First of all, let’s see a little about the origin of this “red button” in the middle of the laptop. We have to go back to 1992, when researchers Ted Selker and Joe Rutledger came to IBM with an idea. They thought of a special button in the middle of the laptop that would be functional.
It seems that the idea went down well and it was Richard Sapir, one of the most important industrial designers of the 20th century who carried it out. The TrackPoint, which is how it was named, was red in color and was first added to the IBM ThinkPad 700c.
IBM reconsidered its future a few years ago and decided to leave the commercial market to focus on more professional sectors. Said change of course meant the sale of its laptop division to Lenovo. Thus, the ThinkPad brand became this company’s and also the TrackPoint.
What is this red “button” for?
Lenovo continues to use this element in its laptops, but not many know of its usefulness. Many users think that it is a kind of “alternative” trackpad«, In case it breaks, you can continue using the laptop. But this is a mistakebecause it makes sense.
The TackPoint is an element designed to improve user productivity. It has been designed not to have to move your hand between the keyboard and the trackpad.
As you can guess, the position of this element is far from random. It is located at this point since it is the natural area during writing. We can move our finger a little and thus move the mouse to perform an action. It is not a lot of time that is saved, but every little bit adds up a lot.
Functioning
Something very interesting is that this element is “variable”. according to pressure exerted by the finger and the finger that we use (index of the left or right hand), the TrackPoint behaves in different ways. The most interesting thing is that depending on the pressure exercised, the mouse pointer will move faster or slower.
It may seem absurd to you, but the amount of time we save is great. Having to “jump” from keyboard to mouse and vice versa is quite time consuming. Through this system, the change is instantaneous, not losing any time.
Characteristics
He has a problem and that is does not allow right and left click functions of a mouse. To correct the problem, many laptops include these at the top of the trackpad. So we can use them without having to stop writing and without going down to the part closest to the letters.
This element does not interfere at all in the normal use of the keyboard since it is up to the keycaps. It is usually seen in red to better identify it, but it can also be black. As a curiosity, it can be “customized”, and it is that in addition to red and black, it can be green.
Precision
You should know that the degree of precision is very superior to touchpad conventional. Being a joystick, a higher degree of precision is achieved than on the touch pad of the keyboard.
requires a little patience to adapt to this system, since it is very different from what we will be used to. Over time you will pick up the thread and it will be very intuitive to use it. It is well worth it for the precision that it can offer us, with much more straight lines.
Conclusion
Indeed, it is an alternative mouse to the touchpad but with a very practical sense and that seeks efficiency. By detecting different levels of pressure and even between the index of the right and left hand, we can gain productivity. It will take you a while to get used to using it, but you will surely notice an improvement in your efficiency-
