macbook touchpad > *

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,352
6,180
126
i've been on a hackintosh for the past 5+ years or so, and i finally ended up getting a real mac. holy shit i cannot believe what i've been missing with this touchpad, this thing is incredible. i am so much more efficient with it than i was with my old laptop. the touchpad on it (hp probook 4540s) was decent and i could still do some gesturing, but nothing nearly as precise as i can on this thing. and it just feels so natural and works so well.

if you haven't used one before you don't know what you are missing!
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,810
126
I think it's pretty much acknowledged Macbooks have the best touchpad. But what's not well known is Chromebooks have Macbook like great touchpad as well. I think the crappy touchpad is Windows problem.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,501
5,905
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yeah, there is no comparison between macbook touchpad and anything else i've tried

i have an HP at work and that thing's touchpad is a sick joke
 

Artdeco

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2015
2,682
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MS's new stuff is supposed to be pretty close, but yeah, I agree, I sprung for a new Magic Trackpad for my Mac Mini, should have it tomorrow.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,501
5,905
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A real mouse with 5 buttons > touchpads of any kind.

and of course a trackman m570 beats a real mouse of any kind

41cNmbZDrqL._SY300_.jpg
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,352
6,180
126
A real mouse with 5 buttons > touchpads of any kind.

i dunno, prior to using this i would agree with you. but now i feel that i'm about as productive with this trackpad as i am with a mouse, perhaps more productive due to changing desktops by swiping my fingers.

at work i dev with 2 monitors which is great for the screen real estate, with a kb/m. i'm pretty efficient with that. the only thing that really "slows me down" (if i can even call it that) sometimes is going from mouse to keyboard and back/forth.

but with this touchpad i can get from the trackpad (compared to the mouse) quicker than i can get to a mouse from the keyboard. and then i can basically have 3 "monitors" by using the multiple desktops and i can change them with the flick of my fingers, which is basically like turning my head to look at another monitor.

i feel if i use this more and more i'll get more efficient (still have the habit of clicking the applications in the task bar sometimes instead of swiping to the desktop where it's active) that it may be faster than an actual desktop. i've only been using it like 5 days now.

if only apple could make xcode not a piece of shit. it's gotten better but still garbage compared to intellij.
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
Moderator
Sep 16, 2005
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Tell me how to get all those great touchpad features when I boot Ubuntu on my macbook and you'll be my hero.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,352
6,180
126
intellij > *

(i still can't stand intellij's shortcuts though, i rebind them to eclipse)

i never used eclipse because it's a piece of shit and worse than xcode, so thankfully i'm not one of those who had to relearn everything when i started with intellij. i was a netbeans guy before intellij, but not anymore. intellij is by far the best ide out there.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,501
5,905
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i never used eclipse because it's a piece of s**t and worse than xcode

eclipse is actually quite a bit better than it used to be. the biggest thing that eclipse sucks at is maven, but maven is a monstrosity that i would never willingly use, so i can avoid that problem.

i still use eclipse for personal projects because there's no way i am going to pay 200$ of my own money for an IDE like intellij. if i wanted to shell out that kind of money i'd probably use VS and C#, where you have to buy the IDE and then even a lot of the libraries cost money.

netbeans is alright (especially the swing UI designer which is second to none), but other than that i never saw a compelling reason to use that instead of eclipse.
 
Last edited:
Feb 25, 2011
16,969
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Tell me how to get all those great touchpad features when I boot Ubuntu on my macbook and you'll be my hero.
It's FOSS - somebody will volunteer to write a driver if there are enough votes for the feature/pull request.
 

luv2liv

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2001
3,499
94
91
Until your thumb falls off... How does it fair in FPS games, BTW? Never tried.

you are right, my thumb was really tired after extended use.
the Trackman's design is much better with the ball is in the middle, perfect for the left or right handed person. for FPS games like Unreal Tournament, i can go on an unstoppable rampage just because my wrist was perfectly still. sliding the trackball the right way gave the perfect aim every time.
 

Dacalo

Diamond Member
Mar 31, 2000
8,778
3
76
I hear you. I picked up my first ever Mac this year and freaking love my Macbook Pro Retina. I am so much faster than using Windows and mouse just using the touchpad alone.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,352
6,180
126
eclipse is actually quite a bit better than it used to be. the biggest thing that eclipse sucks at is maven, but maven is a monstrosity that i would never willingly use, so i can avoid that problem.

i still use eclipse for personal projects because there's no way i am going to pay 200$ of my own money for an IDE like intellij. if i wanted to shell out that kind of money i'd probably use VS and C#, where you have to buy the IDE and then even a lot of the libraries cost money.

netbeans is alright (especially the swing UI designer which is second to none), but other than that i never saw a compelling reason to use that instead of eclipse.

man if you're still doing swing, you're doing it wrong!
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
126
I think it's pretty much acknowledged Macbooks have the best touchpad. But what's not well known is Chromebooks have Macbook like great touchpad as well. I think the crappy touchpad is Windows problem.

It's not Windows, it's manufacturers not giving a shit.

On my MBP, I recently set up Windows 10 on BootCamp. The basic Apple driver was meh, nice tracking but really offered no functionality, and Windows 10 offers many native trackpad gestures that work well but really aren't possible on Apple's native BootCamp driver. But an alternative driver, TrackPad++, is phenomenal, it really is, it's almost like having a perfect MBP trackpad with full functionality in Windows. It's a little less perfect than the proper touchpad within OS X, but that's due to it being a driver that is written by one person doing it as a small hobby/side income (donation-ware). So it's implementation is not perfect down to the microsecond response time for everything possible within OS X, but it's damn close, and makes it a joy to use the trackpad in Windows 10.
 

ControlD

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2005
5,440
44
91
The Macbook trackpad is awesome for general use and completely worthless for gaming. I use mine about half the time I guess, otherwise it's a Logitech mouse.

Which reminds me, I need to replace the trackpad on my wife's Air. This is the second one that has died on the computer but the first was replaced under warranty. I'm not sure how delicate the procedure is but if things go like normal I will snap off one of the connectors off that is held on with one tiny point of solder.
 

PliotronX

Diamond Member
Oct 17, 1999
8,883
107
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It could be worse (see Lenovo Thinkpads as of late) but touchpads are still for the birds.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,352
6,180
126
The Macbook trackpad is awesome for general use and completely worthless for gaming. I use mine about half the time I guess, otherwise it's a Logitech mouse.

Which reminds me, I need to replace the trackpad on my wife's Air. This is the second one that has died on the computer but the first was replaced under warranty. I'm not sure how delicate the procedure is but if things go like normal I will snap off one of the connectors off that is held on with one tiny point of solder.

well if you're gaming on your laptop and getting a macbook, you're doing it wrong.