New T61: USB vs BT travel mouse?/sleeve/screen protection?

[esmail]

Hello,

My new T61 w/ XP arrived yesterday and so far I am thrilled with it. It's like a
faster, newer and nicer T23 which it replaces.

A few questions/requests for suggestions:

* A travel mouse - USB or Bluetooth? Is one preferable to the other? What
about impact on battery life?I tried the Dell BT mouse, it had a slight
delay, but nothing that would bother me. The mouse seemed nice enough.

* A sleeve to keep the T61 in while carrying it in my backpack/shoulder bag?

* I've noticed that a lot of mac users put a thin piece of cloth on the keyboard
before the close the lid to protect the screen. Anyone else do that with their
T61? On my T23 (and T560x) I did get some imprints (for lack of a better term)
on the screen.

Specific recommendations would be great, I am still installing basic software and
updating the OS/drivers, but so far I am very happy with it. I will have to sit down
and read the manual, still haven't been able to connect to my linksys wireless router
and I don't know if there's a way for the screen brightness setting to stick between
reboots - but all in time.

Thanks & Happy New Year.

Esmail

[Peak2Peak]

snip... A travel mouse - USB or Bluetooth? ...snip

Recently I was loaned mini-sized Bluetooth travel mouse for approx a month to evaluate - It was un-branded, had no problems pairing up with my T60p, did not interfere with my other bluetooth devices connected to my PC and used 2 x AAA Alkaline Batt's which I swapped for 900mAh AAA rechargeable batt's - I only had to re-charge them once - my usage was approx 3 - 4 hours a day.

I thought the small footprint would be a problem, I was wrong!, it simply was great to use and very light-weight as well. (I currently use a Typhoon wireless laser mouse with USB charging cradle, which is standard size and slightly heavy!). What really impressed me was how this mouse tracked - it was smooth and accurate (just like my laser mouse), worked on 90% of most surfaces offered to it and did not show any signs of slowness or propagation delay.

My client who loaned me the mouse said it was sent to him for taking up a magazine subscription!!! (he also mentioned another family member also took out the subscription, received the mouse and gave it away!)

If your T61 8897CTO was ordered with bluetooth built in, you also have an advantage of not having to use a blutooth USB dongle which in turn saves on a USB port, this may be important if you intend to use multiple USB devices etc.

** Stop Press **
On ebay there is a bluetooth mouse which looks very similar if not the same by the pictures shown - search for 1000dpi Bluetooth Wireless Mouse + Bluetooth Dongle M12 ¦¦ seller is everyday4u

Hope this helps & Happy New Year to all

[scoot1212]

I have a screen protector from ShaggyMac.com for my T60. I think it is well worth the $12.95. I also have the MS bluetooth mouse but I'm looking to replace it with one that has an on/off switch and has 5 buttons. Most of the bluetooth mice only have 2 buttons and a scroll wheel.
Good luck,
Scott

[pibach]

I have x61t and bought a bluetooth mouse right away. But after getting used to the trackpoint, I never used the mouse again. Honestly, you don't need a mouse, trackpoint is better, IMHO.

[esmail]

I have x61t and bought a bluetooth mouse right away. But after getting used to the trackpoint, I never used the mouse again. Honestly, you don't need a mouse, trackpoint is better, IMHO.

Hi,

I do like the trackpoint a lot, this is my 3rd Thinkpad, and one of the reasons for sticking with the TP is the trackpoint

However, sometimes if I have to move around a lot on the screen etc, I prefer the external mouse. (In fact at some point I used the trackpoint so much I ended up with some sort of repetitive stress injury). Esp if I am working at a desk.

I do have built-in blue tooth on my TP 61, so I'm just trying to determine what's best in terms of use and also from a battery usage point of view. I don't anticipate using all 3 USB ports at the same time, so that's not an issue.

Cheers

[esmail]

I have a screen protector from ShaggyMac.com for my T60. I think it is well worth the $12.95.

cool .. thanks for the pointer, I'll check it out.

I also have the MS bluetooth mouse but I'm looking to replace it with one that has an on/off switch and has 5 buttons. Most of the bluetooth mice only have 2 buttons and a scroll wheel.
Good luck,
Scott

have you noticed any sort of lag with the BT mouse? Why did you choose BT over USB?


Do you have any particular mouse in mind for replacement?

sorry for all the questions ...

[pibach]

I did not feel any lag with the bluetooth maus, only after standby it takes ~1s to reconnect.

Regarding battery, I did not notice a significant draw, might be araound 0,1 Watt, for the bluetooth wireless on the Thinkpad.

But with the bt mouse there are significant differences in power consumption up to factor of 10! Be careful to get the right one. If you need to recharge every day it is getting annoying. But there seem to be some that can last weeks with one charge.

[esmail]

snip... A travel mouse - USB or Bluetooth? ...snip

Recently I was loaned mini-sized Bluetooth travel mouse for approx a month to evaluate - It was un-branded, had no problems pairing up with my T60p, did not interfere with my other bluetooth devices connected to my PC and used 2 x AAA Alkaline Batt's which I swapped for 900mAh AAA rechargeable batt's - I only had to re-charge them once - my usage was approx 3 - 4 hours a day.

that's pretty good ...

I thought the small footprint would be a problem, I was wrong!, it simply was great to use and very light-weight as well.
<...>
What really impressed me was how this mouse tracked - it was smooth and accurate (just like my laser mouse), worked on 90% of most surfaces offered to it and did not show any signs of slowness or propagation delay.

My client who loaned me the mouse said it was sent to him for taking up a magazine subscription!!! (he also mentioned another family member also took out the subscription, received the mouse and gave it away!)

sounds like a winner.

My T61 has BT built-in so I have a choice. I don't forsee using all the USB ports at the same time, so it's a matter of functionality and battery usage considerations.

Thanks for the lead on the mouse on eBay, I'll be checking it out.

Happy New Year,

Esmail

[esmail]

I did not feel any lag with the bluetooth maus, only after standby it takes ~1s to reconnect.

cool.

But with the bt mouse there are significant differences in power consumption up to factor of 10! Be careful to get the right one. If you need to recharge every day it is getting annoying. But there seem to be some that can last weeks with one charge.

Ok, the question then is .. how do you know if it's the "right one" ?

[scoot1212]

I have been thinking about this mouse for about year. http://www.radtech.us/Products/BT600.aspx

The only lag that I notice is when I don't use my mouse for a bit and it goes into sleep mode and it has to wake up. I went with the bluetooth mouse because I hate wires on my mice and any sort of dongle that sticks out. Although, if i had to buy a wireless mouse I would consider the VX Nano from logitech. I have to say that I will never buy a bluetooth/wireless mouse again that doesn't have a power switch.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_ ... 1&cl=us,en

Good luck.
Scott

[ducky2802]

I use a sheet of screen cleaning cloth which comes like 10 to a pack with the screen cleaning pump spray bottle. Recently, I use the nushield screen protector and absolutely love it.

[rk62]

Agree on the ShaggyMac screen protector...I think RadTech makes them as well but they're a bit cheaper at ShaggyMac IIRC, have one each for my T60 and X31.

On the sleevecase, you can't beat Waterfield's:

http://www.sfbags.com/products/sleeveca ... ecases.htm

[pae77]

There is a whole recent thread on mice for TP's which you might want to review:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... bbbfe9ea99

[esmail]

I have been thinking about this mouse for about year. http://www.radtech.us/Products/BT600.aspx

The only lag that I notice is when I don't use my mouse for a bit and it goes into sleep mode and it has to wake up. I went with the bluetooth mouse because I hate wires on my mice and any sort of dongle that sticks out. Although, if i had to buy a wireless mouse I would consider the VX Nano from logitech. I have to say that I will never buy a bluetooth/wireless mouse again that doesn't have a power switch.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_ ... 1&cl=us,en

Good luck.
Scott

Scott,

this one looks pretty nice too .. fairly basic, but I think I may get it.

Logitech V470 Bluetooth Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks - Blue

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UY ... L18X79LXXZ

[esmail]

Agree on the ShaggyMac screen protector...I think RadTech makes them as well but they're a bit cheaper at ShaggyMac IIRC, have one each for my T60 and X31.

On the sleevecase, you can't beat Waterfield's:

http://www.sfbags.com/products/sleeveca ... ecases.htm

Not familiar with Waterfields .. thanks .. I will check it out

[esmail]

There is a whole recent thread on mice for TP's which you might want to review:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... bbbfe9ea99

Great! thanks .. that's just the thread I need to read

[bill bolton]

I use a Logitech VT280 BT mouse for portable use (it has an on/off switch) and a MS BT mouse (no on/off switch) in my office where my work T43 is often used with a mini-dock. Both work very well.

The on/off switch is only important on a travel mouse, where an accidently pressed in button while travelling can quickly discharge a battery. The battery life on my MS BT mouse in desktop use is excellent, but it was a battery life disaster for travel use.... so much so I resorted to pulling the batteries out when packing it away when travelling.

Fortunately the introduction of the VT280 solved that problem.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[esmail]

Bill, your post made me curious so I tried to google for Logitech VT280 but came up empty.


But what about this one? I came across this yesterday.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UY ... L18X79LXXZ

Logitech V470 Bluetooth Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks - Blue

It's a bit pricey, but looks great and seems to have the basics (incl right/left wheel control) and on/off switch.

[tylerwylie]

Ok, the question then is .. how do you know if it's the "right one" ?

Apparently you just know when you hold it.

[bill bolton]

I tried to google for Logitech VT280 but came up empty.

Sorry, that should have been VT270.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[esmail]

Just as a quick follow up, I received the Logitech VT470 and was disapointed.

* there is a noticable lag when I have wireless on (which is 99% of the time when I would be using the BT mouse). I understand that this only happens (or that the possibility exists for this) with BT mice which share the same frequencey as wifi.

* I think pushing the click wheel takes too much force. I guess I am used to the MS mice so maybe I'll have to see if there's an equivalent wireless USB version of the MS Wheel mouse.

Also, I found the mouse a bit too small. I don't have particularly large hands, if anything the opposite.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my impressions of this mouse with the rest of the forum. Back to re-reading the earlier posts and seeing what what.

[pae77]

Some of the non BT wireless Logitech mice, such as for example, the VX Revolution and the VX Nano, have a nearly frictionless scroll wheel setting which does not click or offer hardly any resistance and allows one to flick and spin the scroll wheel and it spins freely allowing one to scoll many pages with one flick of the wheel. For example, with the Nano, I can scroll from the top of this thread to the bottom with one medium strength flick of the scroll wheel! The VX Nano is quite small, the VX Revolution, a little bigger but still on the small side. The MX Revolution is quite large with more buttons and two scroll wheels and I believe it has the frictionless scroll wheel option for the main scroll wheel. None of the above mice are BT mice as far as I recall and all are laser.

I am currently using the VX Nano mostly with the frictionless scroll wheel setting, which is very nice with no lag (not Bluetooth), but I think I would have preferred the slightly larger VX Revolution which I am waiting for a good deal on before I buy.

All the recent wireless Microsoft mice I have tried (such as the BT Wireless Laser 8000) (which is large and has very precise tracking and no noticeable lag during wireless use in my system) have a fairly stiff resisting but very smooth feeling scroll wheel that can not spin freely at all the way the above described Logitech mice can. Although I liked the MS Wireless Laser 8000, once I got used to the nearly frictionless scroll wheel of the VX Nano, I think it would be hard for me to go back to any other kind of scroll wheel. The "nearly frictionless" scroll wheel feature is addicting.