American Express-Savings
- Average user rating:
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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31 out of 42 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Great except for one thing..."
Pros: Excellent keyboard, small, solid, excellent wireless connection management software
Cons: No touch pad.
Summary: I really like ThinkPad's, mostly because of their excellent keyboard, great 802.11x connection manager software, and overall solid build. However, one thing really bugs me about the X41 and X60s: there's no touch pad. Lenovo seems to believe that the red TrackPoint input device is adequate for moving the cursor around. Unfortunately, they're wrong.
The vast majority of users, don't like TrackPoint and prefer touch pads. Few of the top manufactures even include a TrackPoint on their laptops. However, when they do include a TrackPoint, they never exclude the touch pad. Lenovo is the only one. The lack of a touch pad makes the X series laptops unacceptable for most users. Lenovo is needlessly losing revenue by not including a touch pad on their fine X series laptops (and irritating some of their customer base).
Please don't misunderstand me TrackPoint fans. Having tried TrackPoints on laptops from various manufacturers, I believe Lenovo's current TrackPoint device is the best ever. For all the users who like TrackPoints, I hope Lenovo continues to include them on their laptops. I just want Lenovo to also include a touch pad on the X series (so that I can buy one). I know it'll fit, just look at every other popular ultra-portable laptop on the market.
- 13 replies to this review
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I love the track poinz, however most people i know use the touch pad but not through choice, there must be a better way. Anyone wonder why most business people carry a mouse becuase neither really works. At least with a track point i have not have sections of text majically selected and deleted by moving my hand from one side of the keyboard to the other
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Everyone has a personal preference towards trackpoint versus touchpad. My only comment is if this feature is so important, why did you buy this laptop knowing it only came with the trackpoint?
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Sorry, there are a lot of us out here who hate touchpads and would never willingly buy a laptop with one. I have had Dell, Sony and other laptops with touchpads foisted onto me and I hated them all. Trackpoints are easy to use, accurate and precise, sensibly located for easy control with your index finger without moving your hand off the keyboard, and are not sensitive to where your thumbs are - unlike a touchpad where a stray touch from a finger can send your cursor across the screen.
The day that Lenovo stops installing Trackpoints on the Thinkpad will be a sad day and will be the day I stop buying Thinkpads. -
devdanke said: "Lenovo seems to believe that the red TrackPoint input device is adequate for moving the cursor around. Unfortunately, they're wrong."
This is an odd statement. The Trackpoint alone is more than adequate in its use as a substitution for a mouse. It is faster and more accurate than a trackpad.
This may seem obvious, but are people using the Trackpoint correctly? I ask only because I used to think that I had to brush the surface of the Trackpoint to move the cursor - like you do a trackpad. Someone had to tell me that you *push* on the little dot. After that, I abandoned my travel mouse and have been a die-hard Trackpoint fan since. Would not buy a notebook without it. -
How could anyone hate the trackpoint? I mean it's just so convinient and fun to play around with. Right now, I'm thinking of buying a new laptop and I'm pretty much only looking for laptops with a trackpoint. It just makes so much sense to not have to move your hand so far when you're typing. I've had it with the shananigans that these touchpads always pull on me. (you know what I'm talking about) But in all seriousness, I think the trackpoint IS what makes this laptop better than the rest.
p.s. My dad had a thinkpad so I kinda know what I'm talking about here... -
For a small computer such as the x60, the red knob is perfect. The trackpad, if it was incorperated, would be painfully small and fairly unusable anyways. I prefer the red knob as I don't have to move my hand down to the palm rest to mouse around, but can do it right from the keyboard. Much more efficient. Plus you can adjust for sensitivity and texture (most come with several knob types so you can customize).
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I much prefer pointing sticks to touchpads, which apparently puts me in the minority. I have owned many laptops, both IBM and Dell, when Dell had both pointing sticks and touchpads. I own one of each currently
My biggest problem with the Dells was that I had too use the Dell mouse driver so that I could turn off the touchpad which I was always grazing by mistake. This makes it difficult for me when I use an external wireless mouse with the Dell but cannot use the mouse's driver because switching drivers turned the touchpad back on. I would never buy a laptop without a pointing stick (which means no more Dells), and much prefer not having a touchpad getting in my way and taking up real estate. My company buys thousands of laptops every year, both Dell and IBM/Lenovo, and the preference is clearly for Thinkpads. -
2 idiots here trying to decide if mark is 6 or 7 based on issue of whether it has a touchpad or not, clueless and unhelpful.
If they used their brains a little it is obvious Lenovo have preserved the traditional IBM keyboard in an ultraportable with an ample tocuhball that is actually not useless. Even if you are not used to it, it's easy to adapt to within an hour. It's also better when inputting text and data into documents. Finally you can always get an ultraportable laser mouse which is beats any trackpad.
Think before you write comments and attribute marks to a product you don't even have and use your brain if you have one! -
could not agree with you more.
In fact I was looking to buy a new Tablet and I know Cnet gave another editor's choice to the Lenovo X41. Which is a great Tablet with 5+ hours battery life.
Even though its a tablet and you can use the Pen instead of a touchpad; I actually did not buy one because of a Lack of touch pad. Trackball or whatever. This thing is PATHATIC.
In fact if I am rating this I would immidiately drop it in a 6. Just an openion. -
Please stick to the facts in your review. "Most users prefer a touch pad?" Based on what, the fact that you prefer them?
The fact that the X60 doesn't include a touch pad is plainly obvious to everyone that looks at a picture of it; all this "review" amounts to is your opinion that you don't like the track point.
It also appears that you don't own an X60, so why bother reviewing it? -
Have three laptops in house and must say I truly cannot stand touch pads. They are inaccurate and require you to take your fingers off the keys. X-series laptops with trackpoints do not. It's a matter of taste.
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devdanke wrote:
I really like ThinkPad's, mostly because of their excellent keyboard, great 802.11x connection manager software, and overall solid build. However, one thing really bugs me about the X41 and X60s: there's no touch pad.
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You can't say the X series thinkpads have excellent keyboards and then complain about not having a touchpad.
These are ultra portables. They've sacrificed the touchpad in order to have a better keyboard.
If you want a touchpad get a T series thinkpad. -
"I just want Lenovo to also include a touch pad on the X series (so that I can buy one)"
So... you don't have one and wrote an "user opionion" as an "user"?
