[AgloeDreams]

Honestly, I think a lot of people forget the real reason:

In one corner, Apple got there by mainlining trackpad and trackpad software development...with iPhone touchscreen R&D. You have basically the largest R&D product in the world dictating the software that controls their trackpads. We are talking advanced finger speed and direction prediction (not just detection), AI to ignore unintended touches, and hardware and software that have been built specifically for them. It's no secret that all of Apple's laptops effectively have the same trackpad in various sizes and that the tech in the touchpad is nearly identical to to that in an iPhone minus a display. (Including the taptic engine and `3D Touch` aka, `Force Touch`.)

In the other corner, you have people with laptops by random companies with random hardware and drivers written by FOSS contributors/ Laptop ODMs/ Legacy Microsoft Drivers.

FOSS is fantastic, but it can't generally compete with a Billion dollar a year R&D budget stretched over 10 years feeding back improvements.

[aikinai]

Mac trackpads have lightyears ahead of other vendors since before the iPhone, so this can’t be the primary reason.

[AgloeDreams]

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]

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]

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]

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]

It started with the 2015 MacBook Pro models, the last before the USB-C models.

[coldtea]

>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]

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.

[snowwrestler]

The root of the iPhone's multitouch technology was in a company called Fingerworks, which was founded in the late 1990s by some academics, and acquired in 2004 by Apple. Fingerworks touch keyboards and trackpads worked extremely well and supported complex gestures using up to 5 fingers.

The 2005 Powerbook was the first to support multi-finger input on the trackpad... probably not a coincidence. We now know that the tablet/phone project kicked into high gear around this time as well.

I think this is really where Apple took a big step in their trackpads across the board. I had an iBook from before this time and while the trackpad was nice, I did not think it was way better than my PC laptop's trackpad. The biggest difference was that the Mac trackpad was about 30% larger.

Apple also invested in touch concept company-wide, including gestures in their marketing and shipping a trackpad as a first-class option for desktops in 2010. I think part of the reason Apple has done well with touch is that they just prioritized it and tried harder at it.

[rsynnott]

Yeah, I remember noticing on first using an iBook (2003 or so) how ridiculously better the trackpad was than anything I'd used before, and that wasn't new hardware or software then.

[lucideer]

I'd guess it's a perfect-storm combination.

As the above commenter mentioned: a combination of hardware & software gives Apple and inherent advantage, which—along with Apple just having a culture of prioritising UX in their products (and MS kind of being in decline at the time, before their recent resurgence)—would explain the pre-iPhone trackpads being ahead of their competitors.

With Surface, while MS do control both elements, they're playing catchup on years and years of progress by Apple.

Combine all that with the recent mainlining of iPhone R&D and catching them seems really really tough.

[stronglikedan]

Some other vendors. I'll take the trackpad on my Dell M3800, or a Logitech T651 when using a Mac, over a Mac trackpad any day of the week. Subjectively, of course!

[GordonS]

The touchpad on all the HP Zbooks and crappy Dell laptops I've had over the years have all been better than, or at least as good as, Macbook touchpad, for me.

Hell, I even have a low power, super cheap Lenovo laptop (Atom CPU, IIRC), and I much prefer the touchpad on that over my MBP's!

Honestly, it feels like some Apple users almost fetishise over their MB touchpads! I truly don't get it.

[solarkraft]

Could you elaborate? I've never heard that before.

[dkdbejwi383]

Also the touch interactions on Windows Phone were really good, as good as iPhone and vastly better than Android's uncanny valley touch responsiveness.

[rconti]

I assume they do it in-house now, but didn't they use Synaptics trackpads like everyone else, forever?

[jotm]

I don't get it, what's so much better about them? I prefer a separate keyboard and mouse, but the trackpad on my Zbook for example, and previously Elitebooks, felt and worked just fine.

Scrolling, zoom, clicking, what else do I need? :/

[emilecantin]

1- Apple puts much bigger trackpads on their machines. I've got a 2015 MBP that had a huge trackpad on it when it came out, now it looks tiny compared to the new ones. The Surface Pro's trackpad looks like it's about 2/3 the size of my MBP, and half the size of the latest MBPs.

2- The trackpads are flush with the body of the machine. I've often used PC trackpads where you were expected to scroll using the right side of the trackpad, but it was basically unusable because the plastic bezel was in the way.

3- The finger tracking is phenomenal. I don't know, it "just works", whereas PC trackpads would often lose track of my finger, forcing me to repeat the movement while pressing harder.

4- The multi-touch is great. 2-finger scrolling feels way more natural than using the side of the trackpad. No wonder it's been (often poorly) copied by basically everyone else.

I don't doubt that some PCs have very good trackpads, but Apple's has been consistently a pleasure to use on every Mac I've used, to the point that I don't bother carrying my mouse when I travel with my laptop.

[WalterGR]

Mac trackpads also have a much larger area that can be used for clicking. In my experience, Windows trackpads are unusable for clicking (the area doesn’t depress) in the back most (i.e. closest to the screen) 1/4 to 1/3 of the trackpad.

And this includes Microsoft hardware such as Surface Books. (To be clear, it’s a hardware issue, but one would think Microsoft would shell out for better trackpads on their flagship devices.)

[GordonS]

I personally prefer the physical buttons.

On my MBP, it really feels like I have to press with far too much force to get it to "click" (which isn't great given I suffer from nerve damage, but I felt the same about the trackpad even before that). By comparison, I just make a "purposeful", light tap on any other trackpad.

[emilecantin]

If you have a newer (2015+) MBP with Force Touch, that's actually configurable! Go in System Preferences -> Touchpad -> Point and click, you can choose between "Light", "Medium" and "Firm" clicks. You can also enable just touching to click.

Also, you can just use the bottom part of the trackpad exactly like you'd use a button, it ignores touches if you just rest your thumb on it. Works really well.

[kaoD]

Which year? I found 2016 MBPs awesome to click.

[iphone_elegance]

I still prefer the physical buttons, I've found mac trackpads inflame RSI

[jeroenhd]

I'm not saying whether or not Apple trackpads are better or worse than PC trackpads, but I don't think I've seen a laptop that doesn't support multi touch scrolling (horizontal and vertical, of course) in at least 5 years. Maybe in the low budget range? The side scrolling thing is there for the people who are used to it, but two finger drag has been standardised in any laptop I've seen.

My laptop has a Synaptics trackpad and while it doesn't have stuff like force touch, it's just as comfortable as using a mouse in many occasions.

[RandallBrown]

People like the Apple trackpads enough that Apple sells a separate trackpad to use on their desktop machines.

I haven't used a mouse regularly in like 7 years because I prefer the Apple trackpads to any mouse I use. (The one exception is video games)

[coldtea]

>felt and worked just fine.

It does, until you've used a Mac trackpad for a while and can compare...

[GordonS]

I use both MBP and other trackpad regularly, and respectfully disagree. I actually prefer non-Apple trackpads, and physical trackpad buttons.

[pier25]

OTOH mac trackpads were already much better than the competition even years before the iPhone existed.

[readwind]

You're absolutely right. We're still young, though, so yeah, don't completely discourage FOSS etc I have high hopes. And I would be glad for Mac's Apple's successes, I just am sure that FOSS etc will catch "up" too. We are still young. Let's prais both apple and foss, it's not a question about winning, it's just existing. It's so easy to not choose apple or mac, and, so easy for those who want to go into the apple orchards. And that is great.

[WalterGR]

Does Apple hold software patents that prevent trackpads and the trackpad experience from improving throughout the industry?