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They always had better scrolling due to custom drivers but it wasn't anything like today until 2008, when the macbook air came out with the (now iconic), Glass

They always had better scrolling due to custom drivers but it wasn't anything like today until 2008, when the macbook air came out with the (now iconic), Glass capacitive Trackpad. The presentation repeatedly referenced the iphone and how they were learning from the iPhone and using it's tech. If you used a pre-2008 trackpad and then the modern Apple trackpad you would see massive differences.

rsynnott 6y ago
I don't remember the difference between the non-unibody and unibody trackpads being that dramatic. They were better, sure, but it was a difference of degree, whereas PC trackpads, especially of the time, were borderline unusable after you'd used a pre-unibody Mac one.
- dkonofalski 6y ago
  It was very dramatic. For one, it stopped being a physical, clickable trackpad and became a single piece of glass with haptic button pushes. Losing the physical components also gave more room to make it larger and it's gotten bigger since. You also got more multi-touch options. It was pretty big.
  - 0xCMP 6y ago
    The haptic responses only began with the 2016 or 2017 models. You can tell when it's turned off if clicks or not. (I have a Mid 2014 from work)
    - abrowne 6y ago
      It started with the 2015 MacBook Pro models, the last before the USB-C models.
  - coldtea 6y ago
    >It was very dramatic. For one, it stopped being a physical, clickable trackpad and became a single piece of glass with haptic button pushes. Losing the physical components also gave more room to make it larger and it's gotten bigger since. You also got more multi-touch options. It was pretty big. All of these are correct but have nothing / little to do with the quality of the main trackpad use experience, which was still great on Macs before it got haptic pushes, larger size, glass, etc.
    - dkonofalski 6y ago
      We'll just have to agree to disagree. The experience was great on Macs before then but it was still a dramatic difference when this change happened because we got additional gestures, much more precise tracking, and a larger surface area with less friction than the previous models.
deleted 6y ago
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rsynnott 6y ago

I don't remember the difference between the non-unibody and unibody trackpads being that dramatic. They were better, sure, but it was a difference of degree, whereas PC trackpads, especially of the time, were borderline unusable after you'd used a pre-unibody Mac one.

dkonofalski 6y ago
It was very dramatic. For one, it stopped being a physical, clickable trackpad and became a single piece of glass with haptic button pushes. Losing the physical components also gave more room to make it larger and it's gotten bigger since. You also got more multi-touch options. It was pretty big.
- 0xCMP 6y ago
  The haptic responses only began with the 2016 or 2017 models. You can tell when it's turned off if clicks or not. (I have a Mid 2014 from work)
  - abrowne 6y ago
    It started with the 2015 MacBook Pro models, the last before the USB-C models.
- coldtea 6y ago
  >It was very dramatic. For one, it stopped being a physical, clickable trackpad and became a single piece of glass with haptic button pushes. Losing the physical components also gave more room to make it larger and it's gotten bigger since. You also got more multi-touch options. It was pretty big. All of these are correct but have nothing / little to do with the quality of the main trackpad use experience, which was still great on Macs before it got haptic pushes, larger size, glass, etc.
  - dkonofalski 6y ago
    We'll just have to agree to disagree. The experience was great on Macs before then but it was still a dramatic difference when this change happened because we got additional gestures, much more precise tracking, and a larger surface area with less friction than the previous models.

deleted 6y ago

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