IBM Scrollpoint Pro

[EverythingIBM]

That would be a nice touch. Those look like z61 silver lid logos, are they not?  I currently have IBM-logo Thinkpads despite having the Lenovo-era T60p, a Lenovo-era refit T42p (bought & shipped before Lenovo, 1/25/2005), and an IBM x31(w/ extended battery & slice).  Thus it would be something I'd look at when I can afford the latest w7xxds.

I don't want Lenovo plastered all over(the indicator panel at the bottom of the LCD panel and the LCD lid are major offenders).  The manufacturer stickers at the bottom (the ones relating to COA & type-model) are about as much as I can tolerate.  If the BIOS were amenable to logo-fixing, I'd fix that too.

The Lenovo logo does not deserve to be on the Thinkpad box.  It(the company) has not earned the reputation built over time from IBM.

They sacked all of the IBM employees which transitioned to lenovo in order to save money (because lenovo is going into bankruptcy -- I hope they do!)
I've seen some pretty horrific lenovo products that are so inverse of IBM. I don't like flashy silver-painted plastic.

I don't think those silver logos are original? I've never seen such a thing before.

[ch_123]

Here's a seller. US shipping only.

One problem - it's a 2 button mouse with a third button, which from the sound of the description, is really a "fourth" button.

[EverythingIBM]

Here's a seller. US shipping only.

One problem - it's a 2 button mouse with a third button, which from the sound of the description, is really a "fourth" button.

Two clicking buttons, the scrollpoint, and the thumb button, which, I like to set to ctrl+z for automatic undoing action.

And, who knows if that thing has a dreaded LENOVO logo on it.

AND, I hate when products ship only to the states, GAH.

[Rajagra]

Is the Pro version functionally different to the regular one, or just more comfortable and better looking? There are some of the non-Pro's on ebay, I'm wondering if they'd be a good choice of spare mice to keep around for those times you need a decent one in an emergency.

To answer my own question, I bought 2 of these, and they are good no-nonsense mice. A bargain at £5 each. Out of the box they work as 3-button mice with up/down scroll. 800dpi is fine for most things, scrolling is very fast (probably too fast for weapon selection in games, but good for the intended purpose.) The size is comfortable in my large hands, but the design is such that I imagine it fits any size hand equally well.

I'll probably take the time to install the drivers later. I'll keep one of these and give the other to a neighbour who still uses a ball mouse that keeps sticking.

I'll keep looking for the Pro version as well.

[EverythingIBM]

To answer my own question, I bought 2 of these, and they are good no-nonsense mice. A bargain at £5 each. Out of the box they work as 3-button mice with up/down scroll. 800dpi is fine for most things, scrolling is very fast (probably too fast for weapon selection in games, but good for the intended purpose.) The size is comfortable in my large hands, but the design is such that I imagine it fits any size hand equally well.

I'll probably take the time to install the drivers later. I'll keep one of these and give the other to a neighbour who still uses a ball mouse that keeps sticking.

I'll keep looking for the Pro version as well.

You CAN buy the silver pro version from memory4less, but it's $100. They do ship outside of the states; my friend ordered something from them once.

If I ever get the money, I think I might. It's a cool mouse!

[EverythingIBM]

That is substantially worse than someone paying big bucks for a keyboard based on age.

That's basically a standard price for any modern mouse. My friend paid $90 for his microsoft travel one (got 3 free replacements however because the USB reciever always gets weak after frequent use).

I think I paid $58 for my current scrollpoint pro from lenovo. It's a very nice mouse though; a lot of people on amazon bought them for gaming along with backups.

I'll wait and see if memory4less drops the price, $50 wouldn't be that bad, but $100 is pushing it (I don't want to fathom the price with shipping). But if someone really wants something, they will pay the extra price. It's also worthy to note that I have never even seen a photograph of the silver scrollpoint mice, it's always stock pictures. So it would be a real treat to see that thing in real life.

[woebtz]

I found the cat tongue on the IBM/Lenovo Scrollpoint 3 to be a bit slippery. Is the Pro scrollpoint any different? Maybe I'll just mod mine with a blob of paper-tac.

Is there a way to use the scrollpoint as a trackpoint?

[ch_123]

I think they're the same.

And unlikely. The thing is hardwired to be a scrollwheel. I'm not sure if it is even the same thing as a laptop trackpoint, although it could be.

[woebtz]

Rats.

I thought it'd be rad to have the mbutton toggle between a scrollpoint and trackpoint!

[gr1m]

That's basically a standard price for any modern mouse. My friend paid $90 for his microsoft travel one (got 3 free replacements however because the USB reciever always gets weak after frequent use).

I think I paid $58 for my current scrollpoint pro from lenovo. It's a very nice mouse though; a lot of people on amazon bought them for gaming along with backups.

I'll wait and see if memory4less drops the price, $50 wouldn't be that bad, but $100 is pushing it (I don't want to fathom the price with shipping). But if someone really wants something, they will pay the extra price. It's also worthy to note that I have never even seen a photograph of the silver scrollpoint mice, it's always stock pictures. So it would be a real treat to see that thing in real life.

You dig your computers out of dumpsters but think spending $100 on mice is normal?

[ch_123]

Allow me to extent on that -

"... thinks spending $100 on a Microsoft mouse..."

[EverythingIBM]

You dig your computers out of dumpsters but think spending $100 on mice is normal?

I get computers people throw away or don't want (I've never seen any computers in actual dumpsters before). And I bet my higher end computers are faster and more upgraded than yours.

But my older computers can do stuff new ones can't, so I still enjoy them.

And yes, if you buy brand new OEM stuff, $100 is perfectly normal. If you think it's strange, go to bestbuy, staples, or any store like that and see how much the mice there cost. They're not cheap. Cheapest is probably $60.

[ch_123]

Yeah, but not all expensive mice are good.

[gr1m]

Bestbuy? Staples? Are those where you bought your higher end computers that are faster and "more upgraded" than mine from? Besides, this isn't about who's computer is better. This is largely about your IBM CRT thread where your stance is that spending money on any current item is retarded and that 1996 dumpster components are the way to go. Surely your faster and "more upgraded" components aren't from 1996? Maybe 1996 mice cost a lot because they're considered valuable antiques?

[ch_123]

I get computers people throw away or don't want (I've never seen any computers in actual dumpsters before). And I bet my higher end computers are faster and more upgraded than yours.

But my older computers can do stuff new ones can't, so I still enjoy them.

And yes, if you buy brand new OEM stuff, $100 is perfectly normal. If you think it's strange, go to bestbuy, staples, or any store like that and see how much the mice there cost. They're not cheap. Cheapest is probably $60.

Upgrading? You mean like buying a new IBM PC to go from a 5 year old CPU to a 4 year old one?

[EverythingIBM]

Bestbuy? Staples? Are those where you bought your higher end computers that are faster and "more upgraded" than mine from? Besides, this isn't about who's computer is better. This is largely about your IBM CRT thread where your stance is that spending money on any current item is retarded and that 1996 dumpster components are the way to go. Surely your faster and "more upgraded" components aren't from 1996? Maybe 1996 mice cost a lot because they're considered valuable antiques?

Upgrading? You mean like buying a new IBM PC to go from a 5 year old CPU to a 4 year old one?

Are you sure you two aren't distant cousins? You sure sound the same.

[instantkamera]

What's amazing about these, is that they were released in 2002. And Apple just released their "magic" mouse which supports 360 scolling... ahh... 7 years too late.

3 years, technically the mighty mouse they released in 2005 was also capable of 360 troll...err...scrolling.

That is actually a decent looking mouse, especially the lighter coloured one.

I was able to buy one right before crapovo discontinued them. Sadly, mine had a lenovo logo (which, I wouldn't have bought if I knew); but a little sandpaper solved that.

I dont get that. Why are you so hostile against a company who sold you a product with their logo on it that, by your account:

These things are quite durable, I spilled a bunch of juice in mine, and it still works. Had it for 2 years now, use it every day.

[EverythingIBM]

3 years, technically the mighty mouse they released in 2005 was also capable of 360 troll...err...scrolling.

That is actually a decent looking mouse, especially the lighter coloured one.

I dont get that. Why are you so hostile against a company who sold you a product with their logo on it that, by your account:

If you've read other members' response (with mine), the lenovo logo looks quite ugly in my opinion. I'd rather have it blank.

Also, the fact that they discontinued it doesn't put them in any more of a positive light for me.

[Rajagra]

Firstly, I thought the drivers for these were no good - couldn't scroll in FF for example - but newer drivers (6.37) fixed most things.

Also, guess what I found on ebay?

Scrollpoint mouse? Check.
Pro version? Check.
IBM logo? Check.
Antique Sage colour? Check.



$25.30 + $13.99 shipping.
3 available, I might nab one despite the international postage ($27).

[netwebber]

Hate to break it to you, but this is not actually for sale. I've emailed the seller twice and even clicked "Buy It Now" and "Commit to Pay" a month ago. I haven't heard a peep.

I was disappointed too.

[Rajagra]

How odd. I was holding off due to high international shipping, poor feedback, one-sided terms, and no mention of whether they were new or used.

Thanks for the warning.

At least some good came out of it. With the new drivers I'm using my (non-pro) scrollpoint mouse and I'm loving the way it scrolls. Matches or even beats the free-spinning wheel on my Logitech G9 (for scrolling purposes anyway.)

[netwebber]

How odd. I was holding off due to high international shipping, poor feedback, one-sided terms, and no mention of whether they were new or used.

Thanks for the warning.

At least some good came out of it. With the new drivers I'm using my (non-pro) scrollpoint mouse and I'm loving the way it scrolls. Matches or even beats the free-spinning wheel on my Logitech G9 (for scrolling purposes anyway.)

You're welcome. I wish some legit ones would come up.

I love the Scrollpoint. It's great for long documents, But I still like the Logitech scroll wheel for tasks which have a lot of start/stop scrolling. I don't mind the ambidextrous design; I sometimes keep my Scrollpoint to the left of the keyboard. It makes a great second mouse. The one reason I want the Pro is the thumb button, rather than the awkwardly-placed and useless middle button you can't hit without scrolling.

I've gotten so used to the G500 and G700's multiple buttons that I don't think I could go back to a 3-button or even 5-button mouse.

[ch_123]

Hate to break it to you, but this is not actually for sale. I've emailed the seller twice and even clicked "Buy It Now" and "Commit to Pay" a month ago. I haven't heard a peep.

I was disappointed too.

****, I paid him money for one now... I'll give him a week and file a complaint.

[itlnstln]

Wow, I have never seen feedback that low before.

[ch_123]

Well, he's only got five bad feedback in the past year...

[netwebber]

I just got a Scrollpoint Pro from a seller on Amazon. It's a very comfortable mouse. It's very similar in shape to the Logitech G700, but with a slightly higher curve on the left. This leads to a hand position that's rotated at a slightly higher angle.

The Scrollpoint Pro's sensor is located in the middle of the mouse. I tend to use a claw-type grip with middle-sensor mice, but this mouse is too high for me to use a comfortable claw grip. I realize now Logitech's wisdom putting the sensor toward the front of the G700. On the G700, you can move horizontally with a "yaw" motion - you can keep the back of the mouse anchored and rotate the front of the mouse several inches side to side.  On the Scrollpoint (and other mice that have the sensor in the middle or rear), you have to move the whole mouse for large horizontal distances.

The ScrollPoint Pro's 800 dpi is fine for multiple monitors at high sensitivity (I usually run a 1900x1200 next to a 1600x1200 in portrait mode. My sensitivity on Win7 is set at 9/11, with no acceleration. Forget about gaming with this thing if you use the wheel for anything--the Scrollpoint is useless for switching weapons and has no tactile tilt function. The sensor is a standard 800 dpi optical sensor, the same as on the original Scrollpoint and countless other mice. It seems reliable.

The Scrollpoint Pro's side button is a vast improvement over the middle button on the original Scrollpoint, but the tilt buttons are mapped to the Scrollpoint to retain Intellimouse compatibility. So that leaves only three buttons: primary, secondary, and side. They have a nice tactile click but are not too difficult to press. They can be remapped with the Lenovo Mouse Suite, but sadly not to any modifiers. It's nice to have a CTRL button on the mouse for zooming or an ALT for Photoshop.

Happily, the IBM logo is placed such that it's not in danger of rubbing off.

The Scrollpoint joystick itself is different from the one on the original Scrollpoint mouse. It's the same width but thinner front to back. The texture also seems rougher, giving a better grip. The new design is a little easier to use.

The IBM ASM P/N is 24P0504, and the FRU P/N is 24P0505. Most of the 800dpi Scrollpoint Pro Optical mice had the P/N 31P8700. I don't think there's any difference.

It looks like this place has two in stock for $45 each.

I don't see the Scrollpoint Pro becoming my primary mouse, especially since I love my G700 and have gotten used to having 13 buttons at my disposal (as I noted above). But the Scrollpoint Pro will have a place on my desk for reading long documents and navigating spreadsheets. It's a much better design than the original Scrollpoint mouse. Interestingly, the Pro is even comfortable in my left had. It's not exactly ergonomic, but hardly worse than the original MS Mouse/Intellimouse.

[netwebber]

I just picked up two more ScrollPoint Pros on eBay... debating whether to sell one. (The seller had them listed as "scroll point" mice.
It's a really comfortable mouse, and the third button placement is much better than on the symmetrical blue Scrollpoint. Those folks at the Almaden Research center were right: a resistive joystick mechanism really is more natural for scrolling than a wheel, or even a touchpad. Combined with the Chromium Wheel Smooth Scroller, scanning long web pages is a breeze.

[jikrocentrist]

Nice find! I asked him about international shipping and was quoted $85 (to Europe). I want one bad, but $85 is just insane.

I bought a Lenovo Scrollpoint Pro to my girlfriend, but the joystick broke from the board after about two years. She doesn't want to go back to scrolling wheel again, so I'm searching for another. This forum is the best source of information I have found so far.

Also, guess what I found on ebay?

Scrollpoint mouse? Check.
Pro version? Check.
IBM logo? Check.
Antique Sage colour? Check.



$25.30 + $13.99 shipping.
3 available, I might nab one despite the international postage ($27).

[ricercar]

Oh that reminds me. Is this a set of scrollpoints? They were at my surplus place yesterday. I can go back and snag them if they're popular.

[lowpoly]

Two pros on ebay Germany right now.

I got a pro some time ago but two things put me off: the ball and missing buttons 4 + 5 which I use for browser forward and backward. I think I never even connected it. Will do tomorrow!

The silver/white version is beautiful.

[EverythingIBM]

Oh that reminds me. Is this a set of scrollpoints? They were at my surplus place yesterday. I can go back and snag them if they're popular.

Show Image

The one with the grey stick on the left isn't IBM as far as I can tell (doesn't look IBMish). Yeah, those are the scrollpoint Is, with the old style trackpoint nib before it was switched to a stick.
Generally most IBM peripherals are not "popular," which surprises me since they're WAY better than logitech or stock HP trash. Although the older scrollpoints *are* a little less common now.

Yeah ricercar, they're the older non-pro ScrollPoint mice. I'd be interested in the lower right one if it was optical and USB but I kind of doubt it is.

No the white ones are ball-based with PS/2. The black version of those are USB however and optical.

Nice find! I asked him about international shipping and was quoted $85 (to Europe). I want one bad, but $85 is just insane.

I bought a Lenovo Scrollpoint Pro to my girlfriend, but the joystick broke from the board after about two years. She doesn't want to go back to scrolling wheel again, so I'm searching for another. This forum is the best source of information I have found so far.

Actually that seller doesn't really have any (they never shipped out). So, it's a dead end. One member here had to go to a fair amount of trouble for a refund.
I still have my lenovo scrollpoint pro and it's going to be (three?) years old soon (I think you should adjust the stick's sensitivity so you don't break it).

Yeah, you shouldn't have spoiled your girlfriend: don't get her an IBM Model M keyboard otherwise she'll never want to use a rubber dome again.

[EverythingIBM]

Okay I just opened up my scrollpoint pro to clean out the stick (which had juice residue).

[excuse the bad quality of photos]

Interestingly enough, the mouse uses two circuit boards, much like the very first PS/2 IBM mouse. One PCB houses the scrollpoint stick and button assembly, and the bottom PCB, which houses the laser and logic chips... as well as plugin for the cord.

One flaw I noted was the buttons just use tiny picks of plastic to hit the button clickers. After lots of clicking, the plastic picks wear down (well mine was just worn down on the left button, nothing durastic, but after say eight years, it would be ground down pretty well: but I've used it straight for three years, so it's not too bad). I just covered them with masking tape... SO... it's adviseable to cover these up with something to prevent major wearing of the rather soft ABS plastic. Yeah, that's another thing, very soft ABS.

Sadly I can't take the scrollpoint stick apart, so, I just have to kind of flush it out with some water... working so far.

It kind of makes sense as to why IBM (rather LENOVO) discontinued these... all of the sections and assembly take a lot of pieces, and isn't as simple as one would first guess (Especially the top part). Probably one of the most interesting things I've opened up in a long time. The expense to make these would be a lot more than a typical mouse which requires only one PCB, and not so many complex parts for the top part. And that's exactly what lenovo sells now!

PS: upon opening it, there's a few specific things you have to do, it's not just unscrew and it'll come apart. You actually have to pop off the scrollpoint nub, it's fairly snug but does come off and needs to.

[ch_123]

Two pros on ebay Germany right now.

I got a pro some time ago but two things put me off: the ball and missing buttons 4 + 5 which I use for browser forward and backward. I think I never even connected it. Will do tomorrow!

The silver/white version is beautiful.

I thought all the Pro versions were optical?

The guy on German eBay wants 30 euros to ship a mouse from Germany to Ireland. Christ...

[EverythingIBM]

I thought all the Pro versions were optical?

The guy on German eBay wants 30 euros to ship a mouse from Germany to Ireland. Christ...

Yes all pro versions are optical.