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With the full review of Lenovo’s ultraportable ThinkPad X201 coming soon, I thought our dedicated ThinkPad-erati would appreciate an early look at the biggest change the X201 brings: the touchpad.
The biggest news with the X201, aside from the new processors, is the optional touchpad. The ThinkPad X Series traditionally relied on the trackpoint as the sole pointing device, to avoid any compromise in the form factor or keyboard, making this a rather important update.
Lenovo of course made this change for the corporate world primarily: not having a touchpad can be an excluding factor when a company is considering vendors, so it is better to have than have not. This same story is why the T410 got four USB ports instead of the traditional three.
To avoid significant re-engineering, Lenovo opted to work in the constraints of the X201’s palm rest, aiming to modify only the palm rest to fit the touchpad. This simplifies things on their end and gives purists the option to have a completely touchpad-less ThinkPad X Series.
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As a result, the touchpad is a small one. The dimensions are roughly 2.4 inches (61mm) by 1.2 inches (30mm). This is a fair amount of room to do some casual mousing, but a hardcore touchpad user will be left wanting more space. At least the ‘pad’s performance is great, as are all ThinkPad touchpads.
While I am a die-hard TrackPoint user, there are times when it is nice to have a touchpad around. If I have been doing a lot of typing and mousing, it is nice to have an ergonomic change and mouse around without having to apply pressure to the red nubbin. Also, I find that if I am more consuming content than creating it, I prefer to more comfortably use the touchpad rather than have my hand more outstretched and engaged using the TrackPoint.
But, the real question is: would I pay the extra $20 for a touchpad? Indeed I would. It adds value for me, doesn’t compromise functionality and is reasonably priced. If you change your mind after the fact, a simple swap of the palm rest is all that is needed to change from one version to the other.
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But, the real question is: would I pay the extra $20 for a touchpad? Indeed I would. It adds value for me, doesn’t compromise functionality and is reasonably priced. If you change your mind after the fact, a simple swap of the palm rest is all that is needed to change from one version to the other.
asd
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
OK, John, I can’t resist posting here as well. I’m also a die-hard trackpoint user, so the touchpad is a non-issue for me, unlike the screen over in the other thread. Here I go anyhow. Have you used the touchpad on a (recent) Macbook? Forget about it’s big size, but just compare the responsiveness, two-finger gestures (scrolling) and the reliability of the palm check, for example. It’s no contest, the Macbook, under Mac OS (10.5), completely trounced my T410s. Going back to the Thinkpad, it’s touchpad felt unresponsive, especially for the two finger scrolling, and the palm check unreliable. There is a trade-off in the driver for the palm check, but there isn’t a truly good setting. The Apple, on the other hand, just works. I would not call the touchpad, the one of my T410s at least, a good one after that comparison. That said I’ll take the trackpoint any day over either touchpad.
I haven’t used a new Apple, but I sure do believe you. Multitouch has been a joke on every (Windows) system I’ve used it on. I do need to get into playing with Apple’s laptops. I’m not sold that they have the best hardware, but I think custom tailored software with high dollar hardware is a good combination.
My reference to touchpads was of course limited to Lenovo products and other PC competitors. Some laptops have terrible touchpads, that are unresponsive and inaccurate. I’ve always found ThinkPads touchpads to be responsive and accurate, with no exception that springs to mind. My point was that the X201 touchpad hasn’t deviated there
I’ve got the T510, as soon as it could when released in the UK with the FHD screen. Touchpad was ok when I got it, then an update went in for the drivers and I thought it was broke!
Only when you start hunting trying to find a solution do you discover there’s extra settings for sensitivity. Yet, even with those it’s poor for scrolling. The dual finger works after a moment, but the left side scroll is dead.
For the X201 (which I’m fairly tempted to buy, even had my credit card out for it once) I’d opt for the touchpad too.
No new keyboard-design for X2xx-Thinkpads? I thought they’ve implemented the new design across the board of their line-up.
I’m all for choice.
But in order to make a touchpad “optional”, the regular keyboard gets squeezed to make room for a non-optional palmrest. I’d rather have taller keys. But that ship has sailed. I pray that we don’t see the “industry standard touchpad” become the default on X series, and we have to order a special secret bezel to cover it up.
Meanwhile, can Lenovo put the same level of effort they do appeasing the non-typing world, into restoring us some WXGA+ screens, 16:10 or 4:3 screens? Killing off the X301 doesn’t help.
From the first image I see you also have the bowed spacebar issue! Many x201 machines including mine have the spacebar bowing in the middle and have the left edge raised higher than the rest of the keys.
Apparently the unobtainium X201S made a brief reappearance on lenovo.com – anyone know more? Did anyone actually GET one?
I have been forced by my university to use a Thinkpad for two years now and feel compelled to tell anyone considering to buy one to save up the extra hundred dollars and buy a mac. The advancement of comfort and technology is worth it.
As someone who touch types (blind types?) I can assure you that the Thinkpads are excellent. The Apples are superb too, very different feel, but there’s nothing bad about the Thinkpads in that respect.
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