People actually use the nipple mouse often? I have one and I hardly ever touch it.

If I only had a trackpad my fingers would have to leave the keyboard to use the mouse.

I also tend to use more shortcuts now that my fingers are always on the keyboard.

Impi - that's one of the reasons I love my Mac: everything at a keystroke

How is that Mac exclusive? Windows has always been built so that you can operate it entirely without a mouse.

This.

You can move the cursor much faster with the nub. In particular, though, I hate the way most trackpads feel. The old Dell ones feel like rubbing your finger on sandpaper.

actually, this trackpad is quite nice.
i do plan on getting a mouse this wekend. the logitech v220 is only $19.99 at staples right now.

On the converse, I find the Apple ones to be too smooth, resulting in my fingers sticking to the pad. The ideal surface should feel something like lightly frosted glass.

I never said it was - it's just got a more coherent feel to its shortcuts - bearing that in mind, another plus is that unlike a missed keystroke of the windows key, just catching your command key doesn't steal focus from what you're doing.

Oh, and I know there are windows equivalents, but [url=www.blacktree.com]Quicksilver[/url].

With regards to the old iBooks, I totally agree - my (also old) PowerBook has a much nicer surface, quite like frosted glass actually.

Like others said, the nice thing about the nub is the speed. Especially on notebooks with high resolutions and under-sensitive trackpads. Having to lift your finger and reposition whenever you hit the edge of the pad sucks.

Part of the problem with track pad surfaces, I think, is that you have to consider how they're going to wear over time. When I first got my laptop I thought the track pad was fine, but after a year or two my finger didn't glide over it as easily, so as a result I've had to turn the sensitivity way up.

This striking young chap makes a good point.

I have a toshiba sattelite and it's been a bit of a disappointment