• olosta@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      Used one for a few years and I loved it:

      • it’s precise, you can really aim small UI elements
      • It is paired with actual buttons, index on the nub and thumb on the buttons, so no weird gestures to right click
      • It is very quick to switch from keyboard to mouse, your hands nearly don’t move

      But, there’s no mouse wheel or scroll gesture and maintaining pressure on the nub is maybe more tiring than a trackpad.

    • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      15 hours ago

      Some people prefer it over trackpad, or use both. Personally I like to disable trackpad because I tend to always hit it with palm or thumb by accident

    • Arbiter@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      I use a mechanical keyboard with one on my desktop, I actually use it quite a lot.

    • xapr [he/him]@lemmy.sdf.org
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      16 hours ago

      I think it works fantastically well. I personally like it much better than a touchpad. It lets me move the pointer without taking my hands away from typing home position.

      • sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        9 hours ago

        I can never get mine to go where I want first try, and sometimes the pointer drifts on its own after I take my finger off.

        • chaosCruiser@futurology.today
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          1 hour ago

          The best I can do, is to steer it slowly. For me, it’s always been the inferior option when compared to a regular touchpad.

          Although, I do se the benefit of the central positioning when you need to type more and you don’t want to move your fingers from the home row just to click something quickly.

          • sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            11 minutes ago

            Maybe the IBM touch points were better. I could see the Lenovo ones being mostly for show / plausible deniability.

    • NateNate60@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      It’s not just for decoration. You can use it as a legitimate pointing device. Nudging it will move the mouse cursor and tapping it with your fingernail is clicking.

      It takes some getting used to but you can definitely use it for normal office tasks if you wanted to. That being said, I still personally prefer a mouse. But I have known some people who like using the nipple.

    • Engywuck@lemm.ee
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      15 hours ago

      Dunno. I have one on my semifake E580 and I just used it to check if it works. It’s a bit awkward for me.

    • Chozo@fedia.io
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      15 hours ago

      It feels a lot like using a game controller to control your mouse, if you’ve ever used Joy2Key or similar programs.

    • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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      14 hours ago

      Oh yeah.

      It isn’t a dealbreaker for me, but it really is nice. It takes getting used to, but it cuts down on the need to move to the touchpad or mouse. If you’re working in tight quarters, or have mobility issues, or hand issues, it can end up being a major improvement. It’s a ymmv thing of course, but I end up using it more than I thought I would when writing.