Computer Input device (part 2)

((REVISED – TOO MANY SPELLING ERRORS))) – it may have been too late to post

Ok I have switched jobs and currently I am using a Dell Latitude D800. People who know me, know that I do not have much respect for the Dell laptops. There are a few reasons for this. 1. They don’t make them. 2. Why call them laptops when they are the size of my Commodore 64. 3. If you can’t make a mobile computer mobile, then don’t (just don’t)

Number 3 is where the Computer Input discussion comes in. If you have read my earlier post (Track Back) You know my feelings on people who have a mobile computer and carry a mouse to use with it. Why can’t they just use the input devices on the computer to work. Well this logic I have carried for years, is now making sense to me. The reason people carry a mouse to use with their Notebooks is because notebook vendors make a crappy (that is a nice word for what I would call the pointing device’s on this Dell) touchpad or trackpoint.

The Dell I have is equipped with both the pointing stick (track point) and a touch pad. They both suck. Lets start with the pointing stick. First of all, it does not move very fluid at all. You have to push very hard to move the pointer (And yes I have adjusted every setting for the thing) Second, the location of the buttons when you use the trackpoint are horrible. They are not only in a bad spot (too close to the space key) but they are crappy to push. You see they are flush with the keys so if you happen to choose the touchpad they would not get in your way. From years of working on a ThinkPad I can see why people use a mouse when using this dell. The track point is not even worth trying to use. My hands are already telling me that Carpal tunnel is on the way. Not to mention that the button normally takes 2 tries to single click (it feels like you have to press with all your might to make it click)

Now let’s move to the touch pad. So with the pointing stick sucking as much as it does on the Dell (I still have an IBM thinkpad and it is heaven to the fingers and clicking thumb), I decided to give that a try. And the results are still the same. Why bother. You have to move your fingers from the keys, you have to move both hands to either click or drag something.

Why does this have to be so hard. Are laptop vendors in bed with the mouse vendors? Why do we settle for this? I am finally that guy. I go to work and connect a mouse to my laptop. Shame on Dell for doing this to me. Shame on me for putting up with a computer that claims to be a portable and yet ties me to a desk and a cord……