenovo charges 13 bucks for. They are even in the exact same part number ziplock baggies as the ones I ordered from years ago for my T4x series laptop.

Just the delivery time is a little slow, over 3 weeks. So if you are desperate for them order somewhere else.

99 cents for 3 caps is a great deal. They are the exact same item as the lenovo product. Spend 13 bucks with Lenovo if you like, but I will order again from the same ebay shipper at the start of this thread.

Edit -- I had my GF check it out if there is any difference to her. She says there seems to be a small difference to her delicate fingers. Feels the 99 cent ones are softer to her. So perhaps Neego and JabbaJabba are onto something.

 

My order from the same eBay linked came in yesterday. It doesn't really feel as solid as the one that came with the laptop; it feels a tiny bit squishier and shinier. They also don't stick to the black holder piece very well due to a larger hole, but I guess that doesn't really matter if you will be pressing down on it anyways (unless you constantly switch TrackPoint which results in the black holder piece being stuck to the laptop rather than under your TrackPoint).

Delivery is slow but I guess that's oversea for you.

These are OK; I never bought or had a set of these TrackPoints before so I really can't compare their qualities (except Soft Dome to Soft Dome).

 

Will the real Track Point Tips please stand up?

You have some saying the eBay points are exactly the same and some saying it isn't. So which is it? My track point from my HP no longer works well with my pointing stick, so I need to order some.

Post the order link to the right ones again, just so I'll know. Thanks!

 

The ones I got for 99 cents came in the bag which looked exactly like the original as well, with the part no and all. That does not make them exactly the same item though quality wise. Nowadays everything is copied, down to the packaging.

Your experience is very similar to mine.


Although I cannot prove it, I am confident the cheap ones are knock off copies and I think people who know genuine trackpoint caps well and have a certain level of sensitivity in their fingers, can tell.

 

I guess I was on ignore, so I just ordered these.

15 X Pointer TrackPoint Red Cap for IBM Thinkpad Laptop - eBay (item 280540257871 end time Aug-25-10 15:18:49 PDT)

Just realized shipping is from China, o well!

 

You will know which one is real after a while, according to my friends there are several different manufacturers for these knockoffs and quality varies between each one of them......

low quality in some of the knockoffs are more obvious in others, some are really oily and has a weird smell (he suggested that you should not use them and chuck it in the bin, they have a high concentration of Phthalate and other nasty chemicals that you wouldn't want to touch without gloves)..... there maybe a high concentration of Phthalate in all these knockoffs, which increases flexibility in low quality elastomer.

OEM Thinkpad trackpoint caps are made in Japan, and they have a higher standards in the use of chemical additives in consumer products.

 

Just got my track points in today and I must say they are perfect!

Each bag has “Made in Japan” written on it alone with P/N 91P8421, there are so many I can even experiment with color. Super deal for $3.99 shipped!




OMG!:

I just realized I have 18 caps 6 x 3

 

Ordered. At that price its worth having a ton of extra spares on hand (I already had about six).

 

I will take 2 bags with me tomorrow, I already know a few friends that will also want some new caps and for free LOL! I will start taking off the caps from the other computers in the house and replacing them with these, hopefully I will have 2 complete bags left over for me as spares!

Soft Rim Trackpoint Caps FTW!

 

I agree to a point!

Soft Rim and Classic Dome feel like what I had before, but the Soft Dome does have a slippery feel to it. So if that is your trackpoint of choice, you might want to think twice about this purchase. I'm very sensitive with feel, and it does bother me using the Soft Dome. I did say perfect, but that was before I tried the Soft Dome. So if you order from anywhere else besides Lenovo, you might want to keep that in mind.

 

Agreed. Although, I use the classic dome (eraserhead/cat's tongue) on my Space Saver IIs.

 

Most likely, all the classic dome track points will be used on our Dell notebooks. I myself love the feel of both, but the soft rim track point truly made the transition from touch pad to track point easier. In fact, I prefer track point now over touch pad and thought that would never happen! My notebook is complete now, I feel very satisfied!

 

just received trackpoints (shipped ten days ago). 0,99$ and it says that "made in japan". compared with my "genuine" trackpoint and saw no differences