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Having to switch back and forth between keyboard mode and mouse mode by moving your hand away from the keyboard is horrendous. Consider using a keyboard with a

Having to switch back and forth between keyboard mode and mouse mode by moving your hand away from the keyboard is horrendous. Consider using a keyboard with a built in mouse pointer like this one: http://reviews.cnet.com/keyboards/ibm-usb-travel-keyboard/1707-3134_7-30901355.html http://reviews.cnet.com/keyboards/ibm-usb-travel-keyboard/17... Once you become proficient with the index finder mousing (it doesn't take long) you'll never have to remove your hands from the keyboard and may even find yourself typing and mousing at the same time on occasion. I really don't see how these aren't more popular. I just wish I could find a wireless one for my home theatre setup.

jasonkester 15y ago
moving your hand away from the keyboard is horrendous ... for you. Every laptop keyboard in the world has a built-in pointer, and yet there's still plenty of demand for mice. So yes, while I understand that you and many people like you keep your hands on the keyboard 24/7 and are therefore several orders of magnitude more productive than the rest of us, you should probably realize that you're a very small minority of the general population.
- grannyg00se 15y ago
  Actually, some of the most popular laptops (eg: every macbook ever sold and every laptop on display at my local best-buy) do not have this type of built-in pointer. Trackpads are very common. Index finger pointing sticks are not. And they are much more effective than trackpads. Given the choice between keyboard with trackpad vs keyboard and mouse, I too would choose keyboard and mouse. I believe that I'm in a small minority of the general population simply because most people haven't been exposed to the less common alternative. Of course I may be wrong, and perhaps most people have tried this type of keyboard and just don't like it. In any case, it's not about productivity for me. It's about annoyance reduction, comfort, and convenience.
  - LeafStorm 15y ago
    Actually, one advantage of trackpads over the center-mounted pointers is that you can perform gestures using a trackpad. Two fingers to scroll, pinch to zoom, slide between desktops, etc. etc. You could use keyboard shortcuts for those, but when I'm Web browsing I rather enjoy using the scroll/zoom gestures on my Macbook's trackpad.
  - wazoox 15y ago
    I always found the small stick on IBM laptops utterly imprecise to the point of being unusable. OTOH I find that current Mac trackpads are as good as a mouse most of the time, even slightly better because of three and four fingers gestures.
  - jodrellblank 15y ago
    Index finger pointing sticks are not. And they are much more effective than trackpads. You wouldn't mouse with a fullsize joystick on a desktop, because its no good, it's equally no good on a laptop. I want to move the cursor a distance based on the distance I move, not based on the duration I move - it's comparable in wrongness to steering a racing car game with the arrow keys. Rant aside, why do you say they are more effective, anyway?
    - tjoff 15y ago
      I want to move the cursor a distance based on the distance I move, not based on the duration I move - it's comparable in wrongness to steering a racing car game with the arrow keys. It depends on the total amount of pressure, not time... Just as using a mouse or a trackpad depends on the distance and not the time you move your finger. Exactly the same thing. The difference, in practice, is just that you can't put as much force (comfortably) as you can move your finger/mouse with speed. That's why I consider the index finger pointing stick a complement to a real mouse. The same goes for the trackpad where you must have a low sensitivity to get any precision at all, or you could use acceleration but that's just awful (now the distance you move your finger have nothing to do with how long the cursor will move, now you also have to take time into consideration). And as a complement the index finger pointing stick is vastly superior to the trackpad since you don't have to move your hands at all to switch between them. And for precision work or stuff that require "performance" a real mouse is the way to go anyway.
pkamb 15y ago
They sell a new version of that keyboard. Typing on it right now. It has the updated "big delete key" keyboard and no trackpad. Pretty awesome. http://shop.lenovo.com/us/itemdetails/55Y9003/38/C39222A11DEF47F490A58490A545DAC0 http://shop.lenovo.com/us/itemdetails/55Y9003/38/C39222A11DE...

jasonkester 15y ago

moving your hand away from the keyboard is horrendous ... for you. Every laptop keyboard in the world has a built-in pointer, and yet there's still plenty of demand for mice. So yes, while I understand that you and many people like you keep your hands on the keyboard 24/7 and are therefore several orders of magnitude more productive than the rest of us, you should probably realize that you're a very small minority of the general population.

grannyg00se 15y ago
Actually, some of the most popular laptops (eg: every macbook ever sold and every laptop on display at my local best-buy) do not have this type of built-in pointer. Trackpads are very common. Index finger pointing sticks are not. And they are much more effective than trackpads. Given the choice between keyboard with trackpad vs keyboard and mouse, I too would choose keyboard and mouse. I believe that I'm in a small minority of the general population simply because most people haven't been exposed to the less common alternative. Of course I may be wrong, and perhaps most people have tried this type of keyboard and just don't like it. In any case, it's not about productivity for me. It's about annoyance reduction, comfort, and convenience.
- LeafStorm 15y ago
  Actually, one advantage of trackpads over the center-mounted pointers is that you can perform gestures using a trackpad. Two fingers to scroll, pinch to zoom, slide between desktops, etc. etc. You could use keyboard shortcuts for those, but when I'm Web browsing I rather enjoy using the scroll/zoom gestures on my Macbook's trackpad.
- wazoox 15y ago
  I always found the small stick on IBM laptops utterly imprecise to the point of being unusable. OTOH I find that current Mac trackpads are as good as a mouse most of the time, even slightly better because of three and four fingers gestures.
- jodrellblank 15y ago
  Index finger pointing sticks are not. And they are much more effective than trackpads. You wouldn't mouse with a fullsize joystick on a desktop, because its no good, it's equally no good on a laptop. I want to move the cursor a distance based on the distance I move, not based on the duration I move - it's comparable in wrongness to steering a racing car game with the arrow keys. Rant aside, why do you say they are more effective, anyway?
  - tjoff 15y ago
    I want to move the cursor a distance based on the distance I move, not based on the duration I move - it's comparable in wrongness to steering a racing car game with the arrow keys. It depends on the total amount of pressure, not time... Just as using a mouse or a trackpad depends on the distance and not the time you move your finger. Exactly the same thing. The difference, in practice, is just that you can't put as much force (comfortably) as you can move your finger/mouse with speed. That's why I consider the index finger pointing stick a complement to a real mouse. The same goes for the trackpad where you must have a low sensitivity to get any precision at all, or you could use acceleration but that's just awful (now the distance you move your finger have nothing to do with how long the cursor will move, now you also have to take time into consideration). And as a complement the index finger pointing stick is vastly superior to the trackpad since you don't have to move your hands at all to switch between them. And for precision work or stuff that require "performance" a real mouse is the way to go anyway.

pkamb 15y ago

They sell a new version of that keyboard. Typing on it right now. It has the updated "big delete key" keyboard and no trackpad. Pretty awesome. http://shop.lenovo.com/us/itemdetails/55Y9003/38/C39222A11DEF47F490A58490A545DAC0 http://shop.lenovo.com/us/itemdetails/55Y9003/38/C39222A11DE...