3 ms·

Until haptic touchpads become available outside of MacBooks, touchpads are always going to suck under Windows and Linux. Gestures aren’t the main thing preventi

Until haptic touchpads become available outside of MacBooks, touchpads are always going to suck under Windows and Linux. Gestures aren’t the main thing preventing me from enjoying the touchpad on my Dell — it’s plenty big and it supports four finger gestures under Windows. The problem is that the entire thing shifts down a couple millimeters when I click and my finger ends up dragging slightly, which moves my click off what I’m clicking on. I don’t understand how Apple has had a monopoly on this for half a decade. Lenovo had a thinkpad come out last year with a haptic touchpad but I haven’t seen anything further. Is it patents?

leetrout 5y ago
They all have poor palm detection, too, IME
radicaldreamer 5y ago
I had a coworker who worked on the haptic trackpad for 4 years before he left Apple and they shipped it a year after that (so at least 6 years or so of R&D), I'm sure there are dozens of patents around the technology and probably a high barrier for entry for other companies. He griped that they didn't even send him the 12" MacBook it initially shipped in and that the R&D for it was ring fenced from the Mac hardware teams so both were working in isolation until the product was developed with the tech.
GhettoComputers 5y ago
You’re holding it wrong, just use the thinkpoint.
AlexandrB 5y ago
This was a really surprising thing to read. For me the Apple's haptic touchpads were a slight downgrade from their excellent non-haptic touchpads in <=2012 MacBook Pros. I liked the stiff clicky feel of the "real" touchpads over the haptic simulated click. Though the haptic touchpads do seem to be more reliable and are better at registering clicks near the top of the pad.
- snazz 5y ago
  I didn't realize how much I click at the top without thinking about it until I helped my parents with their older Air. The haptic feel is maybe a touch less realistic but not having to move my finger down or apply half my body weight to register a click more than makes up for it in my book.
thekyle 5y ago
I believe that the new Surface Laptop Studio has a haptic touchpad.
- GhettoComputers 5y ago
  For that price... yuck
pmontra 5y ago
Your experience is exactly the reason for I buy laptops with 3 physical buttons and a touchpad that doesn't move. Then I disable tap to click. Nothing moves around and it's very clear which button I click, left middle or right. I also don't do any gesture except of course vertical and horizontal scrolling. Maybe pinch to zoom would be useful like on my phone. I got hotkeys for everything else I care about. Anyway I welcome this project, it improves Linux.
bscphil 5y ago
> Until haptic touchpads become available outside of MacBooks, touchpads are always going to suck under Windows and Linux. Incorrect - though I'm sympathetic. The ideal touchpad is a click-less touchpad with physical left / right buttons on the bottom left and right of the touchpad. No need for a physical hinge that requires the full weight of your arm to click, like an old Macbook. No need to push down on the touchpad at all and go to the expense of getting haptic feedback either. Just provide buttons! (I do agree though, that so long as manufacturers are not going to provide physical buttons, haptic feedback would be a significant improvement.)

leetrout 5y ago

They all have poor palm detection, too, IME

radicaldreamer 5y ago

I had a coworker who worked on the haptic trackpad for 4 years before he left Apple and they shipped it a year after that (so at least 6 years or so of R&D), I'm sure there are dozens of patents around the technology and probably a high barrier for entry for other companies. He griped that they didn't even send him the 12" MacBook it initially shipped in and that the R&D for it was ring fenced from the Mac hardware teams so both were working in isolation until the product was developed with the tech.

GhettoComputers 5y ago

You’re holding it wrong, just use the thinkpoint.

AlexandrB 5y ago

This was a really surprising thing to read. For me the Apple's haptic touchpads were a slight downgrade from their excellent non-haptic touchpads in <=2012 MacBook Pros. I liked the stiff clicky feel of the "real" touchpads over the haptic simulated click. Though the haptic touchpads do seem to be more reliable and are better at registering clicks near the top of the pad.

snazz 5y ago
I didn't realize how much I click at the top without thinking about it until I helped my parents with their older Air. The haptic feel is maybe a touch less realistic but not having to move my finger down or apply half my body weight to register a click more than makes up for it in my book.

thekyle 5y ago

I believe that the new Surface Laptop Studio has a haptic touchpad.

GhettoComputers 5y ago
For that price... yuck

pmontra 5y ago

Your experience is exactly the reason for I buy laptops with 3 physical buttons and a touchpad that doesn't move. Then I disable tap to click. Nothing moves around and it's very clear which button I click, left middle or right. I also don't do any gesture except of course vertical and horizontal scrolling. Maybe pinch to zoom would be useful like on my phone. I got hotkeys for everything else I care about. Anyway I welcome this project, it improves Linux.

bscphil 5y ago

> Until haptic touchpads become available outside of MacBooks, touchpads are always going to suck under Windows and Linux. Incorrect - though I'm sympathetic. The ideal touchpad is a click-less touchpad with physical left / right buttons on the bottom left and right of the touchpad. No need for a physical hinge that requires the full weight of your arm to click, like an old Macbook. No need to push down on the touchpad at all and go to the expense of getting haptic feedback either. Just provide buttons! (I do agree though, that so long as manufacturers are not going to provide physical buttons, haptic feedback would be a significant improvement.)