I've yet to have a machine that had a trackpoint that it didn't need to be disabled after a few months of use. Every one of the trackpoints seemed to randomly start moving the pointer in one direction or another and so you had to put constant pressure on it in the opposite direction to keep the mouse in a still state. I'll NEVER buy a machine with one of those in it now. To date, none of them was ever repaired and lasted longer than a few months either. The systems were fine other than that issue.
So my experience was quite the opposite of yours as it comes to trackpoint as an input device. If they would stay working, I'd love to use them because I agree about the removing hand from the home position being less than efficient.
As you can see in the attached video taped at Digital Life in New York City, I can vouch for the fact that Toshiba’s Portégé R500 sub-notebook has a built-in optical drive for CD-ROMs and DVDs. You hardly ever see this in a sub-notebook because they take up so much vertical space and as a result, if you’re a subnotebook user who wants to listen to CDs or watch DVDs while on a plane or something, you need your docking station too. But not in the case of the Portégé R500. I was quite surprised to see the drive tray pop out of the Portégé’s side bezel.
But one supposed attribute of the Portégé R500 that I can’t vouch for is it’s all-day battery. According to Toshiba’s Paul Tayar (interviewed in the video), the R500’s 6-cell lithium ion battery should last a user all day. All day? The battery in my current notebook computer (a Thinkpad T42) can hardly make it through the night. But to have have an all-day battery in a subnotebook computer that weighs less than 2 lbs. (Toshiba claims 1.7 lbs.) seems extraordinary. One key to that battery life, according to Tayar, is the Toshiba’s choice of processor: Intel’s Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage U7600 processor.
Another cool feature of the Portégé R500 is a switch that toggles the display between its outdoor and indoor modes. In other words, the display has a mode that makes it easier to see it well in the sunlight. But, if there’s one critical feature that’s missing from the R500 (in my estimation) — one that would keep me from buying it — it’s the lack of a pointing stick (or TrackPoint.. if you’re used to Thinkpad lingo). I remember back in the early 90’s when Toshiba shipped the first Portégé and it was one of the first notebooks to have the pointing stick. I know it’s a matter of personal preference. But, if you’re a touch typist like I am, moving your fingers away from the keyboard hurts productivity instead of enhancing it. Heck, I’d be first on line to buy a MacBook if it only had a pointing stick.
