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Dell trackpoint

Discussion in 'Dell Latitude, Vostro, and Precision' started by ekincam, Sep 3, 2008.

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  1. ekincam

    ekincam Notebook Enthusiast

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    Anyone knows how the Trackpoint on a Thinkpad and one from a Dell Latitude compare? I've only used the Trackpoint on a D630 for about 1 hour at work and thought that IBM's implementation was somehow more precise than Dells. I guess the best way to put it is that the Dell seemed more touchy than IBM. Also the D630 did not have the bottom button for scrolling like my T23.

    I was first exposed to Trackpoint when I bought a IBM T23 in 2003. The T23 doesn't have a touchpad at all. It only has Trackpoint.

    I've never used a touchpad that I've liked so I'm partial to Trackpoint. It's a bit of a deal breaker for me and one of the things stopping me from considering a Dell XPS M1330 (that and the glossy screen).

    I've been looking at the Latitude E4300 and anticipating its release (along with many others here) and was wondering if the Trackpiont in the E-series was any different or better than the one in the D series.

    I looked at Lenovo's current offerings and if the X300 could come with a regular drive instead of SSD and jacking up the price to $2000, I'd probably be on it.

    BTW, does the E4300 use a 2.5" drive or 1.8" like the D430?
     
  2. magister

    magister Notebook Consultant

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    I haven't seen an E-series Latitude in person. However, based on pictures the trackpoint looks similar to the one that comes on the D630. First off, I'm a big fan of the IBM style trackpoint ever since I was exposed to an old T40(I think that's what it was) a few years ago. Lenovos, like the old IBM's, come with three different trackpoint caps included. The Latitude comes with only one trackpoint cap which I think is called the soft rim.

    I returned a T61 for my D630 and I have to admit that at first I was a little disappointed by the trackpoint performance. I did two things to fix this: First, you need to tweak the trackpoint settings in Dell's internal settings. Mine was set too slow. I also turned off tap to click. Second, I replaced the "soft rim" cap with a "classic dome" cap I had from a (very old) hand me down Inspiron. Surprisingly, it fit perfect. It's my opinion that the soft rim style cap is the main reason for the "touchiness" you experienced. I felt the same thing. No more touchiness with classic dome. You can check out trackpoint.com for these or try ebay. I've been very happy with the Latitude trackpoint ever since.

    The new E series have the center button unlike the D so that should make it even more like the old IBM's. The D630 is better than the T61 I had in many ways. And, it looks like the E series has just got even better.
     
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