[adrusi]

You're confusing w530 and w540. w530 has a centered keyboard and no numpad, and physical trackpoint buttons. It's the new w540 that drops the buttons and shifts the keyboard.

That said, I suppose I'm the audience that Lenovo's changes are targeted to. As a current owner of an early 2011 macbook pro, I just ordered a T440p yesterday, but for a long time I was deciding between it and T540p. I prefered T540p to the very similarly priced and equipped w530 (for my price range) because of the new trackpad.

I eventually settled on the T440p because of its greater portability and centered keyboard.

There's just more people who care about a good trackpad than a good trackpoint. I've used lenovo trackpoints and just can't get used to them, so I suppose it must be similarly difficult for trackpoint users to learn to use trackpads effectively, but I don't think either is inherently better.

[jamesbritt]

Indeed you are right. That's even more depressing. :)

I get that maybe more people are interested in the trackpad but I don't see why Lenovo improves the pad at the expense of the trackpoint. I disable the trackpad on my laptops so there's a net loss for me when they degrade the trackpoint buttons.

If they insist on degrading what distinguishes a Thinkpad then they'll be yet another generic laptop provider.