5 ms·

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.
Mikeb85 13y ago
Strongly disagree. If you're just browsing or clicking on things, sure, the Apple trackpad is great. For playing games, the trackpoint is better. For coding or doing any sort of mixture of typing/pointing, the trackpoint is better.

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.

Mikeb85 13y ago

Strongly disagree. If you're just browsing or clicking on things, sure, the Apple trackpad is great. For playing games, the trackpoint is better. For coding or doing any sort of mixture of typing/pointing, the trackpoint is better.