[andix]

I still have a keyboard with a track point

I don't understand why they are not popular at all and only a few manufacturers build them.

It doesn't replace a mouse for me, but the track point is between the G H B keys and can be reached without moving the fingers away from the typing position. So it's great for some simple mouse commands.

[glitchc]

The trackpoint is the main reason I find it so hard to move away from Lenovo Thinkpads. The buttons under the spacebar alone are super convenient.

[Liskni_si]

Not just hard - impossible. To the point of making it harder to find a job, as very few jobs let you use a non-Windows ThinkPad.

(I mean yeah, of course AuDHD makes it harder to find a job, no surprise there. But it's a shame that laptop manufacturers make it even harder.)

[mncharity]

> To the point of making it harder to find a job

Fwiw... (1) Lenovo sells compact keyboards with trackpoint. USB and bluetooth. There are mouse buttons below Space, but it cuts off there, with no pad. I once taped a kludgy bare usb pad to one, which was ok, but the extra couple of cm separation was annoying. I considered grinding out some of the case, but don't recall if that turned out plausible. (2) Lenovo has tablets with detachable keyboards, with both trackpoint and touchpad. People have DIYed such (from an old X1) into a USB kbd - the pogo pins did USB. Lenovo currently sells a replacement kbd for the X12, but I don't know if its similarly DIYable. (3) Assorted other manufacturers make, or have made, kbds with devices resembling touchpoint, more or less. (4) Some note ancient Lenovo IBM SK-8840 PS/2 Wired Keyboard With TrackPoint still show up on ebay, fwiw.

[andix]

> (1) Lenovo sells compact keyboards with trackpoint

Where can I get it? They stopped selling them around 2 years ago AFAIK. I have a few of them, but they are not very durable, so used ones are probably not a good option.

Only alternative I know of is https://tex.com.tw

[sfRattan]

There are two split-keyboards made by Ultimate Hacking Keyboard [1], UHK 60 and UHK 80, that have an optional trackpoint or trackball module. They're not cheap, though.

[1]: https://uhk.io/

[mncharity]

> They stopped selling them

Ouch. Thanks for the catch.

On ebay just now, there's someone claiming they have "more than 10 available".

[Liskni_si]

I'm somewhat aware of some of this but also... External keyboard only works if you're using the laptop as a desktop computer. It's not really practical if one uses a laptop as a laptop.

And yeah I know there are people lugging a massive mechanical keyboard to cafes but I find that about as annoying as getting used to the ridiculously bad keyboard and no trackpoint of Apple laptops.

[scottlamb]

There are folks who have added them to external keyboard builds: https://kbd.news/How-to-integrate-a-trackpoint-into-your-key...

[silon42]

Dell and HP had trackpoints once (I had a HP one), maybe they still do.

[nazgulsenpai]

This. When I use my work laptop, I find myself pressing the spacebar constantly. edit: instead of "clicking"

[andix]

There is at least a whole line up of models from Lenovo. But for keyboards there is currently only tex.com.tw that sells new keyboards with track point.

[wnolens]

As an old user of thinkpads for years, on a Macbook the trackpad is as much under your thumb as the trackpoint is under your index finger and I find the trackpad far more accurate and less strain to use. In fact, my work-at-home setup is macbook pro, open face so i can use the keyboard+trackpad but external monitor so my posture isn't terrible.

[tfvlrue]

My college ThinkPad laptop had a trackpoint in the keyboard that I never used. The paradigm of "pushing" the cursor around by applying an acceleration vector just never clicked with me. I found the touchpad faster and more accurate/predictable, and learned to be quite proficient with it, so I never used the trackpoint.

It also didn't help that (at least for the T-series of the era) the trackpoint nib had a reputation for causing a bright spot on the LCD within a year or two, from the contact pressure when the lid was closed. I removed the rubber cover to avoid the screen damage, which guaranteed I would never use it.

I get that some people like it, but those are my two reasons for not :)

[qweqwe14]

> I don't understand why they are not popular at all and only a few manufacturers build them.

Because they are ugly, just like ThinkPads that include them.

[officeplant]

Beauty is in the eye of the chonky laptop holder.

[andix]

I couldn't care less how ugly my keyboard is.

[qweqwe14]

Sure, but normal people care about aesthetics, and unsurprisingly big corporations cater to that.

[Hugsbox]

So Lenovo puts trackpoints on their ThinkPads, which is ugly. Also, big corporations cater to aesthetics. Which is it?

[qweqwe14]

I didn't say corporations can't have an ugly laptop lineup.

I'm saying that the trend of consumer/business laptop lineups is to make all of them look similar to a MacBook, because that's what most people want. Of course there will always be exceptions, like the ThinkPad.

[andix]

I'm not even interested so much on laptop keyboards. I always work on my desktop setup with an external keyboard.

It's really hard to get an external keyboard with a track point. For laptops there are a lot of models to chose from, both used and new.