I am tempted to get their new lemur pro as my next machine, but I don't have enough impression of the build quality.

I am used to mac and thinkpads, and one thing I used to enjoy was the x200 keyboard along with the trackpoint and 3 mousebuttons in reach from the thumb, does lenovo hold a patent for this, or is there any reason this type of cursor input is so rarely seen?

I'd gladly pay a premium for the option to get a more ergonomic keyboard.