Need experence from Thinkpad Users

[1Chris]

I am looking at getting a new laptop and have been looking around. I've heard about 'thinkpad' for years, but never really looked at one.

I saw one at a store, it has the laptop left and right mouse button, plus it has another one up from it. It has a little red button in the middle of the keyboard. It took me a minute or two to figure out the strange look of it.

When typing on a 'regular' laptop keyboard, when you want to use the mouse pad and buttons, you have to take your fingers away from the keyboard. With the thinkpad setup, you can keep your hands on the keyboard, use the red button in the middle as the mouse, and hit the upper L/R button with out having to take your hands away from the keyboard.

Over the years, I've seen things that seem like a good idea, but after you get it, it doens't work out that way.

I want to hear from thinkpad users what they think of that feature? Is it cool? Was it weird, but you got used to it, and now like it? Did you try and use it but it turned out to be a hassle?

Please, if you have a think pad with this feature, let me know what you think of it after using it for a while.

Thank you very much,
Chris.

[Steve R Jones]

Dells have the same thing and I never use it... Heck - I generally attach an external mouse most of the time.

[Train]

I disable the touchpad and use a optical wired mouse.

[venik212]

I had several Thinkpads, and consider them to be the best laptops around. They are solid, the keyboard is usually FANTASTIC, and that little TrackPoint (the red "eraser" in the middle of the keyboard) is the best pointing device ever.
The main problem is that they are expensive, but if money is not an object, I would never recommend anything else. I should add that I use them for such a long time (my previous TP lasted for 6 years-- an eternity in computer land-- that the high price is amortized over a very long period.

If you are rich, get an X201-- the ultimate in lightweight, powerful laptop-- almost small enough to be called a netbook.

[shellyhowell]

I think Lenovo is best one. The ThinkPad T410 is the latest revision of the popular T-series ThinkPad from Lenovo. This model brings a new line of dedicated and integrated graphics cards, the Intel Core-series processor line, and a completely redesigned chassis.

[Train]

shellyhowell, please note the date when the thread is started and last post.
03-04-2011, is when this thread began. And I posted on 03-05-2011.