16in MBP and accidentally touching trackpad while typing

[woolypants]

I've had this issue now on an i9 16in MBP, and now on an M1 16in MBP too. The trackpad is stupidly large.

My right palm near the thumb sometimes lifts and then touches the trackpad while I'm typing, causing the screen to scroll or the cursor to jump. Sometimes it even moves text.

Any solutions? I remember there was an app that simply turned off the trackpad while typing, but is there a way to boost the built-in palm rejection feature?

Or do I just put some tape over that corner of the trackpad?

 

[russell_314]

Have you changed a setting in the trackpad? I can rest my hand like shown in your picture and it doesn’t do anything to the trackpad. It’s smart enough to know that’s my hand and I’m not trying to do anything. It’s just like how it works on the iPad.

 

[woolypants]

Have you changed a setting in the trackpad? I can rest my hand like shown in your picture and it doesn’t do anything to the trackpad. It’s smart enough to know that’s my hand and I’m not trying to do anything. It’s just like how it works on the iPad.

Hey, as mentioned it’s not just resting there. For whatever reason I tend to lift my hand slightly when typing and this is causing the trackpad to register. No settings have been changed.

 

[chabig]

Try to keep your wrists straight when you type. It’s correct posture and will benefit you in the long run by avoiding carpel tunnel damage.

 

[6916494]

Try with "Tap to click" turned off in System Preferences.

 

[woolypants]

Try with "Tap to click" turned off in System Preferences.
Thanks.

Try to keep your wrists straight when you type. It’s correct posture and will benefit you in the long run by avoiding carpel tunnel damage.

lol. Thanks. I’ve been typing for 40 years without issue, am a touch typist and have a qualification in typing.

 

[MajorFubar]

You might have been typing for 40 years 'without issue', but not on a laptop you haven't.
The wrist posture that laptops encourage is 100% wrong.
Support your lower arms/wrists with a gel wrist support, placed in front of the MacBook, which will raise your lower arms so your palms aren't resting on the computer and your wrists aren't bending upwards to type.
If anything it's better for your wrist to be angled slightly downwards than upwards when typing, though as you surely must know as a qualified typist, the ideal wrist posture, as with organists and pianists, is no bend at all, but that often isn't 100% achievable.

 

[Fishrrman]

I was once wary about the larger trackpad when I got my 2021 MBP 14" for the same issues the OP seems to be having.

However, being a troglodyte (see my avatar, which was carefully chosen), I do the following when setting up my laptops:
- I go into the system preferences/trackpad pane
- I DISABLE all trackpad gesture features -- ALL of them -- except for enabling the right click option. I also disable "natural" scolling.
- In effect, I thus render the trackpad into being "as dumb as it can be". I don't need or want all the fancy "gestures".

I've had no problems with "false trackpad activations" while typing.

 

[woolypants]

You might have been typing for 40 years 'without issue', but not on a laptop you haven't.
The wrist posture that laptops encourage is 100% wrong.
Support your lower arms/wrists with a gel wrist support, placed in front of the MacBook, which will raise your lower arms so your palms aren't resting on the computer and your wrists aren't bending upwards to type.
If anything it's better for your wrist to be angled slightly downwards than upwards when typing, though as you surely must know as a qualified typist, the ideal wrist posture, as with organists and pianists, is no bend at all, but that often isn't 100% achievable.

Good lord, you can tell all that from one quick snapshot?

 

[MajorFubar]

Good lord, you can tell all that from one quick snapshot?

Not really, it's a common 'fault' of all laptops.

Laptops by their very nature are an ergonomic disaster on multiple levels. If you put the keyboard section at the correct height, the screen is too low. If you put the screen section at the right level, the keyboard is too high. And on top of all that there's nothing to support your wrist and forearms, so you are inherently typing at an angle that is bad for your carpal tunnel unless you hold your arms in mid air, which in turn is bad for your shoulders. Don't get me wrong I don't have an anti-laptop agenda, I'm typing this reply on one now, but if I was briefed to design a device for people to sit at all day that quietly effed up their spine, neck, eyes and arms over a period of years, I'd design a laptop.