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Laptops w/o Trackpads?

Posted by Cliff on from the are-we-stuck-with-them dept.

Leave Blank asks: "Are there any laptops out there anymore that -don't- have trackpads? I can't use them properly at all (for whatever reason - my current theory is that it's linked to my severe Raynaud's - some days I can activate a trackpad from a bit under a centimetre above it, other days it just doesn't work at all, so I always carry around an external trackball with my current laptop. Does anyone on Slashdot have recommendations I mightn't have managed to google?" "A trackpad is just pointlessly annoying for me, because I have to remember to turn it off or I'll 'hit' it accidentally while typing (sometimes just by waving my hand over it, remember), and even if it is off, I'm left with a nagging feeling it's wasting space, which annoys my tender european design sensibilities. So, what are my options? - I want a top-of-the-range in processor/gfx laptop, I quite like the little keyboard, um, nubbins, but I can't find a _new_ laptop with one but without a trackpad, and ultra-pricy tablet PCs typically actually come with a freaking trackpad too. Seems to me a laptop without a trackpad might even be smaller, and I'm quite prepared to live without one as outlined."

3 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Just unhook it by Omega1045 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    It will probably void the warranty or something, but why not just open up the case and unhook the trackpad? Opening a laptop can be tricky, but it is possible.

    And while you are at it, take out all the guts and paint your laptop camo (don't forget the keyboard!) so you can have that "Hackers" look.

    --

    Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein

  2. Duct tape- no joke by Nomihn0 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Buy a top-of-the-line laptop and place ducttape over the trackpad. The cost of the trackpad is negligible in comparison to the overall price of the laptop and duct tape is cheap. You can get a roll of white for your iBook, chrome for your Vaio, or manila for your Walmart PC. As long as you cover the pad, your hand brushing over won't be recognized (conductivity is often measured).

  3. Re:IBM Thinkpad by TFGeditor · · Score: 2, Interesting

    " IBM Invented the trackpoint or whatever they call it."

    Not that it matters, but my son-in-law is the engineer who designed it. He's a PhD, physicist, and came up with "negative inertia" to make it work.

    --
    Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.