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No, but you are probably in the minority. I have one on the Dell laptop I'm using (which also has a touchpad). Once in a while I try to use it, but I find it a
by lokedhs 8y ago
No, but you are probably in the minority.
I have one on the Dell laptop I'm using (which also has a touchpad). Once in a while I try to use it, but I find it almost impossible control with any kind of precision. Changing the sensitivity doesn't help much.
I first tried that device on the first Thinkpads that had it, back in the 90's or whenever it was. I have always had the same reaction to it.
How do you use it? Is this just a matter of getting used to it, and if it is, how long does it take?
- gjvc 8y agoUsing a concave rubber top to the TrackPoint helps me greatly.
- chx 8y agoThe Dell ones are vastly inferior to the ThinkPad ones. While I do not know the ones in the 20, the last ten or so years I worked solely with TrackPoint first under Linux now under Windows 10. Under Windows 10, there's a Mouse tab in Control Panel, there's a sensitivity slider and I found it's best to have it just one notch below fastest. The default makes me feel I am wrestling with my laptop.
- lokedhs 8y agoI see. I haven't tried the Thinkpads since before they were sold to Lenovo, so perhaps they are superior. I am in the market for a new laptop, so perhaps I should give them a chance. Not really for the pointers, but they do seem to be fine laptops overall.
- Rovanion 8y agoYeah. I got a Dell for my day job and unfortunately the nipple is entirely unusable. I miss my ThinkPad :/
- tie_ 8y agoSame here. I had big hopes for Dell's nipple, but it's hardly usable and I tend to prefer the touchpad. On my own Lenovo, I use the nipple exclusively, and touchpad is disabled completely. I had played Quake vs other human players with the nipple and won, and I find it vastly superior to any kind of touchpad.
- 738472527784 8y agoCan confirm. Dell's nipples are unusable. Nothing like the Thinkpad ones.
- isostatic 8y agoI have no idea how not to use it. Right index finger (I'm right handed) moves it round, right thumb presses the keys. I'm not a classic touch typist, but my fingers tend to be near the home row most of the time, having the pointing device one or two keys away, and the mouse buttons next to space, is a big benefit. Having to shift my left hand to the left, and right hand down 3", just to move the pointer, feels like a lot of effort. I use point-to-focus (but not raise) a fair bit too, as moving the mouse is almost as easy as alt-tab, I use it a lot to switch between terminal windows.
- masklinn 8y ago> I have no idea how not to use it. Right index finger (I'm right handed) moves it round, right thumb presses the keys. That's completely immaterial to the precision of it, which is why I'm unable to use it: I never managed to aim at something, I take ages to actually reach a button to click on it (either under- or over-shooting it unless I move the cursor extremely slowly) let alone select some characters in the middle of text. I have that issue on neither trackpad nor mouse, and can use both reliably precisely.
- isostatic 8y agoI find it (on my 8 year old t410s) far more precise than any trackpad I've used, and more precise than the old ball-mouse and trackballs. I guess it's what you know. I actually just used the touchpad on said laptop with my thumb, to move the arrow to the 'reply' button (I have an inbuilt distrust of tab on websites). And now I used the trackpoint to resize the text box to read my reply, again without thinking about it. I suspect that when I'm in "doing" mode I use the trackpoint, when I'm in "consuming" mode I use the pad.
- NeedMoreTea 8y agoOdd. I find the trackpoint more precise than any touchpad, Macs included. I've owned Macbooks for years yet am instantly happier, and faster, on the keyboard and trackpoint of the wife's T series. I'd pay significantly more over already inflated Apple prices to have my MBP with a trackpoint and no touchpad.