Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/10/05/traditional-computing.html
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Does anyone have any real nostalgia for the little red … ummm, let’s call it “mini-joystick” … in the middle?
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They were fun for a bit in the 90’s but with wireless being ubiquitous not so much now.
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Thinkpads are dumb. Y series however was the bee’s knees.
I am a thinkpad user each day at work…we ofc call them Stinkpads.
“modernized” its beloved keyboards
While we’re on the topic of modern keyboards:
- No .com key.
- Still makes me use Shift to get @
- No screen dump button without alt, ctrl, whatever
This does not constitute modernization.
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The thing I miss on the newer thinkpads is the light that tells you when there is a disc R/W. I never know whether it has frozen or is doing an arduous disc read or write.
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I do! Because I absolutely SUCK at using touchpads. Where it really becomes an issue is selecting long columns of text in a spreadsheet…OOPS! Too far! Try again =/
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I had to visit a distant office recently and deliver training to two colleagues. It made sense for me to simply sit between them, as they sit side by side at two desks.
In that lack of space, I very quickly began to rekindle my love for the nipple. It was accurate, fast enough, and more comfortable to use than the trackpad. The problem the trackpad has is that in order to use it, I have to shunt my elbow or my torso further back - or out to the side, which wasn’t an option.
I always had nostalgia for the nipple. But having had to use a laptop in a cramped space for three days, I now remember why the nipple was so necessary - and still is in a few edge cases. It’s the considerate person’s pointing device of choice.
(And a legitimate reason to write “nipple” four times with justification. Insert schoolboy snigger here!)
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You mean like the Commodore 64?
Or TRS 80
Here is a follow up on the history of the @ symbol.
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I disable my touchpad most of the time. It causes much confusion when anyone else tries to use my laptop, but it totally avoids accidental movement of the cursor.
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I’m on a one man crusade to get everyone to use nipples and focus-follows-mouse. A true workflow win.
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We called it something other than the “nipple”, so I find your lack of vulgarity endearing.
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I agree that it looks nice, but the 16:9 screen is pretty much a deal-breaker for me. I’d rather have a 12-13" 3:2 display than a 14" 16:9 on a laptop. Oh, and them using 7th gen CPUs and the outdated 940MX GPU, rather than the (quad core!) 8th gen Intel chips and MX150 instead, that’s just icing on the no-thanks cake.
Speaking of wonky keyboards and trackpoints, though, my trusty old ThinkPad X201 is still going strong. It is, of course, from before they went chicklet-key crazy. The keyboard was swapped out right away as it originally had a broken key, but it’s been perfectly fine since then - for 7+ years of moderate-to-heavy use. Luckily I haven’t had much use for its battery in recent years, though amazingly it still lasts for a few hours.
Still, I’m typing this on my desktop, which has a ThinkPad Compact USB Keyboard (with Trackpoint) - essentially the same keyboard as the T440 and T450, I believe. It is thoroughly excellent, although I do miss the “back” and “forward” buttons by the arrow keys on my X201 (here, they’re PgUp and PgDn, which I never want/need/use).
The X201 will be retiring soon, though. I just got a Dell Latitude 7280 at work, and it’s quite nice (although I mostly use it docked). I’ll be looking for a new personal laptop soon, and so far the ThinkPad Yoga 370 is the strongest candidate, although the X1 Yoga is nice too. I’d consider both the X270, T470 and X1 Carbon if I wasn’t dead set on pen input.
It’s the main reason I own a thinkpad.
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Cool looking, but I’m not paying $2000 to get something that’s not horribly compelling over my current upgraded T430.
Yes, it’s the main reason i cannot really consider using anything but a thinkpad.
90% of the time i’m going to be using an external mouse anyway, but touchpads are damn awful to use, this is hands-down better IMHO.
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It is a nubbin.
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Same here- I don’t beat on my T450s hard enough to justify it eiher.
I will go ahead and type it. CLIT MOUSE! There.
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