Force Touch Trackpad vs Old Trackpad

[Kojo.Bee]

Is it just me, or does anyone else out there think that the old trackpad was a lot easier to use. Certainly the simple light touch to click feels easier than having to click down firmly on the new Force Touch trackpads.

And since computers have had a right click functions for decades whats really new and revolutionary about "force touching" when it comes to computers?

What are your thoughts

 

[BoneDaddy]

There are two reasons why I do not care for force touch. One, is that I tend to be of the "old school" preference. The other, is that I think it feels really cheap and gimmicky. Even inconvenient. I like just plopping my thumb down to click, or a touch click, a NORMAL touch click. I also don't buy that vibration for the click. I can tell it isn't a authentic and I HATE IT.

However, I do not think it can be compared to right click functions. Force click is definitely revolutionary and is nowhere near the same thing as a right click function.

 

[throAU]

Is it just me, or does anyone else out there think that the old trackpad was a lot easier to use. Certainly the simple light touch to click feels easier than having to click down firmly on the new Force Touch trackpads.

And since computers have had a right click functions for decades whats really new and revolutionary about "force touching" when it comes to computers?

What are your thoughts

I have both. I vastly prefer the new trackpad, and i loved the old one.

if you've only had it for a week or so, stick with it. I wasn't totally sold on it for the first few days. You can adjust the force required in trackpad settings.

Various apps (e.g., Xcode) can give you force feedback for things like snap to grid. The click is the same anywhere on the pad, etc. I love it.

I don't really use the varying pressure clicks for anything much, but the feedback and consistency of feel across the entire trackpad are big wins for me.

 

[nnyymm]

I don't even need to click. I love tap to click

 

[maflynn]

I think its a personal preference but my limited use of the force touch leaves me wanting. I think Apple will have the force touch in all of their laptops in the course of time, but yes, if I had my choice I'd choose the older one, though truth be told, I don't like any touchpad and I usually bring a mouse with me

 

[rgarjr]

I use the tap to click function on the non force touch pad.

 

[Spink10]

Wait there is no tap to click on the force touch pads?

 

[RoboWarriorSr]

I'm hoping due to the nature of force touch, the trackpad isn't any less responsive a few years down the road. I've had to replaced my 2009 MBP once due to being worn down. Loved the additional feedback the force touch trackpad gives in applications that takes use of it.

 

[Kojo.Bee]

I just think the tap to click is so easy....but on the new force touch trackpad you dont have it....dont know if there option is still there in settings but I just find the 2013 MacBook easy to use and the 2015 not much of serious enough upgrade on it

 

[Brandon0448]

I just think the tap to click is so easy....but on the new force touch trackpad you dont have it....dont know if there option is still there in settings but I just find the 2013 MacBook easy to use and the 2015 not much of serious enough upgrade on it

What? There is still tap to click with the new force touch pad if you want it, I just checked my settings and it works fine. I love the new force touch pads, they are so much nicer to use than the old hinged pads. I was impressed when I first used it; it felt almost exactly like a regular touch pad when you use it.

On my old MBA the amount of pressure that it took to activate a click changed a lot depending on where you pressed on the pad. On the new force touch pad the amount of pressure it takes to activate a click is uniform across the entire pad.

Not to mention that you can choose whether you want haptic and/or audio feedback with each click. I love the haptic feedback without audio, silent clicks that feel exactly like a regular touchpad. Try doing that with the old hinged pad. Listening to somebody clicking away on a trackpad is almost as annoying as listening to keyboard clicks on an iPhone.

Edit: Forgot quote

 

[grahamperrin]

… the old trackpad was a lot easier to use. Certainly the simple light touch to click feels easier than having to click down firmly on the new Force Touch trackpads.

I'm not sure what's meant by 'old' there.

I dislike tap to click and with some non-Apple operating systems, the feature is not easily disabled.

I like the traditional click of the pad on Macs such as the 17" early 2009 MacBookPro5,2.

And since computers have had a right click functions for decades whats really new and revolutionary about "force touching" when it comes to computers? …

Where Apple force touch is found, I'll probably avoid or disable it; I don't imagine force touch-like things from any vendor becoming ubiquitous.

 

[Brandon0448]

And since computers have had a right click functions for decades whats really new and revolutionary about "force touching" when it comes to computers?

I don't think you even understand what force touch is for. It is not replacing right click, it is simply adding another way to interact with the trackpad; it's not trying to revolutionize anything. They have already run out of convenient multi-touch gestures so they had to move on to something else.

Where Apple force touch is found, I'll probably avoid or disable it; I don't imagine force touch-like things from any vendor becoming ubiquitous.

Why would you disable a convenient feature? It's not like it interferes with anything. I didn't use it for quite a while when I first got my 2015 rMBP just because of habit but once I got use to it I really like it. My favorite feature is the quick dictionary look up just by force clicking on a word and a previewing hyperlinks.

I know other vendors will start following suite soon, if I am not mistaken Samsung has already implemented a variant of force touch into their new Galaxy S7. It is just the next logical step when it comes to interacting with touch based technology considering multi-touch has already been exhausted.

 

[RUGGLES99]

I have the RMB and I HATE the new trackpad!!! With a passion.

Is it just me, or does anyone else out there think that the old trackpad was a lot easier to use. Certainly the simple light touch to click feels easier than having to click down firmly on the new Force Touch trackpads.

And since computers have had a right click functions for decades whats really new and revolutionary about "force touching" when it comes to computers?

What are your thoughts

 

[Brandon0448]

I have the RMB and I HATE the new trackpad!!! With a passion.

Just curious, what do you hate about? It does everything the old trackpad did plus some.

 

[throAU]

As an example of some of the small things the force touchpad does:

Load up maps and rotate, the pad will give feedback when you align the map with north
Snap to grid in xcode - the pad will give feedback bumps as you swipe over the grid lines
Fast forward in Quicktime - you have varying levels of pressure for varying speed playback

The big thing for me with it is feedback beyond "you clicked". Nothing to do with additional gestures (though they are possible), everything to do with getting feedback from the machine regarding things you are doing.

 

[T5BRICK]

I upgraded from a 2009 13" MBP to the 2015 13" rMBP. I've also used a 2012 13" MBP quite a bit as well. I have to say, I've really liked the new trackpad. I never cared for tap to click, and the "click" feedback on the Force Touch pad feels real enough for me.

 

[Kojo.Bee]

seems it's something that one has to get used to then. Thanks guys

 

[oldmacs]

Is it just me, or does anyone else out there think that the old trackpad was a lot easier to use. Certainly the simple light touch to click feels easier than having to click down firmly on the new Force Touch trackpads.

And since computers have had a right click functions for decades whats really new and revolutionary about "force touching" when it comes to computers?

What are your thoughts

I hate the force touch trackpads - they feel fairly nasty to me, was one of the (many) reasons I sold my retina Pro and bought a non retina pro last year.

 

[maflynn]

seems it's something that one has to get used to then. Thanks guys

There's certainly that aspect, but I think for some (and I include myself) we'll never get used to it, and never like it.

 

[oldmacs]

There's certainly that aspect, but I think for some (and I include myself) we'll never get used to it, and never like it.

Yeah I think this is me :/ I've used the new one A LOT and still dislike it unfortunately.

 

[jerryk]

I like the new trackpad better.

The biggest thing is that you can cut and paste easier, and it works the same no matter where you touch. The old track pad goes dead around the edges.
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seems it's something that one has to get used to then. Thanks guys

Took about 2 minutes for me to get used to it.

 

[grahamperrin]

… Why would you disable a convenient feature? …

For me it's disruptive; not a convenience.

 

[Brandon0448]

There's certainly that aspect, but I think for some (and I include myself) we'll never get used to it, and never like it.

Yeah I think this is me :/ I've used the new one A LOT and still dislike it unfortunately.

I'm hearing a lot of people talking about not liking it but not giving any reasons for not liking it. Yeah the click feels slightly different than the old hinged trackpad but I would hardly call that a reason for it being unusable. I hate the feeling of new shoes but that doesn't mean I hate the shoes themselves. I just hate the transition period of getting accustomed to a different physical sensation.

For me it's disruptive; not a convenience.

How is it disruptive? You use it exactly like old trackpad; it just has one more "button" so to speak. I accidentally activated force touch one time and after that I realized I could turn up the click pressure and it has never happened again.

 

[oldmacs]

I'm hearing a lot of people talking about not liking it but not giving any reasons for not liking it. Yeah the click feels slightly different than the old hinged trackpad but I would hardly call that a reason for it being unusable. I hate the feeling of new shoes but that doesn't mean I hate the shoes themselves. I just hate the transition period of getting accustomed to a different physical sensation.

I don't like it because its not hinged like the old one, and I liked how the old one was hinged. I hate the feel of the click and given you feel a click every time you use the trackpad, that is significant part of it. If I don't like the feel of a new shoes after the 'getting' used to them period, then I don't like the shoes. Same with the new trackpad, I still don't like it after 'getting used to it', so I dislike the trackpad.

 

[kis]

I quite like the new one on the MacBook Pro, but on the new retina MacBook it just seems to be not as accurate. Not sure why but I've experienced that on two different MacBooks. I'd go as far as to say that the new MacBook had the worst touchpad of any Mac made in the last 10 years