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Hz so good
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Re: XP's slow death is forcing my hand.

Sun Feb 16, 2014 12:34 pm

Flying Fox wrote:
Usually, "business" class laptops will have both the trackpoint and trackpad, with the only exception the older X series Thinkpads (they have since added it back a couple generations after Lenovo took over). Like Forge said, the biggest advantage is the typing position. Using the trackpoint you do not have to move the fingers further away from the base positions compared to using the pad. I also find the cursor movement from one side of the screen to the other faster than using the pad. Scrolling with the middle button and the nub also feels faster than to use the side of the pad. However, the new advantage of the pad is multitouch gestures. I don't disable the pad myself but I still use the nub more.


I tried using the nub on the older Thinkpads (before Lenovo took that line over), and it just felt far too imprecise and too "muddy" for me. Guess I didn't really get the hang of it down.

That said, I've had business class laptops from several OEMs over the past decade, and the IBMs were really the only ones I used that came with the nub. Probably why I just got so used to using the pads (that and multitouch has been really nice, lately).
 
Flying Fox
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Re: XP's slow death is forcing my hand.

Sun Feb 16, 2014 1:50 pm

Hz so good wrote:
I tried using the nub on the older Thinkpads (before Lenovo took that line over), and it just felt far too imprecise and too "muddy" for me. Guess I didn't really get the hang of it down.
This is really personal. When I first started using laptops I felt the nub gave me more speed and then I would use the pad for more precise smaller movements. Over time, I am simply too lazy to move my hand to the pad and I get used to it.

Hz so good wrote:
That said, I've had business class laptops from several OEMs over the past decade, and the IBMs were really the only ones I used that came with the nub. Probably why I just got so used to using the pads (that and multitouch has been really nice, lately).
The business class ones from Dell's, HP's, and Toshiba's that I have seen over the last decade do have them on most of the models. There have been less though, just checked Dell's site and only like half the Latitude's have them now.
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Flatland_Spider
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Re: XP's slow death is forcing my hand.

Sun Feb 16, 2014 6:44 pm

Hz so good wrote:
I tried using the nub on the older Thinkpads (before Lenovo took that line over), and it just felt far too imprecise and too "muddy" for me. Guess I didn't really get the hang of it down.


There are two things about Trackpoints.
1) It's a Zen thing. With a Trackpoing, you're moving the mouse for a period of time rather then moving it through space. It's more like using a joystick to control the cursor. You tell the cursor which way to go for how long, rather then move the cursor to a position.
2) The speed and acceleration needs to be dialed in to the user's touch. If the speed or acceleration are too high, the cursor will jump all over the place, and if they're too low, too much force will be needed to move the cursor.

I deal with a lot of text, so it's nice for me to not have to move my hands away from the home row to move the mouse.

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