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Recently I've found out that software makes a lot of difference when it comes to touchpads. I've tried Windows, xf86-input-synaptics and libinput on the same ma

Recently I've found out that software makes a lot of difference when it comes to touchpads. I've tried Windows, xf86-input-synaptics and libinput on the same machine, and while on xf86-input-synaptics (my default) the experience was so close to Apple's that I long couldn't understand why people consider their touchpads so special, switching to Windows or libinput made it absolutely awful to use. There are TONS of small things that can make touchpad usage pleasant of annoying and I believe these days it's mostly about software (aside of obvious hardware things like type of surface, size and placement). I guess Apple simply got their driver nicely fine-tuned to their own hardware, and that's it.

Puer 8y ago
What user wants to have to spend time configuring and maintaining drivers? I hated having to find the right drivers for all of the gear on Windows/Linux and maintain it through every update. I don't want to have to depend on a 3rd party for my built-in hardware to just work. Furthermore, Apple's touchpad is infinitely superior in terms of hardware and that was a huge factor for me. I can't count the number of crappy Dell touchpads that have broken and stopped because they seem to be made of cheap matte plastic. They don't feel good to use physically and no amount of software tuning will fix that. My touchpad on my 2015 MBP is solid glass and should never break from regular use because it isn't actually a button.
- aequitas 8y ago
  Even as a engineer I don't want to spend that. At work we got Dell laptops and I'm happy we can run Linux so at least I can customise it to feel more like I'm used to with my Mac (eg: sane shortcuts like cmd-c, that don't conflict with ctrl-c terminal commands). But I rather don't have to customise anything at all and have it 'just work' which for with a Mac is most often the case. I've spend so much time just getting hardware to work and having the laptop behave properly on simple stuff like unplugging a dock, closing a lid or pushing a power button.
- ropeadopepope 8y ago
  > I don't want to have to depend on a 3rd party for my built-in hardware to just work. You mean like you depend on Apple to maintain their drivers? What difference does it make if your OS auto-installs the latest driver via MacOS update or if the Lenovo Updater auto-installs a new driver through their own updater? Driver conflicts are a pain in the ass, I'll grant you that, but those are pretty rare these days. At least in the windows world.
tcfunk 8y ago
Yep it's all about the drivers! This is even apparent when running Windows in Boot Camp.

Puer 8y ago

What user wants to have to spend time configuring and maintaining drivers? I hated having to find the right drivers for all of the gear on Windows/Linux and maintain it through every update. I don't want to have to depend on a 3rd party for my built-in hardware to just work. Furthermore, Apple's touchpad is infinitely superior in terms of hardware and that was a huge factor for me. I can't count the number of crappy Dell touchpads that have broken and stopped because they seem to be made of cheap matte plastic. They don't feel good to use physically and no amount of software tuning will fix that. My touchpad on my 2015 MBP is solid glass and should never break from regular use because it isn't actually a button.

aequitas 8y ago
Even as a engineer I don't want to spend that. At work we got Dell laptops and I'm happy we can run Linux so at least I can customise it to feel more like I'm used to with my Mac (eg: sane shortcuts like cmd-c, that don't conflict with ctrl-c terminal commands). But I rather don't have to customise anything at all and have it 'just work' which for with a Mac is most often the case. I've spend so much time just getting hardware to work and having the laptop behave properly on simple stuff like unplugging a dock, closing a lid or pushing a power button.
ropeadopepope 8y ago
> I don't want to have to depend on a 3rd party for my built-in hardware to just work. You mean like you depend on Apple to maintain their drivers? What difference does it make if your OS auto-installs the latest driver via MacOS update or if the Lenovo Updater auto-installs a new driver through their own updater? Driver conflicts are a pain in the ass, I'll grant you that, but those are pretty rare these days. At least in the windows world.

tcfunk 8y ago

Yep it's all about the drivers! This is even apparent when running Windows in Boot Camp.