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This is the perfect description of why I’ll probably never leave Mac land. I want my technology to work out the box, and Mac does that. Sure I could probably s

This is the perfect description of why I’ll probably never leave Mac land. I want my technology to work out the box, and Mac does that. Sure I could probably setup the Linux trackpad to be Mac like if I threw plenty of hours at it, but I don’t want to waste my time like that, not anymore. I did in my youth, but now I’ll just buy the thing that works.

codegladiator 8y ago
I wish there are less people like you and more people who want to fix things. For reasons which should be obvious I guess.
- Clubber 8y ago
  Maybe Dell should fix their trackpad.
  - grimgrin 8y ago
    Who has a useful trackpad anyways? An actually great one, besides Apple? I have no idea why this is the case? Patents or too expensive to justify? Genuinely curious
    - BounceHouse 8y ago
      De-coupling of hardware and software mainly. All kinds of 3rd parties writing drivers for the trackpad for an OS they don't have control over.
    - pdq 8y ago
      I've heard the Microsoft Surface is very good.
      - tudorw 8y ago
        It is lovely, as is the Surface Book 2, the pen inking is sublime ;)
    - 013a 8y ago
      Most Windows PCs which ship with precision drivers and an oversized glass trackpad feel 90% as good as the MacBooks. The Surface line and the new Razer Blade 15 are two examples. The precision drivers are key. Many manufacturers still haven't adopted them, and they are the main reason why Windows trackpads still get a bad rep.
    - gizzlon 8y ago
      I like my XPS 13 trackpad :) The mac ones seems too big, suspect it would be in the way and hamper the keyboard. (I haven't used a the newer Mac models enough to be certain). Dells works great on Linux (Arch + KDE)
      - sigzero 8y ago
        It is too big. It's nice but too big. It is, however, an excellent trackpad. Reviews constantly name it #1.
    - p2t2p 8y ago
      Surface's trackpad is as good as Mac's even though all other parts of experience is trash. However, now Mac has this force touchpad which you don't really press, so it recognises all of the presses with no respect to where you do it. Nobody has anything like this and I must tell you that one gets used to it reaaaaaaly quick.
  - codegladiator 8y ago
    I am really surprised with the down votes considering this is "hacker" news. I will soon loose all meaning for the term hacker.
    - SiempreViernes 8y ago
      Apple is a terribly profitable company, it does not pay karma to question them.
    - MrScruff 8y ago
      I'm not sure configuring a Linux distro to work better really counts as 'hacking' either though.
    - ezequiel-garzon 8y ago
      You just told a fellow human being you wished there were fewer people like him/her. Rephrase, maybe?
    - eksemplar 8y ago
      I fix things for a living and spending time “hacking” my OS to make the trackpad tolerable would steal time from that. I kind of agree with you though, I wish some people would do it. The MacBook trackpad being damn near magic compared to anything else that isn’t a surface is the main thing keeping me from Linux. That being said, I also work with efficiency, and the thought of millions of users “hacking” at their OS in exactly the same way, over and over and over, is just so much wasted potential. I guess it’s hard to write decent trackpad software for hardware you aren’t building yourself though, but it makes you wonder why companies like dell don’t bother making their hardware worth purchasing by having decent software support for it.
  - prolikewhoa 8y ago
    I have no issues with it. Macs may have a better trackpad, but there's absoultely nothing wrong with it. I'm using Arch w/i3 and use whatever stock settings there are.
karlmdavis 8y ago
> I want my technology to work out the box, and Mac does that. Same here, but with a twist: out of the box, Linux makes it easier for me to install the things I need to do my job. The display, power management, etc. issues are all frustrating, true, but ultimately not as important. Different folks have different priorities.
- jbob2000 8y ago
  What is your job? What kind of things do you install? Kind of curious, because no matter what machine I use, every time I start fresh, it takes about a day to get up and running. Linux is even worse because of drivers.
  - Shorel 8y ago
    > Linux is even worse because of drivers. In my hardware that's where Linux excels over Windows. YMMV.
- karlmdavis 8y ago
  I'm a software developer so for me: dev tools, basic shell utilities, PostgreSQL, Docker, etc.
  - koffiezet 8y ago
    All those things work pretty well on OSX. I really really like Linux, but only on CLI. Every time I touch a desktop running linux I get frustrated. OSX isn't perfect - but as a productive environment, it's the best fit or me personally. And I'd love to upgrade my 2013 13" mba with an mbp, mainly for the display, but the keyboard issues on recent mbp's make me hesitant of spending that much money on it...
Certhas 8y ago
The thing is though, it's just not true (anymore) that Mac "just works" all that much better. I use Linux and Mac daily and I probably spend a comparable amount of time on configuring both. You just don't feel the pain that you're used to.
- crispinb 8y ago
  My experience is totally different to yours. Every time I install any desktop linux, I spend hours looking up how to get all kinds of little things working. Macs have their problems (not least of which the crappy hardware which is driving so many developers, including me, away). But difficulty of setup & configuration is not one of them for most people.

codegladiator 8y ago

I wish there are less people like you and more people who want to fix things. For reasons which should be obvious I guess.

Clubber 8y ago
Maybe Dell should fix their trackpad.
- grimgrin 8y ago
  Who has a useful trackpad anyways? An actually great one, besides Apple? I have no idea why this is the case? Patents or too expensive to justify? Genuinely curious
  - BounceHouse 8y ago
    De-coupling of hardware and software mainly. All kinds of 3rd parties writing drivers for the trackpad for an OS they don't have control over.
  - pdq 8y ago
    I've heard the Microsoft Surface is very good.
    - tudorw 8y ago
      It is lovely, as is the Surface Book 2, the pen inking is sublime ;)
  - 013a 8y ago
    Most Windows PCs which ship with precision drivers and an oversized glass trackpad feel 90% as good as the MacBooks. The Surface line and the new Razer Blade 15 are two examples. The precision drivers are key. Many manufacturers still haven't adopted them, and they are the main reason why Windows trackpads still get a bad rep.
  - gizzlon 8y ago
    I like my XPS 13 trackpad :) The mac ones seems too big, suspect it would be in the way and hamper the keyboard. (I haven't used a the newer Mac models enough to be certain). Dells works great on Linux (Arch + KDE)
    - sigzero 8y ago
      It is too big. It's nice but too big. It is, however, an excellent trackpad. Reviews constantly name it #1.
  - p2t2p 8y ago
    Surface's trackpad is as good as Mac's even though all other parts of experience is trash. However, now Mac has this force touchpad which you don't really press, so it recognises all of the presses with no respect to where you do it. Nobody has anything like this and I must tell you that one gets used to it reaaaaaaly quick.
- codegladiator 8y ago
  I am really surprised with the down votes considering this is "hacker" news. I will soon loose all meaning for the term hacker.
  - SiempreViernes 8y ago
    Apple is a terribly profitable company, it does not pay karma to question them.
  - MrScruff 8y ago
    I'm not sure configuring a Linux distro to work better really counts as 'hacking' either though.
  - ezequiel-garzon 8y ago
    You just told a fellow human being you wished there were fewer people like him/her. Rephrase, maybe?
  - eksemplar 8y ago
    I fix things for a living and spending time “hacking” my OS to make the trackpad tolerable would steal time from that. I kind of agree with you though, I wish some people would do it. The MacBook trackpad being damn near magic compared to anything else that isn’t a surface is the main thing keeping me from Linux. That being said, I also work with efficiency, and the thought of millions of users “hacking” at their OS in exactly the same way, over and over and over, is just so much wasted potential. I guess it’s hard to write decent trackpad software for hardware you aren’t building yourself though, but it makes you wonder why companies like dell don’t bother making their hardware worth purchasing by having decent software support for it.
- prolikewhoa 8y ago
  I have no issues with it. Macs may have a better trackpad, but there's absoultely nothing wrong with it. I'm using Arch w/i3 and use whatever stock settings there are.

karlmdavis 8y ago

> I want my technology to work out the box, and Mac does that. Same here, but with a twist: out of the box, Linux makes it easier for me to install the things I need to do my job. The display, power management, etc. issues are all frustrating, true, but ultimately not as important. Different folks have different priorities.

jbob2000 8y ago
What is your job? What kind of things do you install? Kind of curious, because no matter what machine I use, every time I start fresh, it takes about a day to get up and running. Linux is even worse because of drivers.
- Shorel 8y ago
  > Linux is even worse because of drivers. In my hardware that's where Linux excels over Windows. YMMV.
karlmdavis 8y ago
I'm a software developer so for me: dev tools, basic shell utilities, PostgreSQL, Docker, etc.
- koffiezet 8y ago
  All those things work pretty well on OSX. I really really like Linux, but only on CLI. Every time I touch a desktop running linux I get frustrated. OSX isn't perfect - but as a productive environment, it's the best fit or me personally. And I'd love to upgrade my 2013 13" mba with an mbp, mainly for the display, but the keyboard issues on recent mbp's make me hesitant of spending that much money on it...

Certhas 8y ago

The thing is though, it's just not true (anymore) that Mac "just works" all that much better. I use Linux and Mac daily and I probably spend a comparable amount of time on configuring both. You just don't feel the pain that you're used to.

crispinb 8y ago
My experience is totally different to yours. Every time I install any desktop linux, I spend hours looking up how to get all kinds of little things working. Macs have their problems (not least of which the crappy hardware which is driving so many developers, including me, away). But difficulty of setup & configuration is not one of them for most people.