TrackPoint caps

Now you all know me as a stoacht supporter of the TrackPoint (more commonly known as the nipple mouse) mainly because I personally find them more accurate and allow my fingers to stay on the home area of the keyboard. For reasons unknown all ThinkPads I've owned only comes with either soft dome and classic dome (cat tongue) TrackPoint caps.

Between the classic dome and soft dome, I definitely prefer the soft dome. I can never get the feel of the cat tongue, which feels rough and uncomfortably like sand paper. Soft dome caps on the other hand are very comfortable and feels right on my fingers. Unfortunately they wear out very quickly. I checked the one that I've been using for a week and three of the ridges have worn out already. They are very similar to the one on Jenni's Latitude D630, though the soft dome is curvier and softer and the harder and flatter blue Dell cap.

I recently acquired a soft rim track point replacement cap. Having never used a soft rim cap before I was really excited (as excited as one can be in terms of getting a red rubber thingy). With no ridges, the soft rim is in theory probably the most hygienic and reliable TrackPoint cap. And I am happy to say that it works great! I was initially concerned about the concave shape as I've grown used to dome-shaped caps. One thing I did notice is that I have to apply less pressure to power the TrackPoint with the soft rim cap than I do with either dome caps, but with the benefit of added traction. My mouse pointing accuracy seems to have benefited as well. I guess I'll stick with the soft rim for the time being, but will alternate between the soft dome and rim at times.