Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Incredibly Annoying New MacBook/Pro Trackpad

Incredibly Annoying New MacBook/Pro Trackpad
Thread Tools
AppleGirl1990
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jan 2008
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 19, 2008, 08:10 AM
 
I was in an Apple Store yesterday playing around with the new portables. I must say that I hate the new trackpads, only when it comes to moving or dragging files.

Since there is no longer a separate click button, my left hand isn't really needed for basic operations. I scroll with my right hand pointer finger, double click with my right hand pointer finger....but as soon as i go to drag a file.....i naturally keep trying to do it with just my right hand pointer finger (after all, i use just that finger for all my other clicking).

For me at least, I'll click the trackpad down with my right hand pointer finger and while that finger is holding down the track pad, you can't really get your other fingers to move the file where it should go. I know it sounds dumb, but wait until you try it out.

I feel like a chimp in training.
Is this bothering anyone else who has tried it?
MAC PRO: Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 processors
ATI Radeon HD 4870 with 512MB of GDDR5 memory
1600MHz, 64-bit dual independent frontside bus
16 Gigs (4x4) of 800MHz DDR2 memory
     
Raman
Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 20, 2008, 09:10 PM
 
Turn on dragging in the Trackpad Preferences or pretend there is still a separate mouse button and press the bottom left trackpad with your left thumb and let your right hand do what it did previously when there was a real button there.
     
imitchellg5
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Colorado
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 20, 2008, 09:21 PM
 
You are basing your opinion off of two minutes in the Apple Store? I used a MacBook Pro for an event all day on Saturday and got used to it quickly. It's very convenient.
     
deeper
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Santa Cruz
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 20, 2008, 11:07 PM
 
I don't have a notebook, so my experience with track pads is limited to say the least. I become impatient and feel uncoordinated when I've tried them in the past. But I went to the Apple store yesterday and played around with the new macBook Pro, and found that the track pad was responsive without being overly sensitive, and after about five minutes I really felt like I could get used to it.

Overall, I liked the machine, and I may end up getting one.
     
Gee4orce
Professional Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Staffs, UK
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 21, 2008, 07:18 AM
 
Trackpads on PC laptops tend to drive me NUTS - yet I've never had a problem using an Apple trackpad. I guess my brain is just adapted to the peculiarities of the Mac trackpad's settings.
     
Ted L. Nancy
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Thousand Oaks, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 21, 2008, 08:57 AM
 
My new MacBook came yesterday, trackpad and all. It's awesome, trackpad and all.
10.7.1 on Mac Pro 8x2.8
     
slpdLoad
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jun 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 21, 2008, 09:13 AM
 
I agree on the PC vs Mac trackpad thing. I hate every PC trackpad I have ever used, but never had any problem with my PowerBook or now my MBP.
     
Yose
Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Toronto
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 21, 2008, 06:16 PM
 
I had the same problem. And if I turn on the drag gestures I often find myself dragging or clicking things I don't intend to…

When you need to drag, click down with your one finger, then put your thumb on the trackpad to hold it… you're free to pickup the mousing finger and move it around until you've ready to drop the icon.
Yose.
Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
     
lowball1261
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Nov 2008
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 24, 2008, 02:45 PM
 
i bought the new macbook pro and have yet to get used to the trackpad. It is especally bad when trying to switch from typing to using the trackpad. As i type now i am unable to take my finger and move the mouse and edit a word or sentence quickly, sometimes it lags for a very long time before it will reveal the pointer other times it works better. I switched to mac cuz i dont like vista os but do wish they would just combine the best of both os
     
iREZ
Professional Poster
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Los Angeles of the East
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 24, 2008, 03:00 PM
 
Originally Posted by lowball1261 View Post
I switched to mac cuz i dont like vista os but do wish they would just combine the best of both os
I think they already have

nyuck nyuck nyuck
NOW YOU SEE ME! 2.4 MBP and 2.0 MBP (running ubuntu)
     
Urkel
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 25, 2008, 06:40 PM
 
One thing about the trackpad that I did find is a problem for me specifically is that I have hitchhikers thumbs (where the thumb bends back 90degrees) so when I do a thumb click it's usually with the side of the thumb rather than the tip. And that registers as multiple touches which results in dragging or right-clicking when all I want to do is tap a file.

Anyway, I understand how that part is my (parents) fault, but that trackpad has been the worst part of the new Macbook for me. I just don't get why they felt they needed to change something that worked so well.
     
lpkmckenna
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Toronto
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 25, 2008, 07:31 PM
 
what amazes me about the new trackpad is that Apple seems to have underdelivered again. Why can't you configure the multifinger gestures the way you want them? Why can't you configure for three and four finger clicking? And how about multiple-finger corner gestures? Just like the Mighty Mouse, Apple had a great hardware concept but the true potential remains unrealized in software.

With Apple, it's always so close yet still too far.
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 09:07 PM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,