In what situations is the pointer nub on some laptops preferable to the trackpad? or to the mouse?

some people just like to play with and use the laptop nipple.

For scrolling? I really don’t know why those things are there. Nothing you can’t do with arrow keys or trackpad if you ask me – and it’s not aesthetically pleasing.
....and I have to say I’m glad my MacBook pro doesn’t have one.

what’s the deal with grippy cats tongue??

@flower, on the IBM-flavor of the nub, the grippy material they use is reminiscent to the feeling of a cat’s rough tongue.

haha….ok. On the last laptop I used that had one of those, it was just red rubber, not particularly textured.

i think for some people it makes more sense to move a stick around than to slide their finger around on a touchpad. personally, the pointer nub is too slow and cumbersome for me to use. but I used a touchpad before I used a pointer nub, so that’s what I’m used to using.

The isometric joystick is a concession to people raised on arcade video games in the 1980’s. Their brains are oriented to operate all machinery by joystick. The rest of us have brains where a trackpad is how our brains were trained. The trackpad simulates a pen & paper mentality. Our brains will culminate into a preference for a 3 dimensional trackpad in the future, similar to the navigation panel on the alien ships in the old TV show “Earth: Final Conflict”. I am thankful that Auto Manufacturers in the 1980’s discarded their plans to replace the steering wheel with a joystick!

After reading your question i cant help but think about this great comic

I would not refer to the steering wheel joystick in my 1980s car as a “clit mouse” as in “Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the Clit Mouse”.

The nub was first installed on laptops before touchpads were around, so that the manufacturers could claim true portability without having a mouse. After touchpads came out, I figure it was just cheaper to keep it than do a keyboard redesign.

The first time I saw one of those nib things I thought it was a joke, that someone had shoved some obscure piece of red rubber in between some keys. Really, it serves no purpose.
@uberbatman- that is the funniest thing ever. where did you find it?

My mom had an old work laptop when I was a kid (I’m 20), and it had one of those as the only navigation tool, and when the trackpad became more popular, I thought that it only did so because it was more high-tech looking. I thought that the nub thing was way easier to control and functioned much better. I haven’t seen a computer with one of those in a while, but I’ve only had macs for a while too. :)

@ezraglenn its from the web comic xkcd. There is a relevant comic for any situation.

Great Question – terrible Answers.

You all are missing the point of the pointer.

You can keep your fingers on the keypad typing and then move the cursor without having to reposition your hands.

Plus you don’t have to worry about a stray finger hitting the ‘pad’ somewhere and then see that when you look up you have been typing in the wrong spot.

I won’t buy a laptop without the little nubby – it is most efficient.

New laptops are being made with this feature all the time – including those from Dell, HP and IBM/Lenovo… but mostly in their business divisions… I suppose they figure mostly business users are touch typers.

@KenRubin i can keep my hands on the keys while using the touch pad with my thumb still not having to readjust my hands. And this things a lot more accurate than the clit mouse. That thing just flys across the screen, its a piece of crap.