X230 trackpoint issue... very choppy, not smooth at all. Is

[Brent_]

Today's day 1 of owning my new X230 so far I'm extremely underwhelmed given the cost. In addition to the fact that my DC jack shorts out whenever the cord is wiggled in the slightest bit, my trackpoint seems to have issues. When using it, the cursor exhibits what I can only describe as a "low framerate" look. It moves as it should, I think, but it's extremely choppy and reminds me of what games or movies look like when you remove frames... very "skippy". It's hard to say, but I think the trackpad may also have this issue (but the trackpad itself is so abysmally bad that I can't tell one way or the other). A USB mouse behaves as expected with no choppiness.

I did Google the issue for quite a while and I could only find references to disabling the trackpad in BIOS, which didn't help. It seems like a few other people have noticed the issue with their units, but I can't find any specific solutions.

Honestly, between the hokey DC jack, the worst trackpad I've ever used on any laptop, and this trackpoint issue, I don't think this machine was worth the money. These things cost a premium and are supposed to be well-built, but right now it seems like it's barely above the quality of an average netbook, and the trackpad is actually far worse than my previous cheap-o netbooks. Do you guys think that these issues combined are grounds for a return without paying the restocking fee?

[dxps26]

Did you post this on 4chan's /g/ board last night ???

I'll give you the same suggestion I gave there. Raise hell with the support people. Even if the trackpoint and trackpad issues are software related, the DC power jack is definitely a manufacturer defect. Thinkpad Power jacks are really robust and well-made, and there's no reason for a new unit to be acting this way-this is obviously a faulty part.

my T420 had the same defect, turned out the machine was a lemon and it was replaced (eventually, after much hand-wringing and desperation, because I did not act within the two-week return window)

Send the unit back as soon as you can and get a replacement. You will find yourself instinctively reaching for the space between the G,H,and B keys once you get used to the trackpoint, and you'll ignore the trackpad

[Brent_]

Thanks for the suggestion, and yes I did. Here's a video of the trackpad issue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6EHWKHLsaQ
Does that look normal? Honestly, at this point, I think I'm going to try to get them to take the unit back without charging me the 15% restocking fee. I only bought this to replace a laptop with problems, so to have problems out of the gate from something that I paid a huge premium on is pretty lame.

[barrywohl]

I watched your video and I didn't see the issue.
The power connector issue means you need to swap for a new/different machine or power connector or both.

[ThinkRob]

I watched your video and I didn't see the issue.

Same. I'm not sure I see any problem with what you posted. The "smoothness" of TrackPoint motion is governed by the sensitivity and speed of the TrackPoint *and* the mouse acceleration, speed, and/or inertia, all of which should be configurable.

I imagine it also varies depending on the drivers involved. I don't know how good/bad the Windows drivers are. I do know that under Linux I can absolutely replicate the sort of "choppy" behavior you're complaining about by bumping up the sensitivity while keeping the speed low (speed at 80, sensitivity at 200, for example.) Perhaps the Windows defaults are set to something like that?

I tend not to think it's a hardware issue though, since of the dozens of TrackPoints I've used I've never seen one fail in a way that would simply make it seem "less smooth". The one's I've had fail have failed outright (i.e. totally died) or have simply failed to register force consistently (i.e. they would drop out periodically, during which they would fail to register *any* motion.) Maybe it's possible to fail in a way that would seem choppy, but I've never seen it.

And when you say the DC jack is "shorting", what do you mean? If it's a real short then you might want to let Lenovo know about that specifically, as that could pose a safety hazard (and if it's a manufacturing fault they will want to correct it. In my experience manufacturers are *very* concerned about potential electrical hazards...)