Earlier quoted context omitted.
isnt it JUST surface though? ALL the other track pads ive tried are abyssmal. A physical click is now a deal breaker for me on a trackpad.
Dell XPS 15 (2020) (and probably the 13 & 17) is basically just as good in my opinion. But other than that, yea most laptops are far behind.
Ask HN: Why is the touchpad on MacBooks still ahead of other manufacturers?
21–30 of 58 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is the touchpad on MacBooks still ahead of other manufacturers?
#22Is not "light years ahead" of __all__ manufacturers, just the cheap ones. Surface laptop trackpads are on par with Apple ones.
Also, I bet most of the Apple touchpad magic actually lies in the software. For instance the touchpad on an MBP doesn't feel all that great anymore under Linux (not a dig against Linux, it's just that writing universal touchpad drivers doesn't appear to be a simple and straightforward task).
I haven't seen anything actually competing with the macOS/Safari way of touchpad response. The 3-finger expose command just slides all the windows a bit out of the way so you can switch fluently.
On Safari, scrolling is natural, fluent and non-jarring even on long documents. Just slide a bit to the right with 2 fingers and you get a 'peek' of the previous page in your browser history. If you release the trackpad before completing the gesture the current page slides back gently like a real bit of paper. Pinch to zoom now works on other browsers, but still not as fluent as in Safari.
It takes a tremendous amount of effort to coordinate the data collected by the trackpad, the OS response and graphics stack. If one of those components do not cooperate the 'magic' feeling is lost. I presume that is the issue with big, siloed companies or OSS projects.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the touchpad on MacBooks still ahead of other manufacturers?
#23Re: Ask HN: Why is the touchpad on MacBooks still ahead of other manufacturers?
#24I keep my trackpad disabled 99% of the time, on my laptop , so....
Re: Ask HN: Why is the touchpad on MacBooks still ahead of other manufacturers?
#25Re: Ask HN: Why is the touchpad on MacBooks still ahead of other manufacturers?
#26I keep my trackpad disabled 99% of the time, on my laptop , so....
So… Why bother replying then?
Re: Ask HN: Why is the touchpad on MacBooks still ahead of other manufacturers?
#27Is not "light years ahead" of __all__ manufacturers, just the cheap ones. Surface laptop trackpads are on par with Apple ones.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the touchpad on MacBooks still ahead of other manufacturers?
#28Re: Ask HN: Why is the touchpad on MacBooks still ahead of other manufacturers?
#29Re: Ask HN: Why is the touchpad on MacBooks still ahead of other manufacturers?
#30Correct me if I am wrong. I think all current Windows Laptop are trackpad with physical clicks. Apple's Trackpad has been using Force Touch ( haptic engine ) since 2015. But I remember correctly my MacBook Air trackpad before Force Touch were excellent too. It is one of those things where people " thinks " they are doing comparison when they are not. You often see enthusiast and nerds doing so called spec comparison.…
So I don’t think that’s it. They’re good despite the fake click, certainly not because of it.