I haven't used one, but newer machines use Microsoft's "Precision Touchpad" standard which is supposed to close the gap and support fancy gestures. Personally I just use the ThinkPad nipple and as many shortcut keys as I can memorise :)
I'm another one who much prefers the nib in the middle of the keyboard to the touch pad. I use a Thinkpad keyboard on my desktop machine for this reason. No mouse on my desk at all and I'm not constantly moving my arm back and forth to reach for it.
