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touchpad or trackpoint?

J

JesterXXV

Junior Member
Hey - I'm currently looking around for used laptops, never having owned one before. I was wondering, for those of you veteran laptop jockeys, do you prefer the touchpad or the trackpoint, or doesn't it really matter? At this point, I'm leaning towards the trackpoint, but I'm not really sure why, as I've really only used either for maybe a few minutes at a time. I have seen some notebooks that have both, which i think would be ideal, but given my price range (<$400), it doesn't seem likely that I'll find something like that.

So, which do you prefer, and why?
 
trackpoint. I even prefer a trackpoint to a mouse. However, it took me a long time (year) to get to this point.

Go to a computer store and try both of them out, though.
 
It really boils down to personal preference and as sciencewhiz has said you may want to try both out. There are some machines that have both if you can't decide. I don't personally recommend that option but it's there.
 
I like trackpoint better because when you're typing, you don't have to worry about moving the cursor with your palm on the trackpad. I know trackpads can usually be disabled, but it's a PITA to enable, disable, enable, disable when you're typing a document.

And I also prefer a trackpoint to a mouse for normal use on my laptop.
 
I like touchpads, never had any problems bumping them while I'm typing. I don't like the Dell touchpads with the steep edges though, the Compaq ones are much smoother.
 
Some notebooks like the HP notebooks have a button right next to the touchpad that allows you to disable it and enable it, built in case you have that problem of bumping into your touchpad I guess.
 
I like trackpoint because you can move the cursor around the whole screen without lifing your find off the pad and "stroking" it to get to the other size of the screen.

Some notebooks have touchpad drivers that disable the touchpad while the keyboard is being used, which helps prevent accidental cursor movements.
 
I kinda got used to a trackpoint, so I'm probably biased to talk about its ease of use - but I DID hate having to lift my finger to get across the screen with a touchpad.
 
I service laptops and use both. I love the trackpoint (IBM?), accupoint (Toshiba), or eraserhead (slang). There is a learning curve for them. It took me about 2 weeks to get really good at using it. Half the guys I work with like the accupoint better, the other half of course like touchpads better. My opinion is to use both for a little while if possible. For me the accupoint seems to be more sensitive and as mentioned above, I don't have to take my hands off of the keyboard to move the mouse. However, I can't stand the accupoint with the prickly hard rubber cover on it. The "pricklies" wear off, and you are left with a round hard rubber pointer which I find hard to use. I prefer the flat soft rubber cover.
 
Most definitely trackpoint is the way to go. I love being able to type and control the mouse cursor by barely moving a finger. This allows me to switch between typing, pressing hot keys and clicking with the cursor in an instant. The learning curve is really not that difficult at all and you get more consistent result than a touchpoint, IMHO.

Most people when asked feel that the touchpoint is more intuitive and that is their preferred input device. But when confronted about what they really use, most can't stand using the "built-in mouse" and prefer to connect a regular mouse to their laptop instead.

I find this defeats the purpose of having a portable laptop. Learn to use a trackpoint and you will find that that is about the only input device you need with a laptop.
 
I side with the trackpoint for all the reasons cited above. 🙂

However, I only use the track point when I lack the space to use a full mouse. Whenever possible, I plug in a real mouse.
 
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