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I just posted this to comp.sys.laptops and figured folks here would be interested. It'd be funny if it wasn't so pitiful: Subject: Re: IBM Trackpoint III Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops References: <3j27ca$5kj@eccdb1.pms.ford.com> <3j3au7$1u0@panix.com> Distribution: John Brock (jbrock@panix.com) wrote: : In article <3j27ca$5kj@eccdb1.pms.ford.com>, : >The caps for the TrackPoint III are what IBM calls "cat's tongue". It has : >a sandpapery feel, which eliminates the slipperyness that plagued the : >previous version. [deleted] They do offer it as an option (if you're willing to spend an hour playing phone tag with IBM trying to figure out the part number, or you can ask the TP750 mailing list). However, the pricing on replacement TrackPoint caps is what finally convinced me that IBM marketing (hah!) people live off in their own little world. Replacement caps cost $12 for 3, or $4 each. By my measurements (with a mechanical scale - no electronic scale handy) each cap weighs about 70 milligrams. Let's be generous and call it 100mg or 0.1 grams. $4 per 0.1g works out to $40000 per kg which, in terms more appropriate for this outlandish pricing, is $1500 per troy ounce. That is, per weight, the most valuable part on a Thinkpad is not the CPU or the active matrix screen or the gold plating on the connectors or even the plastic shell that houses the hard drive (about $400 for one of those). No, the most valuable part is that damn pink rubber cap. No wonder the demo machines are missing them at all the computer stores I visit. ______________________________________________________________________ |\ _____________________________________________________________________\ | | | | | John H. Kim "Um ... no." -- Outfielder Darryl Strawberry's | | | jokim@mit.edu hesitant reply when asked by a judge if he | | | jokim@uni.uiuc.edu had taken drugs in the past few days. | \|______________________________________________________________________|