Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Laptop and Input Devices

The laptop is really not a very good name for this type of open-up computer. Look, if a laptop has to sit on your lap, you will have a difficult time working as you will have to bend real hard and you have to type pretty gently to prevent it from falling off your lap. A laptop needs a desk.

Modern computing demands the mouse... and yikes, there really is no good place for it. The common spot for it is under the space bar. But your palm can easily "click" on something by accident unless your hands are at 90 degrees. Another popular spot is the pencil eraser type... Eew, a bit hard to use. Where to simulate the mouse buttons are also difficult to put. Some laptops give you TWO choices under the space bar.

The iPad solution: whack the keyboard altogether: tap on screen, tap on the virtual keyboard. Good solution! But tapping isn't going to be as fast as keyboard typing. And, if you have to use the mouse a lot (such as drawing), boy your arms are going to be tired. I prefer mouse, not tapping on screen. I only want to tap screen on a ATM.

Best solution: plug standard keyboards and mouse on the USB ports. Ok, but that knocks out your portability.

Tracball (Centipede players' favorite device) on the side are totally out now? Haven't seen them for a while. I like tracballs but I absolutely cannot stand thumb trackbals. I think a trackball tray pullable from the bottom or the right hand side of the keyboard would be a good innovation. I like keyboard and mouse (trackball) separated. The mouse should not interfere me typing.

1 comment:

Alex Mak said...

The only sensible input device for a laptop is a wireless mouse from Logitech.