Mouse versus touch pad

[Tiger]

Some people cannot live without a mouse on their laptops. Personally, I prefer a mouse, but I am used to touchpad. I can use either one with ease. I know some prefer a mouse and some prefer touchpad. Still, others like me are fine with either one. The one thing I have trouble with is the type of scrolling where not using the bar at the right side of a web page or document. It may just be my touchpad, but sometimes it does not properly, so that I have to point on scroll down on the side, which is definitely not my preference.

[Linxe Termoil]

Was there a point to this?

[JamesSavik]

trackball!

[Lugh]

I agree with James... trackball

[Hoskins]

In order of preference

 

Mac multitouch touchpad

mouse

regular touchpad

keyboard

a pencil

trackball

[JamesSavik]

Once you go trackball, you won't go back.

 

You'll get none of that carpel tunnel nonsense and have finer control over your cursor once you get used to it.

[shadowgod]

Yes Linxe, Tim is obviously trying to spur discussion. Leave the cranky to me it looks bad on you.

 

One thing I love about the Mac Book Pro is the multi-touch track pad. There is no fiddling with the scroll bar to the left of the screen or a special area on the track pad for vertical scrolling. Simple just drag two fingers up or down and viola you get to scroll, pretty effortless.

 

Now we will see if the bootcamp update fixes my issues with this locking up whenever I have too many tabs open.

[Tiger]

I've been considering a Mac. Is it available on both the desktops and notebooks? It sounds really cool.

[Tipdin]

I prefer a mouse. Being left handed, both the computer and I get messed up.

 

AND STAY AWAY FROM MAC! It's a Microsoft world, like it or not. I don't think using a Mac is as easy and nothing translate exactly.

 

Even stories from here, when downloaded, they're usually a mess, it makes reading them very difficult.

 

I was going to do some editing for someone and they said they would send me a 100 page Word document. In my Mac, it was closer to 500 pages! When I loaded it into my PC, it was 100 pages just like they said it was.

[Linxe Termoil]

wireless mouse. I like it, it's portable and almost impossible to break. the only thing I don't like is the usb thing that plugs into the side of my laptop because half the time I'm afraid I'll break the thing in half, other then that I've never had any problems with it. It's also fairly cheap.

 

 

Used trackballs in the Navy on board the submarines, didn't like those very much but I got used to em after awhile. It was just awkward getting used to not moving my hand around to control the pointer. I only used it most of the time when I was doing paperwork on every watch.

[Mark Arbour]

Mouse.

[Kia Zi Shiru]

touch pad, but now I have to admit that I haven't used a desktop in a couple of months..... the only thing I use my (second ) wireless mouse for is gaming sometimes....

 

and tipdin, I 've never had any trouble with mac (grew up with it till I was in highschool) it's just that you need to get the right programs running on it. My mum and dad both only use mac and never have any trouble at all.

[Graeme]

No real preference. I currently have two laptops up and running on my desk, both with touchpads. The work laptop has a mouse plugged in on one of the USB port and my personal laptop just has the touchpad.

 

One thing I do as soon as I get a laptop, though, is disable the click on the touchpad. I've had too many times where the computer thought I had tapped the touchpad and took that as a click, when I didn't want it to.

 

I've used trackballs at a couple of customer sites, but never really got into using them.

[glomph]

I've been considering a Mac. Is it available on both the desktops and notebooks? It sounds really cool.

 

The multi-touch pad comes on the laptops.

 

The new wireless mouse for the Mac desktops has some of those gestures (such as vertical and horizontal scrolling) on the top surface. It takes some getting used to. I got one to replace my "Mighty Mouse" that has a little scroll ball on top that worked great until it got dirty, and there's no dependable way to clean it. The wired Apple Mouse still uses that. Both mice can be configured in various ways in software. I preferred using the Mighty Mouse as a one-button mouse, but have been using the new mouse in two-button mode. If you're coming from the PC, you'll have less adjusting to do with a two-button setup (though in fact there are no buttons at all). The downside of using the top surface for scrolling is that if you idly lift and move your fingers around on the mouse, you could find yourself suddenly looking at a whole different area of your picture in Photoshop or suddenly zooming way in or out in Google maps. As I said, there some adjustment. If you find you can't get used to some feature, you can turn it off.

 

My laptop is an old iBook, so it doesn't have a multi-touch pad. I bought a mouse to use with it, but found I soon adjusted to the track pad. If I used Photoshop and Illustrator on it much, I'd stick with the mouse.

 

Speaking of graphics and such, an alternative to the above devices in a Wacom tablet. I never cared much for the multi-button mouse that came with mine, but using the pen is great for drawing, retouching, etc. It can be configured in lots of ways, and different Photoshop brushes can respond to pen pressure and angle in different ways. Now if I could just learn to draw.

 

The iPhone and the iPod Touch respond to quite an array of gestures and also to the accelerometer. I think the multi-touch track pads use a pretty good subset of those gestures.

 

And besides the trackball, there are other devices that are more like game controllers.

 

It's all taste and habit and what you're trying to do with it that determines what you want to use.

[Nephylim]

I prefer the touchpad although I like the little wireless mouse I got with the laptop. However I am usually using the laptop on my lap so it's easier without the mouse

[thatboyChase]

mouse bye

[TetRefine]

Mouses definitely.

[Phantom]

I like mice better, mainly because I'm used to them (and it's impossible to play some games on a trackpad )

[Aeroplane]

I prefer mice if there is enough room to use them, otherwise touchpads.

 

Ive used a trackball before, and one of those studs in the middle of a laptop keyboard. I didnt like either. Theyre too abstract, you have to scroll the cursor the right distance/direction to where you want to go instead of just.. pointing at it with a mouse. Touchpads also suffer from this.

 

 

I bought one of these several years ago.. and it was ok for occasional gimmick use but otherwise not practical. Perhaps the uber expensive ones would be better.. but I suspect not.

[JensenC]

with my latop i cannot used a mouse it just seems pointless

 

though if on my PC i will use a mouse.

[JamieD]

The new multi touch trackpad that comes with all the new macbooks and macbook pro is definitely the way to go...I bought a mouse cause i thought i'd need it but it's been three months and its still in its box