As for the scrolling, the speed is adjustable under the preferences>trackpad panel. if you simply don't like two finger scrolling, that's probably just a matter of preference, but the speed is easily adjusted to be made comparable or better than a scroll wheel.
Well see, thats the thing... with a scroll wheel on a mouse you don't need to adjust preferences to get it just right. It's just right depending on how fast you move the wheel. Especially with the MX Revolution.
For Cursor movement, I already agreed that cursor movement is better with a mouse. I just feel the other features outweighed this drawback, although perhaps not for gaming.
What features? The touchpad is definitely insufficient for gaming. Especially with OS X having very little gaming support, you need Windows. It seems that Apple deliberately avoids making proper support for the new touchpads available in Windows, so they're highly inaccurate and tap to click still doesn't work right.
For photo manipulation, i find it faster to use a gesture than to cursor to the button to zoom. not a big difference. but it's the same thing as navigating webpages. some people might find it faster to cursor up to the button, but i find it the exact opposite.
Well, I find that the touchpad doesn't always properly recognize the finger gestures unless they're done just right. So its faster to just flick down with the mouse and tap.
As for browsing the web, most people don't use Safari. Firefox is better in every way, and multi-touch in Firefox isn't supported without unstable hacks.
For zooming, the wheel would be convenient unless you wanted to scroll instead of zoom. i'm sure there's a workaround for that, but i do just fine with the pinching. Rarely am i working with a photo that i need more than two or three gestures to zoom, but i'm not a big time photo editor. and if i were, i would probably have a mouse attached while i'm doing serious work.
Thats why the preview app in OS X needs to work more like it does in Windows and like other photo apps in Windows. click and drag to move around the picture, wheel zooms in or out. That is the number one reason I hate Preview in OS X. The second reason being that it won't let me skim through a whole folder like in Windows, I have to go through and manually select all the pictures/documents I want to preview first.
Perhaps I went too far by calling the mouse unnecessary. What I was trying to say is that this trackpad does more things that a normal trackpad does, and as a result, there are plenty of instances where I can see people using the trackpad at a desk. There's still some places where a mouse is more useful, but still. it's leaps and bounds better. and like i said, often when i'm at a desktop, i feel like i should be able to make gestures...they've ingrained themselves to me. and even when i have a bt mouse connected, my hand ends up on the trackpad more often than not.
Well, thats just you to be honest. Thats certainly not everyone else. Like I said, I've yet to personally meet someone who doesn't have a mouse for their notebook. Especially at a desk. Keeping the system closed is the only way to get OS X to properly support external displays, so the system has to be closed. And when you're at a desk, you have access to far superior equipment like the MX Revolution mouse or even cheaper mice.
Plus, when you're at a desk, why would you want to limit yourself to the MacBook's built in keyboard? Ugh. That things terrible. I've had my MacBook now for about 6 months and the battery only has a few cycles on it precisely because the keyboard is awful and I dread using it.
Of everyone I know who has switched back to Windows PCs from Macs, their second biggest complaint (after weak hardware for the money) was the keyboard.
Once a Mac users gets hooked on software like Garageband and iPhoto, and iMovie, it will be hard to find solutions as integrated (especially with each other) on Windows.
Garageband? M-Audio sells better software with a decent hardware interface to go along with it, all for under $100. iPhoto? Other than unstable face recognition, it doesn't do anything freeware apps and built-in Windows Photo Gallery don't do. iMovie? More powerful video editors ship with digital video cameras making iMovie obsolete.
MARKETSHARE: Apple continues to gain PC marketshare at a rate that, while inconsistent, still poses a threat to Windows dominance in the future.
Apple's marketshare is in the low single digits worldwide and fell last quarter, significantly, in the US.
The tough spot is, that even Mac users running bootcamp or a VM ware solution don't always "count" in their column... and worst, sometimes tire of it, and eventually go to Mac only.
Thats not true. You need Windows on a Mac to even make it useful for things other than browsing the web or syncing your iPhone. I'd have Windows only on my Mac if Apple would push firmware updates through Software Update in Windows.
