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I'm mostly bugged by the vastly inferior touchpad experience (Apple touchpad > pointy nub > Non-apple touchpad, and that is not up for discussion), and lack of

I'm mostly bugged by the vastly inferior touchpad experience (Apple touchpad > pointy nub > Non-apple touchpad, and that is not up for discussion), and lack of things like Autodesk Fusion360 support for Linux (which I use for hobby CNC/3D printing purposes). Also, some small UI things are just nicer in macOS, like how well scrolling follows input, making it seem like you're physically moving the content. That illusion is lost on Linux. Most other things are as nice, if not nicer. I chose Fedora 28 Workstation, rather than Ubuntu, and it's all really quite polished. It's also a hell of a lot snappier, even on the same hardware. I wouldn't recommend using Linux on Apple hardware, though, primarily due to how annoying the gmux (dual GPU multiplexing chip) is to deal with. I might be buying the XPS 2-in-1 when the 32GB model comes out. AMD > nVidia graphics when it comes to Linux (nVidia are assholes). I would've picked Ryzen, but it seems a bit immature for laptops.

wilkystyle 8y ago
I know lots of people here love the pointy nub, but it's never worked well for me personally. The Apple trackpad is far superior to any other vendor's offering, by a huge margin.
gargravarr 8y ago
I'd agree with the touchpad conclusion, with the only distinction that Lenovo pointy nubs > all other pointy nubs. I have a pointer nub on my work Dell and it's pretty poor, acceleration is uncontrollable. My personal ThinkPad, however, is superb. Just like Apple are to trackpads, Lenovo are to TrackPoints.
furgooswft13 8y ago
> (Apple touchpad > pointy nub > Non-apple touchpad, and that is not up for discussion) I think you must have palmed your touchpad while typing out that list and somehow messed up the order. This is what you actually meant: 3 physical button trackpoint with textured nub gifted upon us by the Thinkpad Gods of old >>>> apple stuff > other stuff. There shall be no further debate!
- havemylife 8y ago
  > 3 physical button trackpoint with textured nub gifted upon us by the Thinkpad Gods of old Ah how I wish I still had a laptop with the nub (even if it had a touch pad too). I've never really understood why that didn't become standard since I think Toshiba and maybe even Dell had a variant of it. The multi-gesture touch pads are nice, but for precision and minimal interference without a standard desk mouse the nub is supreme.
- arghwhat 8y ago
  No, you are quite mistaken. The order was absolutely perfect. ThinkNubs are good. Apple Touchpads occasionally look down from their seat at Mount Olympus to be entertained by watching the mortals, such as the ThinkNub, go through their silly struggles of life. PC touchpads, on the other hand, can only be explained by their creators being evil incarnate. Such malice cannot sprout from nothing. Thinkpad Touchpads are particularly evil, as the BIOS touchpad disable on some Thinkpads with ThinkNubs disable the mouse buttons belonging to the ThinkNub. As Jesus once said: "Transplant me an Apple Touchpad, completed by the pointer stack from macOS, onto a PC with Linux, and thou shall be permitted into Heaven." Seriously, though, the Nub is like a joystick, where touchpads, touchscreens and mice are basically absolute positioning devices when implemented correctly (such as on a Mac)—that is, move distance N on the touchpad/touchscreen/mouse, and the cursor will move exactly that distance, as if you had physically grabbed the cursor and moved it. With the nub, the distance becomes a function of time+accel.
  - furgooswft13 8y ago
    Oh this thread still exists, yummy. > With the nub, the distance becomes a function of time+accel. On the Pinnacle of Godly Perfection pointing device that is the Thinkpad Trackpoint, which was used to create life the universe and everything along with a lot of perl, it is a function of time+accel+pressure! i.e. the pointer moves faster as you push harder in any direction, like any good analog joystick. Except for the Trackpoint you need only to twitch your index finger the tiniest bits to traverse the whole screen. Might feel weird at first but you get used to it very quickly. Dragging my finger all over the laptop surface is tiring. Same with Mr Mouse. Yes I keep the sensitivity very high.

wilkystyle 8y ago

I know lots of people here love the pointy nub, but it's never worked well for me personally. The Apple trackpad is far superior to any other vendor's offering, by a huge margin.

gargravarr 8y ago

I'd agree with the touchpad conclusion, with the only distinction that Lenovo pointy nubs > all other pointy nubs. I have a pointer nub on my work Dell and it's pretty poor, acceleration is uncontrollable. My personal ThinkPad, however, is superb. Just like Apple are to trackpads, Lenovo are to TrackPoints.

furgooswft13 8y ago

> (Apple touchpad > pointy nub > Non-apple touchpad, and that is not up for discussion) I think you must have palmed your touchpad while typing out that list and somehow messed up the order. This is what you actually meant: 3 physical button trackpoint with textured nub gifted upon us by the Thinkpad Gods of old >>>> apple stuff > other stuff. There shall be no further debate!

havemylife 8y ago
> 3 physical button trackpoint with textured nub gifted upon us by the Thinkpad Gods of old Ah how I wish I still had a laptop with the nub (even if it had a touch pad too). I've never really understood why that didn't become standard since I think Toshiba and maybe even Dell had a variant of it. The multi-gesture touch pads are nice, but for precision and minimal interference without a standard desk mouse the nub is supreme.
arghwhat 8y ago
No, you are quite mistaken. The order was absolutely perfect. ThinkNubs are good. Apple Touchpads occasionally look down from their seat at Mount Olympus to be entertained by watching the mortals, such as the ThinkNub, go through their silly struggles of life. PC touchpads, on the other hand, can only be explained by their creators being evil incarnate. Such malice cannot sprout from nothing. Thinkpad Touchpads are particularly evil, as the BIOS touchpad disable on some Thinkpads with ThinkNubs disable the mouse buttons belonging to the ThinkNub. As Jesus once said: "Transplant me an Apple Touchpad, completed by the pointer stack from macOS, onto a PC with Linux, and thou shall be permitted into Heaven." Seriously, though, the Nub is like a joystick, where touchpads, touchscreens and mice are basically absolute positioning devices when implemented correctly (such as on a Mac)—that is, move distance N on the touchpad/touchscreen/mouse, and the cursor will move exactly that distance, as if you had physically grabbed the cursor and moved it. With the nub, the distance becomes a function of time+accel.
- furgooswft13 8y ago
  Oh this thread still exists, yummy. > With the nub, the distance becomes a function of time+accel. On the Pinnacle of Godly Perfection pointing device that is the Thinkpad Trackpoint, which was used to create life the universe and everything along with a lot of perl, it is a function of time+accel+pressure! i.e. the pointer moves faster as you push harder in any direction, like any good analog joystick. Except for the Trackpoint you need only to twitch your index finger the tiniest bits to traverse the whole screen. Might feel weird at first but you get used to it very quickly. Dragging my finger all over the laptop surface is tiring. Same with Mr Mouse. Yes I keep the sensitivity very high.