At least there's the option of leaving Macs for other brands. As a ThinkPad user, I'm totally fucked because of Lenovo's decision to get rid of the physical TrackPoint buttons[0]. First they got rid of the traditional keyboard in favor an Apple-style chiclet keyboard (which, after using both extensively, is a severe downgrade from the traditional ThinkPad keyboard). Now they're getting rid of the TrackPoint buttons. Next is going to be the TrackPoint, all in the name of copying Apple. There's no one else making a proper TrackPoint (and HP and Dell are ditching what they did have), and using a trackpad is so slow. It's sad to see Lenovo take a great laptop line and turn it into an Apple clone.
I have a Thinkpad T440s with the new trackpoint/lack of buttons, and while I am admittedly a new Thinkpad user, I find the Trackpoint excellent and completely natural to use. It was a little awkward for a day but I got used to it really fast. In comparison, I think the fact that the touchpad depresses makes using the touchpad part more awkward, but it seems perfect for the Trackpoint to me. You do lose the benefit of being able to feel the button boundaries but like I said I got used to it pretty fast (I had been playing with my roommates' Thinkpads before this which is why at first I was confused about the middle button). Actually, the funny thing is that since the action is pretty close to the keyboard, the main issue I had at first was that I kept hitting spacebar instead of the clickpad but over time my thumbs began resting over the right spot.
Here here. Trackpoint has long been a major factor for me picking Thinkpads. The lack of physical buttons on the new ones is beyond annoying and trackpads in the Windows PC space are total crap.
Macs really do have everyone beat there, but even better are Wacom's intuos Touch models. I use a few gestures to quickly move windows around in OSX but can almost totally stick to the keyboard.
I'm amazed that more people never got into using TrackPoints. Mac or PC, I've never seen anyone able to use the trackpad to mouse around at anywhere near the speed that I (or other ThinkPad users) can use the TrackPoint to do so. It's funny to see how astonished people are at how quickly I can navigate, when it's really just a matter of using the right tool.
Most people never realized that there are three different Trackpoint tips and the default was for a long time that crappy classic dome. The soft dome is somewhat better but I've been a soft rim diehard for near 15 years now.
Also I think the quality of whatever rubber they used in the mid-90s was really poor.
Gestures are a pretty big deal to me now though. Gestures and the keyboard shortcuts for me are much faster.
> I've been a soft rim diehard for near 15 years now.
Yeah, I also only use the soft rim. I've worn down and had to replace them many times over the years. The one that I've got on my ThinkPad external keyboard[0] (unfortunately no longer available directly from Lenovo in the non-chicletized form) is almost flat now, probably time to order another one.
Have you actually tried and compared the physical buttons to the new ones?
I have a slightly older Thinkpad with the physical buttons. I am trying to decide if I should buy one of the T530 from last year's models or just get the newer version.
I've been posting all over this thread because I love my new T440s, so it looks kind of funny, but for me as a new Thinkpad user the clickpad as trackpoint buttons was really easy to get used to. I think it's actually worse as a touchpad, but as a Trackpoint I don't think you lose that much. I'd say give it a chance, I think they have a 30 day return window and I'd say you should easily figure out if you like it or not in that timeframe (you should verify the return window though, this is just what I'm remembering).
> Have you actually tried and compared the physical buttons to the new ones?
No, not yet. However, I'm not holding out much hope, considering that the change to the chiclet keyboard was also proclaimed as being an "improvement", when in reality it was not. Also, as a Linux user, having to configure the trackpad-based buttons is definitely going to introduce driver headaches, something else that I have been able to avoid so far by sticking to the TrackPoint.
I have used the 4 trackpoints on the market. I own an HP Elitebook and the trackpoints aren't as nice as the ones on the Thinkpads, but are the closest I have found to the Thinkpad pointing sticks. If I have to leave Thinkpad/Lenovo I might go to an Elitebook. HP quality control is terrible, but it might be the only option if the new buttons are really that bad. HP at least has buttons.
They should have kept the mousepad as an option.
Charge extra for it, just don't blatantly remove it. Maybe either Lenovo or someone else entirely different will figure out a way to install the old keyboards on the new computers.
As mentioned in the video I linked, I've got an extended warranty for my X1 Carbon, so I will just hold out and see what happens. Maybe I'll buy a couple of T420s's (the last of the T line with the proper keyboard) and make them run for another 5 or 6 years after that. I definitely don't need the latest hardware, given the sort of dev I'm doing on my laptop.
0: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXa0XzNvuZU