Products · Pattern or everyday thing
TrackPoint
Raised as a usability problem by 17 people on Hacker News over 12 years (2012–2023), in 15 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Cursor is hard to position precisely and overshoots targetsUnreviewed
20122026- On large screens the pointer is either fiddly or infuriatingly slow to move2023-01-18
- Trackpoint cursor keeps drifting, which is annoying during use2021-06-03
- Pointer keeps flying off all over the screen, hard to aim accurately2019-01-03
Default TrackPoint sensitivity is too slow, forcing hard pushingUnreviewed
20122026- Default TrackPoint acceleration feels like fighting the stick and strains the finger2019-03-11
- Trackpoint is impossible to use on a 4K or 5K display due to poor sensitivity2016-11-27
- Default TrackPoint sensitivity is too slow, forcing users to push too hard2015-04-25
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 17 complaints
- Trackpoint is too difficult to learn to use compared with the touchpad2023-04-05
- On large screens the pointer is either fiddly or infuriatingly slow to move2023-01-18
- The nub's ergonomics are awkward and it feels like a dumb way to point2021-09-21
- Trackpoint cursor keeps drifting, which is annoying during use2021-06-03
- Default TrackPoint acceleration feels like fighting the stick and strains the finger2019-03-11
- Pointer keeps flying off all over the screen, hard to aim accurately2019-01-03
- Nearly impossible to control cursor with precision, sensitivity changes don't help2018-07-17
- Can't aim precisely; overshoots or undershoots buttons and struggles to select text2018-07-17
- Cursor is hard to position precisely, overshoots, and is far slower than a mouse2017-09-18
- Learning curve is high and the pointer is less intuitive than a touchpad2016-12-14
- Trackpoint is impossible to use on a 4K or 5K display due to poor sensitivity2016-11-27
- Fiddly and imprecise, so people often reached for a mouse instead2016-08-06
- Default TrackPoint sensitivity is too slow, forcing users to push too hard2015-04-25
- Pressing hard on the nub to move the cursor strains fingers and causes discomfort2015-04-25
- Cursor drifts on its own, so the user has to keep correcting it2015-02-16
- Pointing stick is largely unusable and gets in the way while typing2014-01-07
- Slight drift makes it hard to stop the cursor on targets, overshooting destinations2012-09-01