Should We Go Back To The “Eraser Tip” Mouse On Laptops?

The most annoying part of using a laptop is the mouse, no question. It is something that the industry has always struggled with.

In the early days of pointing devices on laptops, it started with an in-built trackball, and they were horrible. Placed just below the keyboard or in the LCD bezel itself, they routinely started to fail in as little as 3 months of use.

Then came the joystick, which is the ‘eraser tip’ mouse – and it was good. Really good. It allowed for much better control, it took only minutes to get used to it and they lasted a very long time.

Only three problems were common with joystick mice.

The first is that the tip got dirty easily. It didn’t matter if you washed your hands 10 times a day because the tip would still find a way to dirty itself up. Laptop OEMs wised up to this and started shipping a “bag o’ mouse tips” with every new laptop sold; it usually contained 3 replacements when you needed them.

The second was the ‘drift’ problem. Something would get messed up with the sensor, you’d take your hand off the stick and the pointer would s-l-o-w-l-y drift to a corner of the screen. As the problem got worse, the pointer would snap to a corner every time you let go of it.

The third was the ‘crazy cursor’. Instead of drifting, the pointer would just wildly jump to different parts of the screen.

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All of these problems were eliminated years ago – save for the dirty tip that can still happen because, well, we’re humans and we’re gross.

Can you still get a joystick-style mouse on a laptop today?

Yes. Look no further than the ThinkPad; they still have that very-familiar red joystick mouse right where it’s supposed to be. And yes, the trackpad is also obviously there as well.

What about other makes/models?

They exist but they’re not easy to come by. Believe me, if you want the joystick, go Lenovo and don’t think twice about it.

Will the netbook/ultrabook ever get the joystick?

It’s my belief the subnotebook should have had a joystick mouse from day one. The way in which netbooks and the upcoming ultrabook are design are with “squat” trackpads that everyone hates, and forces the keyboard keys to be made smaller into chiclet-style – and people hate those, too.

All subnotebooks in my opinion should ditch the trackpad completely for the joystick mouse. Want to know what happens then? The space given back from that trackpad being gone allows to fit in full size keyboard keys – and everyone would cheer for that.

Laptop OEMs should make laptops like Lenovo does, offering both trackpad and joystick.

Should the joystick mouse come back for more notebooks and be introduced on subnotebooks?