Exactly. Anyone who actually uses the trackpoint as a primary pointing device on a regular basis would instantly understand why placing it on the side of the laptop would not be ideal for multitasking (typing and manipulating the mouse). The trackpoint’s main benefit is to eliminate the need to reposition your hands when switching between controlling the keyboard and the mouse.
If you don’t use the trackpoint, please make an effort to use it exclusively for a couple of weeks before suggesting a nonstandard design for trackpoint users. The reasoning behind the standard positioning (pointing stick between G, H, and B keys / 3 mouse buttons directly underneath keyboard) will then become obvious.
There is nothing wrong with having an expansion module that adds a pointing stick or another input method, but it is absolutely not a replacement for the trackpoint in its standard layout because the side-mounted position is not optimal for multitasking. These are two completely different suggestions, and the expansion module is not what trackpoint users are asking for.
Gave up on waiting for the complete lack of news and instead recently placed an order for another Thinkpad after my current seven-year-old-one started giving me troubles. I desperately want to be able to support this business model, but as it stands I would be spending money on something I would not be able to regularly use, and despite the aforementioned overpowering desire, I just can’t justify that.
I wish there was a better way, but apparently we can’t have everything.
Lack of news? I let you the benefice of the doubt to simply be misinformed and not simply of bad faith for saying that.
The founder said they aren’t going to work on this because of technical limitations (See The Keyboard - #5 by nrp). However, they welcome contributions from the community to find a solution to this limitations.
I’ve never used a Thinkpad before, but I’d support this as well just because more options are better than fewer. I’ll be coming into the Framework world from a PowerBook G4 so it’s not exactly anything too unfamiliar, but trackpoint definitely has its accessibility advantages.
We definitely need a trackpoint. I would love to buy this product and I think many old ThinkPad users would, but without a trackpoint unfortunately no chance…
(Signed up here only to bring you this feedback )
I’d really like to understand what is the appeal with the trackpoint?
My own opinion and use of them has been unfavourable, mainly because I can’t click with it or it over/under (Steers?) Shoots and I end up using the trackpad or a mouse.
I am however, open to hearing where the want for it comes from
Different people are different, use computers in different ways, and have different preferences.
The overshooting/undershooting is not really a problem, you get used to the device after a while but while for some people it’s easy and convenient to use for others it’s the opposite.
Is it the textured feel of the trackpoint rubber on one’s finger? Is that it is in fact the inability to click with it that makes it good as perhaps the trackpad does not agree with the pressure applied by the User.
The trackpoint allows the user to type, click, scroll, and manipulate the cursor without repositioning their hands. For workflows that involve using both the mouse and the keyboard, this is a time saver.
When I first started using a trackpoint, it took me a couple of weeks of practice to get comfortable with it. In the very beginning, I set the cursor speed to a slower setting in order to avoid over/undershooting, and I gradually increased the setting as I became more proficient with it. Eventually, I was able to manipulate the trackpoint accurately at the highest speed setting.
The three mouse buttons between the keyboard and the trackpad are how you click while using the trackpoint. You can also hold down on the middle mouse button to scroll with the trackpoint.
Ah, I see, so it’s a tad like touch typing but you get a mouse in there without having your hand(s) leave keyboard often?
I agree completely that there is probably a good amount of ‘calibration’ time needed to be able to properly utilise it, the same thing goes probably for most people when it comes to using a regular trackpad in a laptop, or new mouse even.
Yes! I’ve never looked at it that way, but I think that analogy makes sense. When learning to touch type, the user must actively avoid looking at their hands. This slows them down in the short run, but makes them a faster typist in the long run. In the same way, the trackpoint has a learning curve that makes the user slower at first, with a similar payoff for combined mouse/keyboard workflows once the user becomes comfortable using it.
I am really not sure about this. As I already posted earlier in this thread, my 4 year old daughter got the hang of using the trackpoint in about 5 minutes. She became proficient enough after an hour of dragging’n’dropping code blocks doing coding lessons on code.org. I also gave her my work MacBook to do it on other occasions, she learned the touchpad as quickly as the trackpoint. So I’d say one can learn to use it very quickly, if there’s desire.
casual already explained the main advantage. Besides being a time saver, it’s also a wrist saver. Less chance of RSI (repetitive strain injury) / CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome) since there’s less hand/finger movement needed to accomplish the same tasks.
I’m equally proficient with a touchpad (on my work MacBook) and trackpoint (on my personal laptops, all of which are oldish ThinkPads), but I’d say the trackpoint still has the edge on touchpad. Another pro of TrackPoint: middle button scrolling. Super convenient feature which I do all the time. Allows you to read a long article / book while using the barest minimum of effort to scroll. Another con of touchpad: even with the best touchpad and good user skill, sometimes you end up doing a wrong gesture, or the touchpad sometimes registers an accidental click when you don’t mean it. This happens from time to time on my work MacBook, annoying me every time. Never happens with trackpoint (I have the touchpad fully disabled in the driver settings on all my ThinkPads). Another indirect con of touchpad - since touchpads need to be rather large to be convenient, they tend to occupy the lot of palmrest space. This is the reason laptop manufacturers don’t use 7-row keyboards anymore, they got rid of the 7th row to make more space for the touchpad. For an example of a 7-row keyboard, look at ThinkPad X220 or any other model in the *20 generation, then compare it with X230 or any other model in the *30 generation. Most of my ThinkPads are *30 models retrofitted with the *20 keyboard (so-called “classic keyboard mod”). If Lenovo didn’t try to appeal to touchpad users, they could have kept the more convenient 7-row keyboard, but they sacrificed it, all because of the touchpad.
The last laptop I carried on the go had a trackpoint and it just felt so much better than a trackpad. I don’t get why people would every question a trackpoint when on a trackpad you’d have to repeatedly swipe to go across the screen (or raise your sensitivity).
The only thing I don’t like with how Lenovo implements the trackpoint is that they also pair it with an over-the-trackpad set of mouse buttons. I prefer to use the track point with my pointer and my thumb on the bottom set of mouse keys. The top set are just bloat and make less room for a bigger trackpad (which I’d still use for more precise movement)
Back on my last laptop, I was even playing FPS games with the trackpoint with accuracy
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