[davidlumley]

> The touchscreen solves my long standing problem with using laptops - I find touchpads nearly unusable.

Have you used a macbook running OS X before? I find the touchpad handling much better in OS X than I do in Windows so would be interesting to know what sort of touchpad you're comparing to.

[statictype]

Yes, the MacBook's touch pad is significantly, significantly better than most other PC laptop touchpads. I don't need a mouse when using a MacBook. I can't use a PC laptop without a mouse.

I suspect its a combination of better hardware and better software (I bet Microsoft doesn't write the touchpad interpretation code, its done by the individual hardware makers and so will be total crap).

[ygra]

It's all in the drivers, interestingly. And Synaptics supplies both the Macbook trackpad and other touchpads. There's nothing to prevent them in putting the same features in their Windows drivers, but maybe Apple insists that they don't.

[calinet6]

Apple just controls for the quality/experience they want to offer.

The various PC vendors have control over the hardware and software for the trackpads; they could make them good if they wanted to, or if they knew better. They just aren't "detail oriented" on a corporate scale.

[gjm11]

I think it's something like 7 years since Apple's touchpads were made by Synaptics. They don't supply the touchpads in all Windows machines, though the non-Synaptics ones I've used are (in my judgement) consistently inferior.

(I worked at Synaptics until late 2006. It's possible that my information may be outdated.)

[vitalique]

I don't think so. Over the last Х years I've tried using touchpads on Dell, Acer, Asus and other laptops (Apple's family included) with different hardware and software and came to a sad conclusion that there is no way I could use any laptop completely without a mouse, even though I try to avoid using it as much as I can even on a desktop. Touchpads feel like extremely slow and imprecise input method, a real distraction and obstacle in interaction with OS or app. So, I think that while something definitely may be in the drivers, there's another part in this problem where you have to decide which level of comfort do you agree to drop to when switching from a mouse to a touchpad/trackpad.

[ygra]

Well, my point was that Apple's trackpads are the same hardware as what's used in Windows laptops out there too, so any difference in usability and features (e.g. gestures) is driver-dependent and there is no technical reason why they would exist only on one platform.

For actual usage I definitely prefer a mouse or a trackpoint.

[WalterBright]

I've played with a mac laptop in the Apple store.

The problem with the touchpad is suppose I want to scroll. I have to carefully position the mouse over the scroll bar. Then click, or click and drag, whatever, which is just freaking awkward with a touchpad. (It's no issue with a mouse.) Yeah, I know that the right side of some touch pads acts as a scroll bar. But that depends on the right window being the "top" and I often get that behavior mixed up with the other regions of the touchpad. I also have problems with accidentally brushing my palm over the touch pad and "what the hell just happened".

With a touch screen, this all becomes natural and trivial.

I know, I see people using touchpads all the time like it was an extension of their hand, and they have no issues with it.

But I do. I like that touchscreen for my laptop. It is transformative. No other word for it.

As for a desktop with a big display, I don't need a touchscreen except for one case - where you are working with someone and are both hovering over the screen. The touchscreen is real handy for that rather than passing the mouse back and forth.

[davidlumley]

>But that depends on the right window being the "top"

Not on OS X

>I also have problems with accidentally brushing my palm over the touch pad and "what the hell just happened".

Palm brushes don't register on OS X

That's why I wanted more clarification on what you're comparing it to. The only positive I can see of a touch screen compared to a __good__ touchpad is that you can see the content below your fingers as you interact with it - I wager it's the difference between the Intuos and the Cintiq.

I don't know if that's a big enough difference for most people to have to deal with all the negatives that using a touchscreen on a computer monitor comes with. For me it's not.

[chrisbolt]

The problem with the touchpad is suppose I want to scroll. I have to carefully position the mouse over the scroll bar.

No, you drag two fingers up or down, with the cursor anywhere in the area you want to scroll. Recent versions of OS X don't even show scrollbars unless you put two fingers on the touchpad.