How one can switch from OS X to Linux and still feel comfortable without a track pad with the same quality?
Everything Macbooks (and the OS) provide is replaceable with good alternatives on a Linux environment and I personally had the satisfaction to do so. But still, there existed no notebook with the same keyboard feeling, trackpad (touchpad, whatever), weight and durability as a Macbook. What do I miss here?
What's so nice about Mac trackpads?
I've heard that argument frequently but when I use my wifes Air and switch back to my laptop (either HP, Dell or Lenovo - not the cheap ones) I don't see a difference, at least when I added in synaptics driver the natural scrolling by swiping up and down.
Right now I think that Mac trackpad has three issues:
* it is freaking cold in the morning (metal case)
* you don't see the buttons (I still don't know if mac 1 one or 2 or 3 buttons :)
* click sound, when you have a child sleeping you don't want to have it so loud or at all (it should make same sound as pushing a keyboard button).
Yes it is cold in the morning, takes up to 10 minutes to heat up at the office.
The advantages are:
* 3 finger, 4 finger gestures for desktop switching, window management etc.
* You don't really need buttons. 1 finger tap/click is the left click, 2 finger tap/click is the right click. There are tools (i.e MagicPrefs) to make 3 finger tap/click the middle click. If you prefer clicks over taps, the sound can annoy you, that is a catch for sure.
* Natural scroll is almost always pixel perfect instead of line snapping.
The desktop switching works in GNOME ith 4 fingers too, tap/click, 2 finger for right works the same. The line snapping only is in the browser, GNOME apps are pixel perfect, but I'd like to know why it doesn't work in the browsers.
The Force Touch trackpads are awesome. They are big, and clicking is done by pushing on the trackpad (and there is noticeable feedback). Right click is done via a two-finger push. Thus, no need for buttons.
The best feature is that the click force needed can be configured, and there is a 'silent mode' that removes almost all the click noise.
there are no buttons. the mac trackpad isn't an emulation of a mouse anymore, you have gestures now. pinch, zoom, etc. you can "click" anywhere on it, just like with a regular trackpad, and you don't need to know much more to use it, but you can do more advanced stuff if you want to (like getting a word definition, preview a page, etc)
Is there really no other laptop with a trackpad as good as a macbook? This is seriously such a killer feature, it's the only thing making me stick to macbook laptops.
Because the gap isnt as big as you think it is. I have a retina MBP, a Surface Pro 3, and a Zenbook UX32VD all running Arch Linux. The trackpads on all three are very good and they can all use 3 and four finger gestures fully with Gnome and libinput. Maybe the scrolling isnt quite as good as OSX but everything is just as fluid these days.
On windows is another story, everything feels janky when using trackpad gestures.
Everything Macbooks (and the OS) provide is replaceable with good alternatives on a Linux environment and I personally had the satisfaction to do so. But still, there existed no notebook with the same keyboard feeling, trackpad (touchpad, whatever), weight and durability as a Macbook. What do I miss here?
Edit: Grammar fix. :)