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In love with the MBP trackpad, but...

thirty7alpha

thirty7alpha

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 11, 2011
69
0
Indiana
Assuming I can't bear to wait any longer after sitting through February for any legitimate sign of the purported 2011 refresh, are there any other great notebooks (i.e. PCs) that give me the same/similar functionality as the MBP trackpad?

Put differently, if you had to choose another laptop, based largely on form factor issues such as the trackpad, what would you choose? I'm hearing good things about the Samsung 9, but I LOVE the intuitiveness of the Apple trackpad.
 
I don't think that you will get anything close to the apple trackpad, except for the WACOM tablets (which are more money on top of the laptop). I don't think there are many laptops out there with a trackpad with as much real estate. That is why most people like them. And also on Windows machines, it is difficult to change the sensitivity and speed on the trackpads. I guess you could think about the magic trackpad or whatever it is called, but I don't know if it works that well with PC's. How much money were you looking to spend on a windows computer?
 
thirty7alpha said:
Assuming I can't bear to wait any longer after sitting through February for any legitimate sign of the purported 2011 refresh, are there any other great notebooks (i.e. PCs) that give me the same/similar functionality as the MBP trackpad?

Put differently, if you had to choose another laptop, based largely on form factor issues such as the trackpad, what would you choose? I'm hearing good things about the Samsung 9, but I LOVE the intuitiveness of the Apple trackpad.
Click to expand...

Why don't you just buy a current MBP? Just because you can't wait for the refresh doesn't mean you have to put up with a pc. Some offer similar functionality trackpad but none actually work as good as the mbp.
 
Blu101 said:
Why don't you just buy a current MBP? Just because you can't wait for the refresh doesn't mean you have to put up with a pc. Some offer similar functionality trackpad but none actually work as good as the mbp.
Click to expand...

The updates are usually during mid-year. That is not very long. If you have a computer that won't work that long, I would say that you should probably go with buying a current MBP, but if your computer could stand to last another 5-6 months, i would say to just wait it out. You may see that waiting would be really rewarding.
 
I've had a 15" MBP since 2008, but spilled coffee onto it about 2 months ago. Doh.

Ready for the refresh, to put it mildly.;)
 
thirty7alpha said:
I've had a 15" MBP since 2008, but spilled coffee onto it about 2 months ago. Doh.

Ready for the refresh, to put it mildly.;)
Click to expand...

I would just say to get it now. There can't be that much of a physical change to the MBP's. I don't think that you should go back to a windows computer. They just aren't the same. And once you have a Mac, you are spoiled, and going back to a PC wouldn't be very fun. If you had to money to get a cheap PC and a new MBP, that would be your best choice. Then you wouldn't need bootcamp. But anyway, that is my opinion. You should get it now unless you have to money to get a netbook, then a MBP.
 
I don't think I want to go back to a Windows-based product, either. I just know that if I go out tomorrow and order one of the current MBPs, and then the refresh is dramatic, I'll be kicking myself. Wait for it......wait for it.... :eek:
 
I'd say just get a refurb or a good deal on an older unibody C2D or something. You will get better resale value versus buying a PC temporarily.
 
thirty7alpha said:
I'm going to try and wait it out. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

It'll be here before you know it. Speculators seem to think April is the absolute latest we'll see the new ones, and even that's not too far off. January is near over, February is a short month, and that just leaves March. And it could very well show up in March anyway.
 
skiltrip said:
It'll be here before you know it. Speculators seem to think April is the absolute latest we'll see the new ones, and even that's not too far off. January is near over, February is a short month, and that just leaves March. And it could very well show up in March anyway.
Click to expand...

I think a betting man would indeed put his money on March as the month for the update. Dual cores won't be out until 2/20 and there are only 2 weeks in April until we reach the over 1 year mark since the last update, which is eons in the tech industry. I'm making my official guess right now, March 29th, 2011.
 
The pattern on MacRumors is to estimate the refresh will occur in:

X + 60 days
X = current date.

I will do my best to satisfy.
In October the refresh was going to be here in time for Christmas. By November the rumor was the unveiling would happen for New Years! Then came February. Now we are in the estimation zone of March - April. If it doesn't come by then I would assume it would happen by May or June.
 
aCondor said:
The pattern on MacRumors is to estimate the refresh will occur in:

X + 60 days
X = current date.

I will do my best to satisfy.
In October the refresh was going to be here in time for Christmas. By November the rumor was the unveiling would happen for New Years! Then came February. Now we are in the estimation zone of March - April. If it doesn't come by then I would assume it would happen by May or June.
Click to expand...

Since when did anybody think the refresh was going to be here before Christmas? Anyone who thought it was coming before the release of Sandy Bridge is an idiot.

I think February is likely.
 
The HP Envy 17 is supposed to have an amazing trackpad, I would have gone for one but I'd heard of the crippling overheating issues.

hp-envy-14.jpg
 
The few multitouch PC trackpads i've used are both small and the function seemed like an afterthought. Not sure if it was a cheap trackpad or Windows inability to use it effectively but I'm guessing it was likely both. I have a PC I use for some gaming as well as video encoding and thought a magic trackpad would be nice but even if you get it to work seems like the multitouch will not.
 
leetlamer said:
Since when did anybody think the refresh was going to be here before Christmas? Anyone who thought it was coming before the release of Sandy Bridge is an idiot.
Click to expand...

This, right here.

Anyone who said we'd have a refresh before January really had no clue what they were talking about since we knew SB wouldn't be launched until January. And now that we know the date for dual cores it's not hard to predict when Apple will refresh.
 
Benjy91 said:
The HP Envy 17 is supposed to have an amazing trackpad, I would have gone for one but I'd heard of the crippling overheating issues.

hp-envy-14.jpg
Click to expand...

Actually none of envy models have good trackpads (compared to MBPs)
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4060/hp-envy-17-hps-macbook-pro-killer/2
"And then there's the touchpad. Once again we have PC designers following Apple's lead without bothering to really understand it (though to be fair, I'm in the minority that hates Apple's unified touchpad to begin with). On a Mac where there's really only the one big mouse button, making the whole touchpad depress makes more sense, but PC users are used to being able to right-click. We need two buttons, and the unified design here feels awkward to use. It's a better implementation than I've seen elsewhere but it still doesn't improve on just having a touchpad and two buttons."
 
Maziar said:
Actually none of envy models have good trackpads (compared to MBPs)
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4060/hp-envy-17-hps-macbook-pro-killer/2
"And then there's the touchpad. Once again we have PC designers following Apple's lead without bothering to really understand it (though to be fair, I'm in the minority that hates Apple's unified touchpad to begin with). On a Mac where there's really only the one big mouse button, making the whole touchpad depress makes more sense, but PC users are used to being able to right-click. We need two buttons, and the unified design here feels awkward to use. It's a better implementation than I've seen elsewhere but it still doesn't improve on just having a touchpad and two buttons."
Click to expand...

Very helpful. My suspicions were confirmed. Waiting for the refresh. I'm betting on a more reliable leak within the next two weeks.
 
Maziar said:
Actually none of envy models have good trackpads (compared to MBPs)
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4060/hp-envy-17-hps-macbook-pro-killer/2
"And then there's the touchpad. Once again we have PC designers following Apple's lead without bothering to really understand it (though to be fair, I'm in the minority that hates Apple's unified touchpad to begin with). On a Mac where there's really only the one big mouse button, making the whole touchpad depress makes more sense, but PC users are used to being able to right-click. We need two buttons, and the unified design here feels awkward to use. It's a better implementation than I've seen elsewhere but it still doesn't improve on just having a touchpad and two buttons."
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have used the trackpad anyway :p.

I have a nice big chunky Microsoft Sidewinder X8 mouse, it was the keyboard I fell in love with on the Envy, thats one thing ive been jelous of on the MBP's as a PC user. A nice design of keyboard with a backlight.

Every laptop I've found with that style of keyboard was too expensive and/or didn't match to the specs I wanted.

The current Viao I have cost me £1,400 to assemble, has all the specs I wanted and it nice and smooth matte black, but has the bog standard PC keyboard where dust collects underneath the keys with age.
 
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