new macbook trackpad too big?

[badsimian]

Well in a completely unexpected turnaround I have just bought a new 2017 Space Grey MacBook base model for a really good price on ebay. My rationale being that these are actually pretty speedy with the new KL processors in them and I am travelling *a lot* currently.

So I can give some time for all this to settle down, have a year's warranty peace of mind until some new Macbook Pros finally turn up then sell with little loss.

 

[fedtho]

Yes, it is too big. I'm not a "hater"; I love this laptop in every way but for the size of the trackpad (I surprisingly am really liking the keyboard). As someone who uses his MacBook for writing, it's disappointing that several times while typing up a long document I find myself suddenly typing in the wrong spot because my palm hit the trackpad and moved the cursor without my intentionally doing so. I'm happy for those of you who have no issues with palm rejection, but I do. I don't actually rest my palm on the trackpad, but occasionally while typing, I hit it with part of my thumb or my palm and this happens. Obviously if I didn't have tap-to-click enabled it wouldn't be an issue, but I've always used tap-to-click and I have no intention of disabling it. And since nothing like this ever happened on my previous MBP, I can chalk it up to the big trackpad. It's a disappointment, but not enough to make me dislike the laptop as a whole.

Every single word ThisBougieLife said, thank you for writing my post for me ;-)

(I'm on a 2018 MacBook Pro with Mojave)

I realize, reading through, that I seem to be used to *heavily* rest my wrists on the basis of the keyboard more than others...! Many people say that "if touch to click is disabled, of course, there's no problem" - but that isn't true for me at all:
1. I *love* touch to click, it's deeply rooted in my workflow and I don't want to do without it;
2. when touch to click is disabled, I STILL often press to click with my wrists on the trackpad.

I wish there was a software solution to define active and inactive zones of the trackpad - but I don't hol dmy breath, I'd be surprised if that was technically possible.

I saw on apple forums someone suggesting a keyboard shortcut to (at least) enable and disable touch to click quickly - that wouldn't entirely solve my "heavy wrist problem" but certainly make it easier.

The big trackpad is a dream for a lot of things - but as someone who types a lot, with that habit of really weighing down on my wrists as I type and doesn't want to bend his wrists in a very odd and uncomfortable way to avoid the trackpad, its size is also a problem.
(not to mention: hasn't it been determined that having your wrists "in the air" while typing will cause problems, pain etc. in the long run..! Or has this been proven untrue and I'm not aware...???)

Adding a mouse to desactivate the trackpad as a solution is a JOKE, sorry.

 

[fedtho]

...just saw this on apple forums, a now defunct app called MagicPrefs (you can find it under magicprefs . com): MagicPrefs allowed, among many customizations, to define zones on the trackpad - for specific uses OR to disactivate them, it seems.

...so there WAS an app that did EXACTLY what I would have needed !
...but its makers posted in November 2017 that the functionalities it provided were made possible "by Api's that are now deprecated and reverse engineered private Apple frameworks. Apple is not likely to replace the deprecated Api's nor provide access to the underlying multitouch technology so that's the end of the line for MagicPrefs and similar software".

Shame.

EDIT: I just stumbled on the *simple* suggestion to adjust the sensitivity of the trackpad's force touch (to "firm", obviously)... and I'm amazed at the result.
My "heavy wrists" now don't seem to trigger accidental clicks anymore.
That is after 2 minutes... but it's *really promising!