[tripzilch]

I've experienced very good as well as bad touchpads on normal laptops. I believe it's the hardware, actually. My ALDI Medion Akoya netbook was simply excellent (I believe it's a rebrand of the MSI Wind), my current ASUS EeePC 1215b E450 touchpad leaves a bit to desire compared to that one (even though it is bigger).

On the other hand, when I have to use a friend's Apple touchpad, I usually find them awkward to use. But given that Apple's got such a good name I'm certain it would just be a matter of getting used to its "feel" if I had to use it more.

Maybe you got the same experience in reverse, that even the good touchpads feel strange to you because you're used to Apple touchpads.