Laptop without TouchPad? Weirdo ?

[sco1984]

Hello everybody,
A laptop without Touchpad...It sounds wierd right? Haha.... Yeah.
I have IBM ThinkPad R50e series laptop & unfortunattly it dont have TouchPad. Just TrackPoint. When i bought this laptop 1 & half year back, and started using, my fingers started getting pain. I was unable to hold TrackPoint for long time.

Later on by daily practise i felt TrackPoint is very cool than TouchPad. Today i dont use TouchPad of other laptops if they have TrackPoint. Some DELL laptops in my company has TrackPoint like
device. I know that TrackPoint is trade mark of IBM , thus i wont call
it a TrackPoint. But i am sure now you got idea what i am talking about. HP laptops touchpads are very sensitive. Even if we put finger on it slowly twice it fires a "Double click" command. It sucks.
I wish to throw that laptop on a face of its owner. Haha !!!!

TrackPoint is useful when typing fast and need some pointing device in between the keyboard. Its pretty cool. 1 advantage of my laptop is nobody can use TrackPoint, so they dont ask to borrow my laptop... Hehe !! Some employees otherwise ask for laptop. Very less people can operate TrackPoint of IBM ThinkPad. Ofcourse
ThinkPad owners do it efficiently no doubt. Others cant.

Regards,
Amey Abhyankar.

[tfflivemb2]

Whats really funny is watching someone use the trackpoint for the first time...watching them slide their finger across it, like it was a ball that they are trying to roll.... (Anyone remember the old Centipede Arcade game with the roller ball?)

[RUSH2112]

I despise touchpads. I will never buy a computer without a trackpoint. The R60e and X Series Thinkpads are the only new computers I know of that do not offer at least dual pointer options.

It is funny seeing people trying to use a computer without a touchpad for the first time. I have the fingerprint scanner, located right below the middle mouse button. I've seen people moving their finger over that as if its the mouse XD

[jdhurst]

<snip>
A laptop without Touchpad...It sounds wierd right? Haha.... Yeah.
<snip>

Actually, ThinkPads came for many years without a touchpad. The trackpoint was indeed part of the ThinkPad personna and fame.
... JD Hurst

[Miller88]

I prefer a regular mouse. Up until I got the T60, I never used a trackpoint and I had used a touchpad one or two times. It took me a while to get used to using the trackpoint, but I prefer that now instead of the touchpad.

[pianowizard]

fingers started getting pain. I was unable to hold TrackPoint for long time.

What kind of trackpoint cap are you using? Have you tried the Soft Rim? I have tried all three kinds, and the Soft Rim is the only one that doesn't cause any pain.

[Temetka]

I am in the minority here. I prefer touch pads. The TrackPoint is great for precision, but for general mousing the touchpad gets me where I need to go. I did slap a soft rim on my trackPoint and it does make a huge improvement. I love the fact that my T41P has dual options, 3 if I use an external mouse. That is just cool. Still I prefer the touchpad.

[pianowizard]

I am in the minority here.

I like both. The trackpoint is better during tasks involving lots of typing, because one doesn't need to move the fingers away from the keyboard. But for tasks that involve moving the mouse pointer a lot, the touchpad is better because it moves the pointer faster and is less taxing on the fingers. That's why I too prefer to have both trackpoint and touchpad.

[NS]

Trackpoint and touchpad, all i like...

I am using both the trackpoint and touchpad. Only when playing games, then i will use the IBM USB mouse.

[RUSH2112]

I should add that I prefer an external mouse to any trackpoint or touchpad. At home I use a Logitech MX Revolution and a Logitech V400 while away.

[TitleSeventeen]

when I first got into mobile computing i quickly got used to trackballs that alot of real old laptops used. Then a friend of mine had a very old pre-thinkpad IBM laptop that had the trackpoint and it just seemed natural to me. And anymore I plain out hate touchpads. And Dell's incarnation of the trackpoint is bad to say the least.

[rkawakami]

Can you tell what I use?

http://www.rkawakami.net/images/tp_fingers.jpg

Taken after about 10 minutes use on my T23. I guess that there's much to be said about the virtues of the soft rim style.... (and I found out how hard it is to take a picture of the right hand, using a 'right-handed' camera with the left hand). It's not painful but I have noticed that the finger tip has almost retained a permanent depression.

At work I use an IBM mouse connected to the A31 but at home, it's cat's tongue trackpoints and the touchpad on my Gateway.

[NS]

Can you tell what I use?

http://www.rkawakami.net/images/tp_fingers.jpg

The dome shaped trackpoint.

[tomh009]

Can you tell what I use?

http://www.rkawakami.net/images/tp_fingers.jpg

Taken after about 10 minutes use on my T23.

That's intense! Have you tried the soft dome? I used to have severe finger indentations with the cat's tongue as well, but with the soft dome I'm at the point that I can use the TrackPoint all day (including the Ultranav keyboard at the office) without wearing holes in my fingers ...

[JHEM]

Taken after about 10 minutes use on my T23.

Sorry to say that's the result of age induced edema Ray.

DAMHIKT!!

James the Ancient

[Nigellus]

My preference runs 1.) mouse 2.) trackpoint 3.) touchpad.

Touchpads are vile and should never have been created because they only bring lamentation and suffering. I absolutely loathe them.

I might have a more favorable opinion if I had ever encountered a touchpad that actually works like it's supposed to. My bio-electrical field must be different than that of most other humans because I can never get the thing to move properly.

[pianowizard]

That's intense! Have you tried the soft dome?

Or, better yet, the soft rim, the touchpad, or an external mouse.

[RUSH2112]

I love the grip of the cat's tounge, but it is just too rough on the fingers. I've used the soft dome for a few years.

[pianowizard]

My bio-electrical field must be different than that of most other humans because I can never get the thing to move properly.

Have you tried using one hand to control the touchpad and the other to press the mouse buttons, instead of doing both with the same hand? That's how I started learning to use the touchpad and I found that easier.

[tomh009]

That's intense! Have you tried the soft dome?

Or, better yet, the soft rim, the touchpad, or an external mouse.

Soft rim vs soft dome is all personal preference, but I think the transition from cat's tongue to soft dome is easier as the soft dome is still more similar (but the pressure it exerts on your finger is much less).

And I'll take my soft dome over a mouse any day. As I did when I got the Ultranav for the office and retired my mouse to a desk drawer.