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Curious... why do they keep making the trackpad bigger?

C

Cape Dave

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Original poster
Nov 16, 2012
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Isn't it so big now that there is no way to type with palms on the computer without touching the trackpad (and therefore possibly messing things up unintentionally?)

I am baffled by this.

Anyone else?
 
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I'll post the opposite... I took a typing course (on an actual typewriter), and even after more than 50 years, I still don't rest palms (or wrist, or anything other than fingertips) near the keyboard while typing. I never learned to type like that.
Just sayin' ...
I don't ever notice that the trackpad is even there, until I need to use it.
I do like the extra capabilities, including the deep touch/haptic feedback, and the clicking without physical movement.
And, I always think the extra physical space gives a more precise result for a lot of activities.
 
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DeltaMac said:
I'll post the opposite... I took a typing course (on an actual typewriter), and even after more than 50 years, I still don't rest palms (or wrist, or anything other than fingertips) near the keyboard while typing.
Click to expand...

I too learned to type with only fingers touching the keyboard and it was also 48 years ago. Why was this way common? Because it's supposed to decrease strain on wrists, arms, upper back and avoids repetitive strain syndrome (RSS). Whatever the veracity of this claim, half a life-time later track-pad design choices don't bother me and I don't suffer from bad posture issues.
 
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I have the 15 inch MB Pro with the massive trackpad... I have no problem with it. It has palm rejection in the top two corners. My palms are brushing against the trackpad right now as I type this and it hasn't activated the mouse.
 
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i just tried, touching my trackpad doesnt affect my typing. although i usually type by resting my elbows on the edge of the table rather than my wrists on the keyboard. i think you can type faster that way too.
 
They have palm rejection anyway, the bigger trackpads are great for gestures, I’ve tried them in store and I like the bigger trackpads.
 
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Appledoesnotlisten said:
Because it does not reject palms when tap to click is enabled.
Click to expand...

That is the issue I faced. Moved from a 2014 rMBP 15 to the new ones and the big trackpad became an issue. In addition to the palm rejection issue, I actually preferred my old track pad in general as it felt more consistent throughout the pad, there seems to be some fishiness in the new ones.

Again, this is with touch to click enabled. I remember thinking at the time, how did Apple go from the perfect keyboard/track pad in the market to this!
 
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DeltaMac said:
I'll post the opposite... I took a typing course (on an actual typewriter), and even after more than 50 years, I still don't rest palms (or wrist, or anything other than fingertips) near the keyboard while typing. I never learned to type like that.
Just sayin' ...
I don't ever notice that the trackpad is even there, until I need to use it.
I do like the extra capabilities, including the deep touch/haptic feedback, and the clicking without physical movement.
And, I always think the extra physical space gives a more precise result for a lot of activities.
Click to expand...
I took a secretarial typing course back eons ago in high school on a typewriter too, despite never intending to become a secretary.

I type with the base of my palms on the laptop. Thus, I'm not a fan of ginormous trackpads either. Luckily the palm rejection algorithms Apple uses seems to work reasonably well for me. However, I have tap-to-click disabled, so that may help.

BTW, when I took the course, everyone thought I was nuts. Those planning on going to university wouldn't be caught dead in that class. The class was 95% female, with the vast majority being those intending on doing office admin type work as a career. There were just a couple of us (two?) that took it purely because we thought typing (and learning how to correctly format formal correspondence) would be a useful general skill. Others in the academic stream felt that class was beneath them. It's amazing what odd prejudices people have had throughout the ages.
 
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I replaced my 15 rMBP with a 2017 13 MBP last year. I really didn’t want to give up the screen size, but the track pad on the 15 was too big for me. The 13 is a little on big size but am able to use it without any issues, whereas the 15 constantly would have mis taps due to palms touching trackpad. A year later, I am very happy with size of trackpad and the extra portability was worth it as I have been traveling to and from work with laptop daily now too.
 
I have a 13 retina and moved to the new macbook pro for work and the difference is night and day for me. I love the larger trackpad and cannot think of a single occurrence where my wrists hitting the trackpad caused any issues. When I go back to using my 13 retina macbook pro it makes me realize how small the trackpad is and makes me want to upgrade it, but the price just isn't worth it to me personally considering my 13 i7 still works perfect.
 
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