Fingerprint Reader, Just a Gimmick

At first I thought that the integrated fingerprint reader in my IBM ThinkPad T43 was really neat, and it is still one of the “cooler” gadgets on my laptop, but really, for day to day use, it is a bit of a gimmick. It is something to show off, but it does not provide the best experience in practical use.

The fingerprint reader is often unable to determine if my fingerprint is correct, and so that means swiping my finger upwards of three times before it realizes who I am. Add on to that the time it takes to realize that it might not have been me who swiped my finger across, the process takes longer than typing in a normal sized password.

I think the usefulness of such a technology in laptops would have to be implimented better. I would like to have it set up with all my accounts online, so that if I go to a login form, I don’t have to type in my username and password, I just swipe my finger again, and it puts all that information in there. It could also be especially helpful if it could fill out registration fields and deal with other such trivial things.

Currently, I have it set up as my default login screen for Windows XP, but I could set it to show immediately after booting up. I think this would be a much more secure way of using the fingerprint reader, but again, having it recognize my finger takes a few attempts.

I do have to admit to finding another small use for the fingerprint reader. I have added one of my fiance’s fingers to the software, so that she can access the only profile on the laptop via her finger, without her having to remember one of my crazy alpha-numeric passwords. Thus saving her frustration, though again, it can be hit-or-miss with recognizing her fingers as well.

Has the fingerprint reader been useful? A little. Does it save me time or effort? Not really. An interesting little gadget, but maybe not something I would get if I had to do it again, as it is just one more thing that could eventually break.

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