It was a pretty amazing package for that sort of power in 2007, and it's still a joy to use -- especially with modern improvements.
Now if I could just find a nice SXGA+ screen...
Took me a few months to find one on eBay, a replacement part of a X61s. Fitting this thing into the X61 was... interesting. It involved a few hours of Dremeling. I am convinced it was poor luck I didn't break it.
They're also an extra expense very few people care about. Most people who grew up with a touchpad hate the trackpoint experience and wouldn't use it for free, let alone pay for it or have it as only option. I own IBM and more recently Lenovo laptops because they still come with that red nub and I instinctively use it but I can understand why manufacturers don't bother including one given how little the market cares for them.
But the laptop still needs the space there in order to have a decent form factor. If anything it would need more space under the keyboard to have an even better 4:3 aspect ratio.
So, if you're not so thrilled with pointing sticks as you once were, try a few different styles. Maybe you just have bad caps.
Normally I'd say joysticks are a painful way to control a mouse but the combination of small screen, smart controls (right shoulder was right click, left shoulder was left click, holding the second shoulder button would multiply your speed), and being naturally where your fingers were while holding the device without having to change your grip as you moved around or switched to using the mouse/keyboard really made the usability sing.
The keyboard was a little floaty instead of solid and the joysticks were... there :)... but despite not being the best hardware I never had trouble controlling it.
Now if only we could throw an M1 in something of that form factor! Heat/performance (the same thing at this form factor) was what killed the device for me.
But now I'm remembering the laptop trackball. Does anyone else remember these? I remember them being built into the back of the monitor (or maybe just below, on the keyboard chasis), so that when you grasped the laptop in both hands near the natural balance point near the monitor, your right thumb would naturally sit atop the trackball.
Suddenly, I'd love to see a micro-computer that had a joystick on the front right and a chording keyboard on the bottom, with meta-keys on top. So you type with 8 fingers on the back (and one left thumb on top), and perform mouse actions with your right thumb (clickable joystick seems about right for the form-factor).