4 ms·

How's the trackpad? I have heard people say that they've found an apple comparable trackpad, but I have yet to encounter one.

fyfy18 7y ago
I switched to ThinkPads last year (first a X250, now T470s) and this was my big concern too. I just sat down one day and spent an hour or so tweaking the various options for the trackpad driver until I got it how I was used to from Apple. I'd say it's 95% as good, and some things like dragging are infact easier as there are physical mouse buttons (as well as tap to click). I have no idea why the defaults are so bad, but I've kind of got used to that as a Linux user ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- nsomaru 7y ago
  Can you detail your distro and the tool you used to tweak? What settings worked well?
- macintux 7y ago
  > and some things like dragging are infact easier as there are physical mouse buttons Did you ever try the 3-finger drag on a Mac? I find it hard to imagine any button being easier than that. It’s a shame Apple hides it in Accessibility. That gesture is wonderful.
SoreGums 7y ago
I use a $250 mouse + a $250 mechanical keyboard as the laptop is docked... Pretty sure nothing compares to apples track pads. At the same time sitting hunched over a laptop on a desk is sub optimal too, many do it. Point is for significantly less money a non apple device is most likely gonna get the job done and not be a disaster hardware wise. Is the Trackpad really worth $2,000?
- omnimus 7y ago
  Whats the 250$ mouse? Btw not sure why you compare trackpad to a mouse. People who commute or work from cafes need good trackpad and apple ones are the best. The trackpad itself costs much less but i doubt people would use it as mouse replacement in office situations.
  - macintux 7y ago
    FWIW, I use Apple’s trackpad exclusively in office or on the road. The gestures and tap to click are irreplaceable for me.
JetSetWilly 7y ago
Apple's trackpads are good (although overly large these days) but their keyboards are utterly horrific so it depends what you prioritise. If you mainly consume media and browse the web, then the apple's input is optimised for that case. If you write or code or otherwise do real work, then something like a thinkpad has input better optimised around that.
- nl 7y ago
  Keyboards seems a pretty individual thing. I like Apple keyboards (even the touchbar ones), and think their standalone desktop keyboards are the best keyboards for programmers available.
  - heavenlyblue 7y ago
    Apple keyboards either lead to a weird feeling in the finger joints or make you type on the keyboard as if you had a nailjob with a huge extension. But if I had to pick a keyboard I never actually have to type on myself - I would pick the Apple keyboard 100% of the time.
floatboth 7y ago
Any Synaptics multi-touch trackpad feels as good as Apple. Apple hardware is nothing special. It's all about the software. Scrolling in Firefox on Wayland with the upcoming vsync patch (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1542808 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1542808) and OpenGL layer compositing enabled feels perfect. (Fun fact, I actually contributed the inertial scrolling on GTK patch to Firefox :D) If you run legacy software and your trackpad scrolling is delivered to the application as emulated scroll wheel events, don't be surprised that it doesn't feel right.
unfocused 7y ago
It's shipping as I type this and should have it this week. I'll update this thread since I've been using a Macbook Pro trackpad for 10+ years now and give you a first impression.
unfocused 7y ago
Ok, so after using for a couple of hours, the trackpad feels great! In fact, side by side they are identical in size with the Macbook Pro 2013. Clearly copied the size from Apple, but the feel is fine. The keyboard feels a bit different, but you get used it. I also did not change any setting on the trackpad. This is out of the box.

fyfy18 7y ago

I switched to ThinkPads last year (first a X250, now T470s) and this was my big concern too. I just sat down one day and spent an hour or so tweaking the various options for the trackpad driver until I got it how I was used to from Apple. I'd say it's 95% as good, and some things like dragging are infact easier as there are physical mouse buttons (as well as tap to click). I have no idea why the defaults are so bad, but I've kind of got used to that as a Linux user ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

nsomaru 7y ago
Can you detail your distro and the tool you used to tweak? What settings worked well?
macintux 7y ago
> and some things like dragging are infact easier as there are physical mouse buttons Did you ever try the 3-finger drag on a Mac? I find it hard to imagine any button being easier than that. It’s a shame Apple hides it in Accessibility. That gesture is wonderful.

SoreGums 7y ago

I use a $250 mouse + a $250 mechanical keyboard as the laptop is docked... Pretty sure nothing compares to apples track pads. At the same time sitting hunched over a laptop on a desk is sub optimal too, many do it. Point is for significantly less money a non apple device is most likely gonna get the job done and not be a disaster hardware wise. Is the Trackpad really worth $2,000?

omnimus 7y ago
Whats the 250$ mouse? Btw not sure why you compare trackpad to a mouse. People who commute or work from cafes need good trackpad and apple ones are the best. The trackpad itself costs much less but i doubt people would use it as mouse replacement in office situations.
- macintux 7y ago
  FWIW, I use Apple’s trackpad exclusively in office or on the road. The gestures and tap to click are irreplaceable for me.

JetSetWilly 7y ago

Apple's trackpads are good (although overly large these days) but their keyboards are utterly horrific so it depends what you prioritise. If you mainly consume media and browse the web, then the apple's input is optimised for that case. If you write or code or otherwise do real work, then something like a thinkpad has input better optimised around that.

nl 7y ago
Keyboards seems a pretty individual thing. I like Apple keyboards (even the touchbar ones), and think their standalone desktop keyboards are the best keyboards for programmers available.
- heavenlyblue 7y ago
  Apple keyboards either lead to a weird feeling in the finger joints or make you type on the keyboard as if you had a nailjob with a huge extension. But if I had to pick a keyboard I never actually have to type on myself - I would pick the Apple keyboard 100% of the time.

floatboth 7y ago

Any Synaptics multi-touch trackpad feels as good as Apple. Apple hardware is nothing special. It's all about the software. Scrolling in Firefox on Wayland with the upcoming vsync patch (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1542808 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1542808) and OpenGL layer compositing enabled feels perfect. (Fun fact, I actually contributed the inertial scrolling on GTK patch to Firefox :D) If you run legacy software and your trackpad scrolling is delivered to the application as emulated scroll wheel events, don't be surprised that it doesn't feel right.

unfocused 7y ago

It's shipping as I type this and should have it this week. I'll update this thread since I've been using a Macbook Pro trackpad for 10+ years now and give you a first impression.

unfocused 7y ago

Ok, so after using for a couple of hours, the trackpad feels great! In fact, side by side they are identical in size with the Macbook Pro 2013. Clearly copied the size from Apple, but the feel is fine. The keyboard feels a bit different, but you get used it. I also did not change any setting on the trackpad. This is out of the box.