-Laptops usually come with a track pad or a track point. I personally like the track point like Toshiba uses. My wife hates it or at least she say she does.
-Track points, this is a pretty cool mouse. It looks like a eraser sitting on the keyboard and is a little invention of IBM. The way it works is by pressure sensitive resistors. These resistors sit at the base of the nub and detect pressure. Just barely applying pressure to the left the mouse goes to the left and apply to the right it moves right. Pretty neat. Another thing that makes this a good mouse is that it is found on the home row of a laptop keeping you from going all over the computer to make a move. Better yet, dirt has no way of entering the device and cleaning is really not needed. Of course the top of the eraser nub gets dirty but what you expect?
-Track Pads, this little guy was first seen on the Apple power books and is adopted for most laptops. I hate this design and think that it is hard to use, but who am I to say that? The advantages of the track pad is the natural appeal. You can simply brush your finger across is to make the mouse move.
-Current, the track pad uses a small amount of current that supplies power to a conductive material on the pad. This senses where your fingers are. When you drag your finger across the square you are interrupting the current or signal to the pad thus giving your position away.
-Clean, the track pad stays clean because it is sealed and also has no moving parts. This is one of the reason for its success. But its hard to beat the ole desktop mouse.
Mice/Rodents - Laptop Pointers
