are there any notebooks with mouse-sticks?

[Chad Perrin]

On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 10:29:25AM +0200, Polytropon wrote:
> On Wed, 9 Sep 2009 14:08:36 -0700, Gary Kline <kline at thought.org> wrote:
> > 
> > I'm looking for a small computer, 7-10" screen that has a ThinkPad-like stick
> > to act as the mouse. 
> 
> This "stick" is called a TrackPoint, as far as I remember. It has been
> common in portable computers built by IB and Toshiba.

I assume that IB was meant to be IBM.  Lenovo bought IBM's PC division a
few years ago, and now produces ThinkPads -- which come with trackpoints.


> 
> > Pref'ly, no touch-pad. 
> 
> Sadly, you will find mostly that (crap) in "modern" devices...

I just turn off the touchpad in my ThinkPad's BIOS/CMOS settings.  That's
pretty much the *first* thing I do with a new ThinkPad, before I even
install a halfway decent operating system on it.  I have a tendency to
accidentaly move the mouse around while typing, otherwise.


> 
> > The ASUS and just about every other
> > notebook-size device has this kind of scratch-n-sniff pad; [...]
> 
> Nice name. Other names: Fingerprint sensor and coffee cup warmer. :-)

Yeah . . . how warm the touchpad gets is a pretty good heuristic measure
of how hot the laptop is running, at least on my ThinkPad.


> 
> > Any clues?
> 
> Look for IBM / Lenovo, maybe they still employ this fantastic and
> easy to use pointing device. Allthough it would completely make sense
> to use a Trackpoint for netbook class computers (litte real estate
> consumption, minimal moving from "hand in typing position" to "hand
> in pointing position"), it seems that the worst solution always
> prevails. I haven't seen Trackpoints on "modern" stuff yet, and I'm
> quite about thinking that it doesn't exist anymore.

Unfortunately, the OP was asking about netbook-sized computers, and last
I checked the only netbooks offered by Lenovo are IdeaPads -- which are
exactly like ThinkPads, except the construction is a little cheaper and
the pointing device is always a touchpad.

Otherwise, however, I second the motion: ThinkPads are generally held to
a higher standard of quality than the rest of the laptops in the PC
world, tend to be well-supported by open source operating systems, and
come with trackpoints.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]
Quoth Philip Machanick: "caution: if you write code like this,
immediately after you are fired the person assigned to maintaining your
code after you leave will resign"
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