14-16" Laptop with Physical Trackpad Clickable "Mouse" Buttons - Budget $1,000

ritzaus on 11/02/2024 - 19:38
Last edited 11/02/2024 - 22:08 by 1 other user

14-16" Laptop with Physical Trackpad Clickable "Mouse" Buttons

  • Newish processor (say Intel 12th Gen or newer)
  • 16GB RAM
  • Not a bulky gaming laptop
  • Ideally around the $1000 mark
  • FHD touch screen
  • 500GB SSD

Key requirement which is hard to find is the need for physical clickable left and right mouse click buttons on the laptop. Don't ask me why :) It's for a family member who absolutely must have this and no using a mouse or other options aren't an option. I've tried to get them to move on from this but here we are.

Computing Computer Laptop

Comments

  • AustriaBargain on 11/02/2024 - 19:43
    -2

    On the MacBook trackpad if you click the trackpad with one finger it counts as a left click, if you click the trackpad with two fingers resting on it then it counts as a right click. Surely PC laptops have the same function by now. It surely wouldn't take long for this family member to learn how to do this.

    • ritzaus on 11/02/2024 - 20:25

      Thanks. Have tried it but no willingness to adjust to it unfortunately.

  • rumblytangara on 11/02/2024 - 20:03
    +2

    Thinkpads still have physical buttons (as well as an additional joystick for mouse control). E series will start around 1K, but I have never used one so can't comment further.

    I'm the same- can't stand trackpads with the tap to click 'feature'.

    And by 'feature' I mean a "cheaper to manufacture version of the product which the marketing department convinces people is better."

    • AustriaBargain on 11/02/2024 - 20:33
      -2

      There's no way Apple's glass multitouch trackpad, or the PC equivalent (like on the Surface line), is cheaper to make than an old fashioned single touch trackpad with two buttons under it.

      • rumblytangara on 11/02/2024 - 20:54

        It's still cheaper to make than the same multitouch trackpad + 2 physical buttons.

        But it didn't fit with Ive's minimalist aesthetic, or might have led to the case being half a mm thicker, so of course real buttons were cut. Despite haptic feedback being a very useful part of any physical tool.

        On the other hand, some laptops manage to do multitouch trackpads + real life buttons. (And personally I prefer to buy machines which I have some hope of fixing myself, rather than machines which sacrifice reparability for looks, and are locked together with glue.)

        • AustriaBargain on 11/02/2024 - 21:00
          -2

          I doubt it. Apple's trackpad takes up the full space between the keyboard and the edge of the keyboard top case, so if they added two buttons then the trackpad could be smaller.

          • rumblytangara on 11/02/2024 - 21:03

            @AustriaBargain: The word was "thicker."

            Apple has been at the absolute vanguard of the race for thinner devices, sacrificing functionality.

            The whole butterfly switch fiasco, the much touted thinner keyboard design which first led to machines being destroyed by grains of sand and pocket lint, then to a lost class action lawsuit, was the perfect poster child for this.

            • AustriaBargain on 11/02/2024 - 21:09
              -2

              @rumblytangara: You clearly have never used an Apple trackpad or an Apple keyboard. Except for the brief period with the butterfly design, Apple trackpads and keyboards are some of the best you can buy and probably some of the most expensive to produce.

              • rumblytangara on 11/02/2024 - 21:34
                +2

                @AustriaBargain: This entire digression is not about whether a trackpack is 'good' or not, it's whether adding buttons to an existing trackpad makes the entire machine more expensive to produce.

                And spun off an original topic of someone who insists on using a machine with physical buttons, so "hey, use an Apple with no physical buttons" was really useful. Yeah.

                Same item (even if slightly smaller because we are not talking silicon wafers where size really does correlate to cost) + additional bits = more expensive manufacturing process.

                You clearly have never used an Apple trackpad or an Apple keyboard

                I've used plenty. OTOH, you clearly don't know tech.

                • AustriaBargain on 11/02/2024 - 21:36
                  -3

                  @rumblytangara: The reason they don'd add those two big buttons is because the vast majority of people don't want them. Apple has a little motor in the trackpad that simulates a physical click when you press down on it, how on Earth could that possibly be any cheaper than adding two buttons above it and making the glass trackpad smaller. Your hypothesis makes absolutely no sense.

                  • rumblytangara on 11/02/2024 - 21:38

                    @AustriaBargain: If it's a solenoid (which many fake-click mechanisms are), it's definitely cheaper than buttons. Cheaper to machine/manufacture, and cheaper to cover warranty on.

                    • ritzaus on 11/02/2024 - 21:40
                      +3

                      @rumblytangara: Thanks guys but can you please make your conversation private. I just want notifications from people who are contributing to the topic not another side conversation. Thank you.

                    • AustriaBargain on 11/02/2024 - 21:57
                      -7

                      @rumblytangara: I think you've drunk the anti-Apple and high end PC koolaid.

  • djones145 on 11/02/2024 - 21:10
    +3

    https://www.lenovo.com/au/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpade/thinkpad-e15-gen-4-(15-inch-intel)/21e6s11v00

    nearly there just the ram

    • ritzaus on 11/02/2024 - 21:17

      Thanks a lot. Will take a look.

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