# Mouse, trackball, or trackpad? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 22, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350 "2011-04-22T13:25:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350/41 "2011-04-25T14:40:12Z")
Mouse with scroll wheel. A trackball is too slow and hard to move to the correct point. The scroll wheel makes everything a breeze. (BTW, did you know you can close a tab by clicking the trackball? Or you can create a new tab but clicking on the link with the trackball?) ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350/42 "2011-04-25T14:40:56Z")
Møøse wik skrøøl whil. Alsø a Wacom Tablet. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350/43 "2011-04-25T16:55:31Z")
A trackball mouse once bit my sister. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350/44 "2011-04-26T20:11:09Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I use this [trackman](http://fixya.net/Products/L/Logitech/177x150/trackman_trackball_304926.jpg), and with the thumb ball it is amazingly agile and very precise. I have no problem gaming, doing graphics or even bog plain spreadsheet and word work with it. I switched to the wireless version of that when I had cats and would game. Dying because to much cat hair collected inside your mouse (pre-laser mice) was uncool. And I’ve never looked back. A wireless trackball allows me to place the trackball between me and the keyboard. That way I can move my right hand back and forth between the trackball and the keyboard by just pivoting my elbow. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350/45 "2011-04-26T20:26:53Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > What about those stupid red knobs in the middle of Sony laptop keyboards? I’ll use anything but that. Sony? I think you mean Lenovo. Officially it’s called the trackpoint (IIRC.) Un-officially it’s the nub, nipple mouse, or clit mouse. They are basically put there for historical reasons. Back inthe day, most laptops had that for the built-in mouse. Then trackpads were made, and everyone switched to that, but Thinkpads (then branded under IBM) kept the nub. They eventually added a trackpad, but kept the nub, too. For some reason there is now a die-hard contingent of fans of the nub who only buy Thinkpads because they are the only ones with a nub. Personally, I hate it…I had a Thinkpad back in college and my nub got messed up and drifted constantly. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350/46 "2011-04-26T20:52:48Z")
I always wanted to find software that would let me use the nub as a joystick. I thought it might actually work better for that, as it feels like using a joystick to control the mouse. (I’m talking N64 style joystick). ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350/47 "2011-04-27T00:46:45Z")
I use [cordless thumball](http://www.logitech.com/en-us/mice-pointers/trackballs/devices/7365). I chose trackball because despite the pictures and the description, I still don’t have the slightest clue what the difference between a trackball and a trackball mouse is and I have only ever heard this type called a trackball or a thumball. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350/48 "2011-04-27T02:17:48Z")
Mouse! Mouse! Mouse! I hate touchpads with a passion; can’t get accurate enough pointing with them. I also dislike trackballs and those nipple-nubbin things. There’s nothing like a good optical mouse with the sensitivity turned up to 11. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350/49 "2011-04-27T02:51:28Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I’ve been using a [4x5" Wacom Tablet](http://www.wacom.com/en/Products/BambooTablets/BambooPenandTouch.aspx) since the mid-nineties. I use it instead of the mouse about 90% of the time. > > When I’m not using the tablet, then I use [Apple’s Magic Mouse](http://www.apple.com/magicmouse/) that came with my machine. Love em both. Similarly with me. I’m on my third tablet; I wore the first two out. (To be precise; I wore the _tips of the styluses out_, and couldn’t get replacements. And the first tablet used a 9-pin serial port…) When I’m not on the tablet, I split my manipulations between the trackpad (love two-finger scrolling!) and the mouse. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350/50 "2011-04-27T03:32:38Z")
I hates meeces to pieces! Logitech Trackman Marble, here. Been using it for years. Fits nicely under my hand and means I never, EVER have to pick the damn thing up because I need to go further in a certain direction and I’ve run out of space to do it in. And no one else around me uses one, so no one else tries to use my computer. Hah! ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350/51 "2011-04-27T17:05:20Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > I never, EVER have to pick the damn thing up because I need to go further in a certain direction and I’ve run out of space to do it in. I use a mouse, and neither do I. On both my home and work PCs I set the sensitivity high enough that going a full screen is maybe 6" of travel…and at home I even have dual monitors and have never had to lift it off the mouse pad to go from one end of one to the other of the other. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mouse-trackball-or-trackpad/579350.md?page=2)