Touchpad vs pointer

I am a long-time user of the finger pointer on IBMs. I know it has a name but can't recall it now. I am looking around at laptops and notice that very few have it. Has anyone successfully converted to using the touchpad -- i've tried using my touchpad more but I just find it soo much slower. Do I need to give it more time? What are people's opinions? The Sony Z looks pretty amazing except no finger pointer!

 

Trackpoint, nub, nipple...etc.

Nobody has a trackpoint-esque implementation that is anywhere near what is on a Thinkpad; sorry.

And you can get use to touch pads if they are responsive and smooth, but I pretty like having a trackpoint all the time.

 

haha I owned a sony for 1 month and I missed trackpoint and the keyboard so much =)) although i have an external monitor so i use external mouse too

 

Isometric joystick is the technical term for the pointstick. Both my ThinkPads are pointstick only, but I prefer the trackpad.

 

I didn't quite go all the way .

 

my friend calls it a bull's eye...

 

I know personally I am terrible with any touchpad that is not an Apple one. The touchpads that Apple has on their notebooks is fantastic and a standard that the market should emulate. Other than that, it's "pointer" all the way.

 

Macbook Pro has the best touchpad by far, and Thinkpad has the best trackpoint by far....

 

i had an ibm and never liked that stupid nub. it would always overshoot where i was trying to point it and it felt unatural to right and left click. your suppose to be able to tap the top of the nib and make that act like a click as well but it works like crap.

i think if i used it longer i could get over the overshooting and get better aim but the nib never felt natural to me. give me my macbook pro glass trackpad anyday.

 

You could adjust the sensitivity.
And the nub doesn't really press like a mouse so well, which is why you have the mouse buttons at your thumbs, in a very ergonomic and well laid out fashion.

It does take a little bit getting use to but once you master it, I find it to be a superior method of navigation.

 

which is why you are an Apple Macbook user now....

 

I'm quite fond of the TrackPoint myself. I even use it on my desktop (IBM Space Saver II keyboard) as I prefer it to a mouse in most situations (especially any activity in which I also type).

 

The space saver II keyboard has such a good response (used at my friend's house this morning), i loved it, i am going to get one from ebay or something.

 

I wonder if Lenovo is reintroduce something like the space saver II, it seem like the perfect keyboard I would use for my desktop.

Edit: Never mind I believe unicom now own the patent or something on the "buckling spring"

 

any recommendation for a usb keyboard/trackpoint?
thanks
Ps: something unrelated: how do i control the fan? my compt has had fan running the whole time and it's not even hot or i'm not running anything intensive

 

Trackpoint rules. I've always hated touchpads and used external mice instead. IMO, trackpoint is the ultimate solution and anyone who says different just ain't thinkin straight.

 

tpfancontrol if you want to control your fan.

And some people just mentioned usb/trackpoint keyboards in this thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/480630-looking-external-thinkpad-keyboard.html

 

no i use both. its quit beneficial to me to be able to switch at will. regardless of os. i still prefer the trackpad

 

Trackpoint is difficult to use, and press-to-click is near impossible when you want to double click. Touchpad is much more friendly, makes more sense to more people. That's why most laptops don't have trackpoint anymore, it's not a feature in demand. Enough said.

 

I've always thought more choice was a good thing.

I'm sort of conflicted about the stick. Scrolling on the stick is the best and moving the cursor via the stick has it's advantages, especially on a high resolution screen like mine, but I find I'm not as accurate with the stick, which can be irritating at times.

I bought the R60e palm rest for my R60. I've been trackpadless for the last three months. While I'm better and I can use either, I'd still prefer a touchpad. Just from a style perspective the touchpadless palm rest looks much better.

 

I never use the trackpoint, but i understand some people use it a lot and it is like a signature of thinkpad.
Ever since i got my new W510, i fall in love with the new touchpad. It has the multi touch gesture touchpad. Two finger zoom in/out, rotation. two finger double tipping and three point touch to open up application....
I really hope lenovo give you the option to add a much better touchpad. So some with trackpoint + smaller touchpad and some with just a big touchpad.

 

That would require more keyboards though to remove the mouse buttons from the trackpoint setup.

And I find it amusing when people say that a trackpad makes more sense. Only because that's what people are use to.

They are both quite logical methods of input control. Trackpoint is just a joystick...

 

I agree with ZaZ and jaredy. I'm used to the Trackpoint and find it completely natural since I don't have to take my hands off the keyboard to use it. However, even though I don't have the hand/eye coordination to use a touchpad, I don't begrudge others the choice since I can and do choose to disable the touchpad.

 

Fingers never have to travel far from home row... if you are a serious typist, you must love the stick. If you aren't, then obviously the touchpad is for you.

 

Pointing device is pretty much useless if it's not "precise". The stick doesn't have the accuracy of touchpad and it recalibrates itself to a point of annoyance. If I have given a pointing device one month of practice and still find it hard to use, then it's no good. Mouse and touchpad didn't take me nearly as long to get comfortable with.

 

That's you. Don't treat it as an absolute for everyone else. As we have said repeatedly, different users like different things. I can say that I find the trackpad to not be a precise method of input for my use too, but that doesn't do anything productive either now does it?

 

TrackPoints are almost universally present on corporate/enterprise grade laptops, and absent on consumer ones (the Latitude, Elitebook and Thinkpad models that fit in aforementioned category). Even to this day, the comparable Elitebook 8440p and E6410 still have them. So companies definitely want it--it could be an ergonomic, OSHA type necessity, though.

I haven't personally used an HP "pointing stick", but My T410's is way better than my work Latitude D630 version.

Man, TrackPoint is so old school though. You're definitely missing out on multi-touch by foregoing use of the Touchpad.

I would get a Unicomp Eudora Pro myself, but I'm VERY biased to buckling spring keyboards whose technology was originally developed by IBM. I got the customizer 104. I guess that makes me old school, too

 

I'm gonna miss the trackpoint moving to my ideapad. Maybe because the touchpad was small (from what it looks like the 15" ThinkPads have much bigger touchpads than in the past) but I liked that it can go anywhere on the screen as opposed to having to move off the touchpad to keep moving the pointer.

Also, middle mouse button for scrolling. 'nuff said.

Call me crazy but is there such a thing as an external trackpoint? Without having to buy the full keyboard of course.

 

I can't say enough good things about Thinkpad trackpad - just amazing engineering. It's one reason I bought a X series, among some other important features including portability and battery.

 

@BriS2k

The x201 trackpad is quite small. Do you find it is still very usable despite its size? I tried it a bit on a demo x201t at CES, but haven't had extensive use with it. Seems almost too small in my opinion. I am fine with the trackpoint though but was just wondering.