Is it really useful and handy? Never had Lenovo stuff.
> The pointing stick is positioned such that the hands do not need to be removed from the home row to manipulate the mouse pointer.
> Some people find them more appealing for mobile gaming than a touchpad, because the trackpoint allows infinite movement without repositioning.
> Some users feel that pointing sticks cause less wrist strain because a user does not need to avoid resting wrists on a touchpad, which are usually located just below the keyboard.
Is there actual pressure? Does the pointstick move at all? Does it matter how hard you press on it? Or is that just psychological - you see the cursor moving and assume you are pushing against something.
That said, I use emacs and lisp so ...
but to me removing it from the thinkpad line is a mistake
the only thing they should have done is fix the drifting bug that happens once every two days
That said the choice was always nice for people who liked it so I'm sure they will be disappointed by this decision. I wonder if Lenovo had some metrics behind this decision.
Two points that other people have not mentioned:
* TrackPoint has infinite range because it controls velocity, not position. What I mean is, if you need to reach an on-screen object far away, on a touchpad you might need to flick your finger multiple times because you can't reach it in one stroke. Same with mice sometimes; you might need to lift the mouse, move back, put down the mouse, and reach again. TrackPoint does not suffer from this.
* To do drag-and-drop on TrackPoint, simply hold the desired mouse button down, do the movement on the pointing stick, then lift the mouse button - naturally just like you'd do with a mouse. Whereas to do a left-click drag-and-drop on a touchpad, you need to first do a quick tap on the touchpad (down and up), followed by a drag (down, move, up) on the touchpad; this feels unnatural and has extra latency. And I'm not even sure how you can do a right-click drag-and-drop on a touchpad without the assistance of the right TrackPoint mouse button. (Btw, Windows File Explorer allows right-drag-and-drop; it pops up a menu on the dragged file when the button is lifted. Some file managers on Linux don't allow right-drag-and-drop. And I also use right-click drag for mouse gestures in Firefox, which I heard is a feature pioneered in Opera.)
Poorly implemented clones of the device have also hurt its reputation somewhat, as a poorly implemented trackpoint is never particularly usable.
Now you know someone.
P.S. The drift usually happens when you hold the nub in a particular direction for too long, or on occasion if the screen is pressing on it when closed. It's irritating, but can often be addressed (although some models are worse than others).
This is simply not true. The trackpoint driver will compensate for trackpoints that no longer point "true" center https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/TrackPoint#Trackpoint_moves...
My partner hated using my x61, complaining that it was hard to hit anything accurately. Her laptop had a failed battery and she needed to borrow mine for a few days... a week later she replaced hers with an x61 and some 15 years later has only used a thinkpad, specifically because of the trackpoint.
While I have a regular BT travel mouse that requires NO learning curve and can easily be replaced by any other mouse.
Go check out videos of new computers users from the 90s, mice absolutely have a learning curve. (I say from the 90s because today many people likely grew up with them).
Sure you already know the mouse, so good for you. As a comfortable user of both trackpoint and mice, I'd rather use the trackpoint for almost all uses. The few things I'd prefer a mouse to trackpoint I'd also prefer something else to the mouse (e.g. 3d orientation I prefer use a spaceball like device to mouse, and for drawing I'd prefer a stylus to mouse).
A better touchpad is way more convenient.