The little red button can be addicting

[vilasman]

Now that my trackpad isn't working... for what ever reason, I have no idea why...
while I am a dedicated trackball user.... this little red button is the bomb when having the trackball is a nuisance.

[killer]

Am I alone in failing to understand whether this is praise or not?

[vilasman]

Praise!

[t140568]

Quote from Urbandictionary.com:

2. "the bomb"
A phrase, which much like Courtney Love, was only popular during the early nineties. At the time, it meant "exceptionally cool".

[killer]

Tim, Thanks for explaining. Bomb had a different meaning for me ... hence the confusion.

[t140568]

Killer, glad I could help!

vilasman, I have a friend who, tonight, said something similar "the trackpoint isn't so bad once you get used to it." He's very much a trackpad lover. We've been going round and round for years about the superiority of each. He'll be won over yet! Muwahahahha! Me, on the other hand, I could never get used to the trackball - always felt a little funny.

[emeraldgirl08]

Killer, glad I could help!

vilasman, I have a friend who, tonight, said something similar "the trackpoint isn't so bad once you get used to it." He's very much a trackpad lover. We've been going round and round for years about the superiority of each. He'll be won over yet! Muwahahahha! Me, on the other hand, I could never get used to the trackball - always felt a little funny.

lol I think I'm converting my family members also with the trackpoint. So Muwahahahaha over here too

my first devilish laugh... ever!

[Georgeolivergo]

As a dedicated trackpoint fan, but the owner of a rather old TP, I was browsing the Lenovo site the other day and wondered -- are there any TPs out now without the touchpad? I thought some of the X series still only had the trackpoint but it seems like that's not the case anymore?

[t140568]

lol I think I'm converting my family members also with the trackpoint. So Muwahahahaha over here too

my first devilish laugh... ever!

Be careful, they're addicting and you may become maniacal after awhile!

@Georgeolivergo: That's a Good question! It looks like the X200 came without one - Last one without? I know they now come with the Fn+F8 combo that will turn the Trackpad off, but folks (including myself) have had trouble getting it to stay turned off.

[Temetka]

The trackpoint is a superior pointing device to be sure.

When I got my very first laptop it was a Toshibe Satellite 410CDT or something like that and it had a green version of our little red dot. At first I wasn't so sure about it, but to be honest it took me all of 10 minutes to fall in love with that. Every Thinkpad I have owned since then has had the trackpoint some also had the touchpad but that was barely used in comparison to the trackpoint.

It is very accurate for things such as photoshop and what not and to be honest just feels more natural to use than a touchpad, at least for me anyway.

[moronoxyd]

I know they now come with the Fn+F8 combo that will turn the Trackpad off, but folks (including myself) have had trouble getting it to stay turned off.

You should be able to turn the touchpad off in the BIOS setup.

[taichi]

You can disable the Touchpad under control panel > mouse, if I recall correctly.

And please stop using my name, Muwahahahaha, in your conversation. It's disconcerting.

Just kidding, and another vote for the trackpoint. It's more precise than anything else, but touchscreens might be an interesting alternative,

taichi

[t140568]

I turned it off in the BIOS the other day. Easy to do, it stays off, and I don't miss it at all. It would be nice, however to maybe keep the mouse buttons active, but not a big deal. There's no more random mouse movements from my hand brushing the pad and that makes me happy.

[taichi]

I turned off the touchpad in control panel > mouse> UltraNav, and I have both the TrackPoint and the mouse buttons working harmoniously together.

Taichi

[RDKirk]

Just kidding, and another vote for the trackpoint. It's more precise than anything else, but touchscreens might be an interesting alternative

I've used them for all-day work before. Your arm will get tired.

[RDKirk]

One comment: Only IBM/Lenovo seems to get the trackpoint right. I've tried Toshiba, Dell, and HP pointing sticks, and they're all horribly tiresome--just can't match the precision of the IBM-designed software.

However, since going to Win-7 I can't find software for my Mark IV IBM trackpoint keyboards that works any better than Toshiba, Dell, and HP software. I can only run it with the Win-7 mouse driver. Does anyone know of a better driver for this old keyboard and Win-7?