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Ha, meanwhile I wouldn't buy a ThinkPad (or any other laptop) without it. As for your question, I've never heard of at least the "real" ThinkPad series laptops

Ha, meanwhile I wouldn't buy a ThinkPad (or any other laptop) without it. As for your question, I've never heard of at least the "real" ThinkPad series laptops (X/W/T/...) sold without the TrackPoint. Does it really bother you when typing? If it's the appearance, you can likely find a black nib for purchase or maybe remove the included nib and blacken it out.

dgzl 6y ago
Same. Once I learned how to use it, I can't go back. Recently my work laptop was switched to a Dell without the nub and I noticed reduced workflow immediately.
- oefrha 6y ago
  I grew up a fan of the track point, back when trackpads were either nonexistent or hot garbage (at least on PC laptops). Which is to say I definitely “learned how to use it”. Then I switched to Mac laptops a decade ago. Since then I’ve got to touch the track point a few more times and it felt so dated. People still tout the precision, but I can get the same level of precision on a quality trackpad, plus much needed fluidity in general, not to mention multitouch gestures.
  - jaifraic 6y ago
    For me, it's not about precision. With the Trackpoint I can rest my hands on the Keyboard/Homerow and I can use the pointer without having to move my hands at all.
    - oefrha 6y ago
      That’s fair. I personally don’t mix typing and trackpad usage very much so that advantage is pretty minimal for me.
      - dgzl 6y ago
        I think the advantage is bigger than you believe, and I would bet you mix typing/trackpad more than you believe also.
        oefrha 6y ago
        Could be, but I’m positive that I use gestures more than I mix typing/trackpad, so there’s that.
        dgzl 6y ago
        Overall I think you'd still be faster in keyboard, but gestures and such offer a lot in terms of simplicity which is a fair trade a lot of the time. If your workflow revolves around typing however, I would still put trackpoint above.
  - dgzl 6y ago
    As the other commenter said, the benefit comes from keeping your fingers on home-row, not precision.
alexbanks 6y ago
I'd have to try. It seems really awful from a typing perspective, but everyone's different.
- bfrog 6y ago
  It's excellent for typing, you don't need to leave home row
  - alexbanks 6y ago
    But....isn't it for the mouse? Why do you use your mouse while typing?
tilolebo 6y ago
I had to disable the track point in the BIOS of my X1 carbon 5th Gen, otherwise it would completely freeze the OS on Ubuntu 18.04. I never found a solution for this. I hope they fixed it in the newer gens. The touchpad was also really annoying when I had to select and scroll. Apart from that it was a fine laptop, but IMO the XPS 13 is a bit better.

dgzl 6y ago

Same. Once I learned how to use it, I can't go back. Recently my work laptop was switched to a Dell without the nub and I noticed reduced workflow immediately.

oefrha 6y ago
I grew up a fan of the track point, back when trackpads were either nonexistent or hot garbage (at least on PC laptops). Which is to say I definitely “learned how to use it”. Then I switched to Mac laptops a decade ago. Since then I’ve got to touch the track point a few more times and it felt so dated. People still tout the precision, but I can get the same level of precision on a quality trackpad, plus much needed fluidity in general, not to mention multitouch gestures.
- jaifraic 6y ago
  For me, it's not about precision. With the Trackpoint I can rest my hands on the Keyboard/Homerow and I can use the pointer without having to move my hands at all.
  - oefrha 6y ago
    That’s fair. I personally don’t mix typing and trackpad usage very much so that advantage is pretty minimal for me.
    - dgzl 6y ago
      I think the advantage is bigger than you believe, and I would bet you mix typing/trackpad more than you believe also.
      - oefrha 6y ago
        Could be, but I’m positive that I use gestures more than I mix typing/trackpad, so there’s that.
        dgzl 6y ago
        Overall I think you'd still be faster in keyboard, but gestures and such offer a lot in terms of simplicity which is a fair trade a lot of the time. If your workflow revolves around typing however, I would still put trackpoint above.
- dgzl 6y ago
  As the other commenter said, the benefit comes from keeping your fingers on home-row, not precision.

alexbanks 6y ago

I'd have to try. It seems really awful from a typing perspective, but everyone's different.

bfrog 6y ago
It's excellent for typing, you don't need to leave home row
- alexbanks 6y ago
  But....isn't it for the mouse? Why do you use your mouse while typing?

tilolebo 6y ago

I had to disable the track point in the BIOS of my X1 carbon 5th Gen, otherwise it would completely freeze the OS on Ubuntu 18.04. I never found a solution for this. I hope they fixed it in the newer gens. The touchpad was also really annoying when I had to select and scroll. Apart from that it was a fine laptop, but IMO the XPS 13 is a bit better.