T540 - How is the new TrackPad when used with TrackPoint ?

[JosephB]

T540 Owners,
... After using the T540, for awhile - How is the new TrackPad when used with TrackPoint ? Does one get use to it ? How noisy is it ?

[lead_org]

it is not very easy to get use to the new TrackPoint system, i end up just using the TouchPad and stopped using the TrackPoint feature.

[wolfman]

Oh that's a shame, I use the trackpoint and trackpoint buttons on my W520 often as I don't like moving my hands off the keyboard while programming. Shame to hear they are ruining this feature. (yet another)... sigh.

I guess the upside is that my T420 (and other 20 series machines) should be popular for a while as they are the last of the machines with an echo of what made Thinkpads great...

[Ibthink]

I think it depends on the person who is using the system - for me and others it works really great after a while, for others it is maybe unusable. I think its great and I wouldn´t go back to the old dedicated buttons, as they are too small for me, the new designs is better IMHO.

[JosephB]

it is not very easy to get use to the new TrackPoint system, i end up just using the TouchPad and stopped using the TrackPoint feature.

lead_org,

1. When you just use the Touchpad and move your finger on it, do you find that it accidentally presses down and clicks a left or right button action, when you do not want it to occur ?


2. Some where i read that the T540P, T440, etc, also No longer have a Caps Lock, Hard Driver Indicator Lights on the Laptop LCD Bezel or the Laptop's keyboard bezel or front edge ... Is this true ?

... A) If yes, is there at least a Caps Lock and Hard Drive Indicator Icon that shows up on the Windows Desktop or System Tray to indicate that you have the Caps Lock On and/or Hard Drive Activity ?

... B) If yes, how do you activate the On-Screen Display of the Caps Lock or Hard Disk Activity Indicators ?
... Caps Lock being the most important for me to know the state of.

[600X]

it is not very easy to get use to the new TrackPoint system, i end up just using the TouchPad and stopped using the TrackPoint feature.

Same here. The touchpad is really nice though. Just a little bit noisy.

[ThinkRob]

The issues are two-fold:

1) Hitting the "button" areas can be tricky. This is easy to fix under Linux, as you can just adjust the click area to be larger/smaller and can fine-tune the driver. I don't know whether this is the case under other OSs.

2) The mechanical feel... sucks. More specifically, the travel for the trackpad "button" is too large, and the activation point is too far down. This is, I suspect, due to the use of a single button beneath the pad.

Interestingly, #2 would be solved if they used the same design as on the Helix, which is a near-perfect "clickpad" IMHO. It, however, lets each individual corner and edge of the pad "click", which means that you end up moving less mass a shorter difference -- resulting in the same crisp feel that you're used to from dedicated buttons. I have no idea why Lenovo picked a worse design for the 15" and 14" notebooks.

[JosephB]

I currently own a T61P with Win XP and its great, but its time to get a new laptop and will get one with either Win 7 or Win 8.1 (most likely I will go Win 7 for now.)
Based on the feedback here (and Aurora's review) describing the lack of features and trackpoint/trackpad changes, I can tell that I am going to be very disappointed if I get T540P, etc.
I am seriously probably going to jump and give up on Thinkpad and go with either a HP or Dell Haswell Laptop. .... It seems like they (Lenovo) have removed everything that I considered great about a Thinkpad. I wish now that I had purchased a T530P when they were still selling them to be purchased and configured. ... This is a day with disappointment.