Thinkpads Forum

Puppy wrote:Few months ago Fuji has announced a retro-style compact camera X100 for professional and enthusiast photographers. The price is expected to be around 1200 USD per unit. And yes, they don't have even 15000 confirmed preorders The customers gets their lovely "X40" stuffed with the latest technology.

I guess, that from Fujitsu sales figures they may conclude that such a camera will sell well. And it seems that from Lenovo sales figures Lenovo may only conclude that demand for an IPS option is vanishingly small; and of course you need 15000 confirmed preorders to make them change their mind.

penartur wrote:I guess, that from Fujitsu sales figures they may conclude that such a camera will sell well.

The real test is if they continue the product line.

There's plenty of history in the digital camera market of models which never made it past a single product cycle, because the anticipated market demand wasn't actually there for a sustainable product line (that is, the market became saturated with a single release).

Cheers,

Bill B.

If they really do release this machine without separate buttons for the touchpad, it negates a lot of value in having a touchpad in the first place. It would be a boneheaded mistake to kiss away a huge percentage of the market for the new laptop. I don't know any touchpad users that never use the buttons.

I think they're doing te same with the touchpad as apple does: the bottom part of the touchpad is used as buttons.

What's wrong with the buttons just above the touchpad ? Never saw the sense in having two sets of buttons.

amardeep wrote:What's wrong with the buttons just above the touchpad ? Never saw the sense in having two sets of buttons.

It is because people are using the forefinger to point somewhere on the touchpad (or the trackpoint) and the thumb to press on the buttons.
And how are you going to use touchpad with the buttons on the top? What finger will you use to point somewhere on the touchpad? What finger will you use to press on the buttons? The only way i see is to place thumb on the touchpad and forefinger on the buttons, and it is really inconvenient.

it's very annoying to use the trackpoint-buttons with the touchpad, they are placed above the touchpad so you can't use your thumb to press the buttons. but this new touchpad is actually a pretty good idea of them: if you want buttons, you can configure the software 'buttons'. if you use the real trackpoint buttons, you could turn the software buttons off and have a bigger touchpad.

Fair enough. I don't use the touchpad, except sometimes for scrolling (even then I mostly use trackpoint and middle button).

Daniel Bakker wrote:it's very annoying to use the trackpoint-buttons with the touchpad, they are placed above the touchpad so you can't use your thumb to press the buttons.

Some people use the touchpad with both hands: one hand to move the mouse pointer, and the other hand to press the buttons. For these people, having the buttons above the touchpad would only be a minor inconvenience.

But I agree with others that the X220 touchpad will probably have buttons concealed under the touchpad, just like Apple's Magic Mouse.

It lets you enjoy more surface area for scrolling when you're not pressing a button. Quite clever, actually.

their probably gonna copy apple with the "whole trackpad" is the button(even though anyone that has used it knows it really only applies to the lower half, trying to click on the top is a joke)

I'd rather if the trackpad isn't included at all. or at least an option to not have it when your customizing it. I despise trackpads, I never use them, it would just be wasted space on the computer for me. albeit it would be better sense it doesn't have buttons if their isn't the option to go pro-touchpoint. but still, I hold my red flag with a tiny red dot on it to symbolize my loyalty to the touchpoint legions.

it is quite easy to setup a laptop company, even smallish computers store chain can organise a special run of laptops with their own logo on it. Most consumer laptops are designed and manufactured by ODM now like Compal, Quanta (i think Edge or X100e were manufactured by them), Wistron (use to be a major manufacturer of Thinkpads). But the question is whether you are going to something better than what is already on the current consumer laptop market? Probably no.

Regarding digital cameras and stuffs, there are also few ODM are around that can do 200 USD cameras with several off the shelf parts and features.

The most important difference between camera and laptop industry is the profit margin. A consumer laptop would yield 5% profit margin for the brand company and 5% for the ODM. Camera profit margin for the manufacturer (over 90% of them are in house designed) and brand company should be higher, lack of model customization also increases the economic of scale (you can get different colour for the same model that is the only customization).

It is probably better to compare the mobile phone industry with that of the general laptop industry, where manufacturings are constantly outsourced and profit margin took a dive when many companies chased cost leadership model. Nokia is a case in point.

I'm a huge fan of the trackpoint and I never thought I would use a computer without it. But then I got a Mac laptop and really the buttonless trackpad works very well. Ultimately I slightly prefer the trackpoint, but the Mac touchpad is really right up there. So to hear a new Lenovo will have my 2 favorite input systems is great news. I hope the trackpad will behave just like the Apple pad.


EDIT: Okay there is one caveat here. I have major issues with the "back" gesture in Safari with the Apple touchpad. I much prefer the trackpoint with All-in-one gestures in Firefox. It is my one complaint about the Apple touchpad, and unfortunately it is one issue I encounter several times daily.

sxr71 wrote:I'm a huge fan of the trackpoint and I never thought I would use a computer without it. But then I got a Mac laptop and really the buttonless trackpad works very well. Ultimately I slightly prefer the trackpoint, but the Mac touchpad is really right up there. So to hear a new Lenovo will have my 2 favorite input systems is great news. I hope the trackpad will behave just like the Apple pad.

Don't get your hope up. It's been two years since the introduction of the unibody Macbooks with those superb extra large glass trackpads. But I have yet found a non-Apple laptop with trackpad that come close to those on the Macbooks...