Any non-IBM notebooks with TrackPoint-type pointing devices?

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I feel the same as your wife.

I dont understand why the manufacturers are abandoning TrackPoint-type pointing
devices to use inferior Touchpads.

In fact the reason I havent updated my trusty Toshiba Sat Pro 4600 is I dont
like Touchpads.

mayfalias-usenet@yahoo.com (Josh Mayfield) wrote:

>My wife needs a new notebook and she flatly refuses to use the
>touchpads which are on pretty much every notebook these days. She's
>currently using a ThinkPad T20, which has a TrackPoint (in addition to
>a touchpad), and she's very pleased with that method of mousing.
>Unfortunately the T20 is slow, unreliable, and completely useless for
>playing 3D games.
>
>She's aware that you can always plug in an external mouse, but the
>little area where she keeps her notebook does not afford her enough
>room for any external pointing devices. (Plus, now that our toddler
>can reach the computer, the fewer external devices and wires, the
>better.)
>
>I thought HP and Toshiba made notebooks with TrackPoints, but I've
>checked catalogs and web sites, and have not yet found ANY current
>notebooks by any manufacturer other than IBM that have any kind of
>pointing device other than touchpads.
>
>So my question is, does any notebook manufacturer other than IBM offer
>TrackPoints or trackpoint-like devices these days? Considering the
>experience both she and I have had with IBMs, we'd rather not purchase
>another one. They seem to be too expensive for what you get, and not
>quite powerful enough for home use... they're fine for email and
>PowerPoint I guess, but our notebook needs are a little more
>demanding. Heck, even a trackball would be okay!
>
>Thanks.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

mayfalias-usenet@yahoo.com (Josh Mayfield) wrote:
>currently using a ThinkPad T20, which has a TrackPoint (in addition to
>a touchpad), and she's very pleased with that method of mousing.

My Dell Latitude D600 has it (and a touch-pad), though I don't use it.
I suspect a lot of other Dell laptops have this as well.

>playing 3D games.

You're going to be underwhelmed by playing 3D games on a laptop.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

<William P.N. Smith> wrote in message
news:6mndk0pif0296tbuodqacnfsdjsl6eb7kf@4ax.com...
> mayfalias-usenet@yahoo.com (Josh Mayfield) wrote:

> My Dell Latitude D600 has it (and a touch-pad), though I don't use it.
> I suspect a lot of other Dell laptops have this as well.

Ah ha! I had looked at Dell's site, but their pictures were too small to
show the keyboards very well. Apparently Dell does have alternative pointing
devices on only two of their notebooks at this time: The Inspiron XPS and
the Inspiron 9100. (Of course they would have to be the heaviest, most
expensive notebooks they offer! But at least it's a start.) Thanks to you
and the other Dell owner who posted for the tip.

> You're going to be underwhelmed by playing 3D games on a laptop.

Yeah... my own notebook is a Dell Inspiron 5100; it has 64MB ATI graphics in
it which isn't nearly as fast as my desktop card, but is perfectly adequate
for the games I play (Morrowind, Spellforce, Gothic), as opposed to the T20,
which typically just shows a black screen if you try to run anything that
uses DirectX 8 or over. And if that doesn't kill you, the frame rates will.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Josh Mayfield wrote:

> My wife needs a new notebook and she flatly refuses to use the
> touchpads which are on pretty much every notebook these days.

Same with me. I hate touchpads...

> She's
> currently using a ThinkPad T20, which has a TrackPoint (in addition to
> a touchpad),

Must be a T30 then. The T2x series didn't had a touchpad...

> and she's very pleased with that method of mousing.
> Unfortunately the T20 is slow, unreliable, and completely useless for
> playing 3D games.

What CPU/RAM does she have? If she has a T20 it has the ancient SavageIX gfx
chipset, but the Radeon Mobility 7500 used in the T30 is quite useable for
3D games...

> She's aware that you can always plug in an external mouse, but the
> little area where she keeps her notebook does not afford her enough
> room for any external pointing devices. (Plus, now that our toddler
> can reach the computer, the fewer external devices and wires, the
> better.)
>
> I thought HP and Toshiba made notebooks with TrackPoints, but I've
> checked catalogs and web sites, and have not yet found ANY current
> notebooks by any manufacturer other than IBM that have any kind of
> pointing device other than touchpads.

Maybe You didn't look hard enough?

Besides IBM, there are notebooks from HP (nw8000, nc8000, nc600), JVC
(several models) and Dell (Inspiron 8600, Inspiron 9100, Precision M60)
which have a Trackpoint.

> So my question is, does any notebook manufacturer other than IBM offer
> TrackPoints or trackpoint-like devices these days? Considering the
> experience both she and I have had with IBMs, we'd rather not purchase
> another one.

What experience?

> They seem to be too expensive for what you get, and not
> quite powerful enough for home use...

Sorry, that's nonsense. A T20 is quite old, and a T30 isn't really current,
either. At the time these models were current the competition didn't offer
really better/faster notebooks. The T-Series _is_ expensive, it is IBM's
top-notch high end series. These high end models are priced similar than
comparable high end models from other manufacturers. These notebooks are
aimed at the business market. IBM also has some cheaper models available
(i.e. R-Series) which might fit Your needs more...

As listed above there are several other manufacturer that offer notebooks
with trackpoint, but none of them will have the build quality like IBM. Even
HP, from which I know they have very good units, is not comparable in
quality like IBM.

Current IBM offerings are as powerful and as suitable for home use as most
other current notebooks.

Benjamin

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

It's ok not to want a ThinkPad. I have a Fujitsu Lifebuoy n5010 or
something. 24 hour tech support, and don't let the fact that when it
crashed, I wish it was like my ThinkPad. Mechanically and support wise, my
r40 is heads and shoulders above any Fujitsu. I'm ready for a t42, and
keeping the r40 as a spare.



"Josh Mayfield" <mayfalias-usenet@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:92c81487.0409131334.75974440@posting.google.com...
> My wife needs a new notebook and she flatly refuses to use the
> touchpads which are on pretty much every notebook these days. She's
> currently using a ThinkPad T20, which has a TrackPoint (in addition to
> a touchpad), and she's very pleased with that method of mousing.
> Unfortunately the T20 is slow, unreliable, and completely useless for
> playing 3D games.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Benjamin Gawert" <bgawert@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:2qqumcF12juh6U1@uni-berlin.de...
>> She's
>> currently using a ThinkPad T20, which has a TrackPoint (in addition to
>> a touchpad),
>
> Must be a T30 then. The T2x series didn't had a touchpad...

It actually is a T20... I just looked at it though and you're right, it
doesn't have a touchpad. I always keep thinking that big cluster of buttons
is a touchpad when I glance at it.

> What CPU/RAM does she have? If she has a T20 it has the ancient SavageIX
> gfx chipset, but the Radeon Mobility 7500 used in the T30 is quite useable
> for 3D games...

It's a Celeron 700, 256MB I think and it has the Savage chipset, so...

> Besides IBM, there are notebooks from HP (nw8000, nc8000, nc600), JVC
> (several models) and Dell (Inspiron 8600, Inspiron 9100, Precision M60)
> which have a Trackpoint.

I will check HP again. It may simply be a case of the images being too small
for me to see the keyboards well enough. Also, I hadn't thought about JVC.
Thanks for the tip.

>> Considering the
>> experience both she and I have had with IBMs, we'd rather not purchase
>> another one.
>
> What experience?

I personally have had or used the IBM 760C, 760E, 760EL, and a T20. All are
old today, but I had them when they were current models and they were always
too slow for what I needed to do. Additionally, the funky Mwave modems and
their associated drivers on the 760C and E were a nightmare for nearly
everyone I know who had one of those systems.

>> They seem to be too expensive for what you get, and not
>> quite powerful enough for home use...
>
> Sorry, that's nonsense. A T20 is quite old, and a T30 isn't really
> current, either. At the time these models were current the competition
> didn't offer really better/faster notebooks. The T-Series _is_ expensive,
> it is IBM's top-notch high end series. These high end models are priced
> similar than comparable high end models from other manufacturers. These
> notebooks are aimed at the business market. IBM also has some cheaper
> models available (i.e. R-Series) which might fit Your needs more...

You make some good points and you're probably right. Regardless, I'm
interested in what else is out there, and I apprectiate the info you've
provided.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Josh Mayfield wrote:

> It actually is a T20... I just looked at it though and you're right,
> it doesn't have a touchpad. I always keep thinking that big cluster
> of buttons is a touchpad when I glance at it.

I had a T20 myself, that's why I knew about the touchpad thingie ;-)

>> What CPU/RAM does she have? If she has a T20 it has the ancient
>> SavageIX gfx chipset, but the Radeon Mobility 7500 used in the T30
>> is quite useable for 3D games...
>
> It's a Celeron 700,

Must be a Mobile P3 700MHz. Easily Upgradeable to Mobile P3 1.1GHz (did that
with mine)...

> 256MB

For Winxp, I'd go for 512MB...

> I think and it has the Savage chipset, so...

Yes, the SavageIX is slow, but then the notebook is already some generations
old...

>> Besides IBM, there are notebooks from HP (nw8000, nc8000, nc600), JVC
>> (several models) and Dell (Inspiron 8600, Inspiron 9100, Precision
>> M60) which have a Trackpoint.
>
> I will check HP again. It may simply be a case of the images being
> too small for me to see the keyboards well enough.

Well, unlike IBM which have a red trackpoint, HP and Dell use trackpoint
colored like the keyboard. So if You don't know that a model has trackpoint,
You won't recognise it easily on pictures on the web...

> Also, I hadn't
> thought about JVC. Thanks for the tip.

JVC is small (subnotebooks), but I have no experience with them. The use for
games is certainly limited due to the shared memory gfx...

> I personally have had or used the IBM 760C, 760E, 760EL, and a T20.
> All are old today, but I had them when they were current models and
> they were always too slow for what I needed to do. Additionally, the
> funky Mwave modems and their associated drivers on the 760C and E
> were a nightmare for nearly everyone I know who had one of those
> systems.

Strange. But I'm very sure that if these thinkpads weren't sufficient for
You, other notebooks wouldn't have fit the bill as well. At these times,
notebooks were quite behind desktop PCs, especially in terms of gfx. That
has changed a lot during the last years.

We have dozens of Thinkpads (and now HPs) at work, most of them used for
heavy 3D gfx applications. And they are good desktop replacements...

>> Sorry, that's nonsense. A T20 is quite old, and a T30 isn't really
>> current, either. At the time these models were current the
>> competition didn't offer really better/faster notebooks. The
>> T-Series _is_ expensive, it is IBM's top-notch high end series.
>> These high end models are priced similar than comparable high end
>> models from other manufacturers. These notebooks are aimed at the
>> business market. IBM also has some cheaper models available (i.e.
>> R-Series) which might fit Your needs more...
>
> You make some good points and you're probably right. Regardless, I'm
> interested in what else is out there, and I apprectiate the info
> you've provided.

No problem. But I thought I had to mention this because I got the impression
Your dissappointment is just because You started with the wrong
prerequisites, and if that's the case You'll be dissappointed by another
manufacturer's notebook as well. Notebooks have certain limitations which,
even when being less present on modern units, are still there.

Well, if 3D games are important You probably would be best served with an
Dell Inspiron 8600 (if the system also has to run on battery) or an Inspiron
9600 (if the system is just used as a portable PC)...

Benjamin