5 ms·

I'd have agreed with you once, but I broke the trackpad on a ThinkPad a couple of years ago and out of apathy i switched to the nipple mouse and I haven't looke

by spongle 13y ago

I'd have agreed with you once, but I broke the trackpad on a ThinkPad a couple of years ago and out of apathy i switched to the nipple mouse and I haven't looked back. It takes more practice but it has excellent precision and infinite movement. The trackpad remains broken and unplugged.

jlgreco 13y ago
Furthermore, it is a hell of a lot easier to play quake with a trackpoint than a trackpad.
- jamesaguilar 13y ago
  I have to guess that these trackpads will act like joysticks for fpsen. Keep your finger on the left side to move left, etc. Maybe I'm wrong though.
  - andybak 13y ago
    I was assuming the opposite. Keyboard and Mouse is usually regarded as superior to joysticks for FPS so I assumed they were trying to bridge the gap and come up with something more mouse-like?
    - zenojevski 13y ago
      Yes, in fact it would solve the aiming issue, while using the left trackpad in "joystick mode" would better replicate a keyboard.
  - Vaskivo 13y ago
    If it were me doing it, I would use the trackpad and the trackpad buttons. (I'm not sure, but I believe each trackpad is "pressable" and has multiple buttons, replicating a d-pad) I would tap and drag for little and precise movements, swipe for fast movements, and press the button for default movement. With some training, it can become pretty natural.
  - neona 13y ago
    You'll hopefully be able to choose based on preference, since choice seems to be the theme here.
w1ntermute 13y ago
I've had several ThinkPads, and I've always disabled the trackpad in the BIOS as soon as I got a new one - it's totally unnecessary when you have the TrackPoint. It's so much faster and more precise. Like amalcon said, I have no idea how anyone can use a trackpad. Whenever I watch a friend use one, or use one myself, it's like the mouse is moving in slow motion compared to me using the TrackPoint. It does take some practice, but it's well worth the investment, just like how learning to touch type pays off in the long run.
- __david__ 13y ago
  How do you scroll? Do use scroll bars?
  - spongle 13y ago
    Hold the middle button and use the nipple. It scrolls like a mousewheel.
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    On thinkpads you can press the middle mouse button (below the spacebar) then press the trackpoint up or down. I have always usually done this, but also remapped the trackpad to be entirely a "scrollpad"
    - w1ntermute 13y ago
      > On thinkpads you can press the middle mouse button (below the spacebar) then press the trackpoint up or down. Yep, and you can also click and release the middle mouse button, then separately mouse up or down. Interestingly, I have only been able to get either this OR the press then scroll behavior you described working on Windows (by toggling a setting), but in Linux you can have both enabled at the same time.
      - jlgreco 13y ago
        Bizarrely, Linux seems to support much of the trackpoint/trackpad stuff on thinkpads better than Windows does. I use to not be able to configure the trackpad how I wanted on Windows, but the Synaptics driver for Linux gave me plenty of possibilities.
jimwalsh 13y ago
Use an Apple trackpad and you'll never want to use the ThinkPad/Lenovo eraser nubs ever again.
- possibilistic 13y ago
  I have, and I strongly prefer the TrackPoint--by a whole order of magnitude. I never have to keep my fingers off home row. I do use a tiling window manager and bindings like Vrome/Vimperator, so my use case is probably atypical. My mouse usage is limited to when I deem it absolutely necessary; I hate physical/mental context switching, and bringing my hand from keyboard to TrackPad/mouse/whatever is a huge context switch.
  - Arelius 13y ago
    But that's really a matter of where the trackpoint is, not the input on the device itself. It's a bit different while you're playing games.
  - idlewan 13y ago
    I have always felt that the TrackPoint (on a HP Elitebook here) is difficult to access from the right or left index because of its place between G and H. I would use it so much more if it was between H and J. How do you stretch your finger towards the middle of the keyboard with no issue? Stretching just to type a letter is fine for me (think Y, H or B), but staying on the TrackPoint is hard.
- spongle 13y ago
  I used an Apple one (one of the large ones) on a 2010 MBP. It was error prone and made my fingers numb after a while. Not only that, the full pad depression to click is awkward and configuring sensitivity for tap to click was never just right. Possibly a shocking statement here but I went from a top end 2010 MBP to a 2009 T400 running windows 7 and am much happier as a whole, even though I have my head in UNIX machines a lot.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  Not my experience at all. Apple trackpads tire my fingertips, they become sore after extended usage.

by spongle 13y ago

jlgreco 13y ago

Furthermore, it is a hell of a lot easier to play quake with a trackpoint than a trackpad.

jamesaguilar 13y ago
I have to guess that these trackpads will act like joysticks for fpsen. Keep your finger on the left side to move left, etc. Maybe I'm wrong though.
- andybak 13y ago
  I was assuming the opposite. Keyboard and Mouse is usually regarded as superior to joysticks for FPS so I assumed they were trying to bridge the gap and come up with something more mouse-like?
  - zenojevski 13y ago
    Yes, in fact it would solve the aiming issue, while using the left trackpad in "joystick mode" would better replicate a keyboard.
- Vaskivo 13y ago
  If it were me doing it, I would use the trackpad and the trackpad buttons. (I'm not sure, but I believe each trackpad is "pressable" and has multiple buttons, replicating a d-pad) I would tap and drag for little and precise movements, swipe for fast movements, and press the button for default movement. With some training, it can become pretty natural.
- neona 13y ago
  You'll hopefully be able to choose based on preference, since choice seems to be the theme here.

w1ntermute 13y ago

I've had several ThinkPads, and I've always disabled the trackpad in the BIOS as soon as I got a new one - it's totally unnecessary when you have the TrackPoint. It's so much faster and more precise. Like amalcon said, I have no idea how anyone can use a trackpad. Whenever I watch a friend use one, or use one myself, it's like the mouse is moving in slow motion compared to me using the TrackPoint. It does take some practice, but it's well worth the investment, just like how learning to touch type pays off in the long run.

__david__ 13y ago
How do you scroll? Do use scroll bars?
- spongle 13y ago
  Hold the middle button and use the nipple. It scrolls like a mousewheel.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  On thinkpads you can press the middle mouse button (below the spacebar) then press the trackpoint up or down. I have always usually done this, but also remapped the trackpad to be entirely a "scrollpad"
  - w1ntermute 13y ago
    > On thinkpads you can press the middle mouse button (below the spacebar) then press the trackpoint up or down. Yep, and you can also click and release the middle mouse button, then separately mouse up or down. Interestingly, I have only been able to get either this OR the press then scroll behavior you described working on Windows (by toggling a setting), but in Linux you can have both enabled at the same time.
    - jlgreco 13y ago
      Bizarrely, Linux seems to support much of the trackpoint/trackpad stuff on thinkpads better than Windows does. I use to not be able to configure the trackpad how I wanted on Windows, but the Synaptics driver for Linux gave me plenty of possibilities.

jimwalsh 13y ago

Use an Apple trackpad and you'll never want to use the ThinkPad/Lenovo eraser nubs ever again.

possibilistic 13y ago
I have, and I strongly prefer the TrackPoint--by a whole order of magnitude. I never have to keep my fingers off home row. I do use a tiling window manager and bindings like Vrome/Vimperator, so my use case is probably atypical. My mouse usage is limited to when I deem it absolutely necessary; I hate physical/mental context switching, and bringing my hand from keyboard to TrackPad/mouse/whatever is a huge context switch.
- Arelius 13y ago
  But that's really a matter of where the trackpoint is, not the input on the device itself. It's a bit different while you're playing games.
- idlewan 13y ago
  I have always felt that the TrackPoint (on a HP Elitebook here) is difficult to access from the right or left index because of its place between G and H. I would use it so much more if it was between H and J. How do you stretch your finger towards the middle of the keyboard with no issue? Stretching just to type a letter is fine for me (think Y, H or B), but staying on the TrackPoint is hard.
spongle 13y ago
I used an Apple one (one of the large ones) on a 2010 MBP. It was error prone and made my fingers numb after a while. Not only that, the full pad depression to click is awkward and configuring sensitivity for tap to click was never just right. Possibly a shocking statement here but I went from a top end 2010 MBP to a 2009 T400 running windows 7 and am much happier as a whole, even though I have my head in UNIX machines a lot.
jlgreco 13y ago
Not my experience at all. Apple trackpads tire my fingertips, they become sore after extended usage.