The Red Nub Problem

Some designs are so good, they last decades.

Others are so good… they vanish.

Think of the manual transmission in cars, Vim in coding, or tiling window managers on Linux. They have a learning curve, yes - but once you’ve mastered them, they’re faster, cleaner, and more precise than the “easy” alternatives.

The TrackPoint.

Lenovo ThinkPad’s little red nub belongs in that category.

Launched in 1992, it let you steer the cursor without lifting your hands from the keyboard.

David W. Hill, ThinkPad’s design chief for over two decades, fought to keep it alive. He refined the cap from the rough “cat tongue” to the now-iconic Soft Dome. As laptops slimmed, he shortened it to fit perfectly between the keys.

Others tried.

Dell. HP. Acer. Toshiba.

But without the red cap, strain-gauge tech, and Lenovo’s decades of tuning, they never felt the same. One by one, they died off.

So why did it vanish, if it was so good?

Most people never gave it a week. They tried once, called it “weird,” and went back to pads or mice. Like any high-performance tool, it needs a short apprenticeship. In an age of instant ease, “learn it now, go faster later” is a hard sell.

If you’ve never used one for a week straight, you’ve never used one.

TrackPoint didn’t fail.

We just never gave it time.

I dream of a world where every keyboard has one - waiting for the patient few who want true flow without friction.

So… any TrackPoint lovers still out there?

Or did we all settle for friction?

Originally shared on LinkedIn