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Trackpad on my 15" M2 MacBook Air feels sticky/coarse and has too much friction

H

helloapple1

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 20, 2020
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I've had my 15" M2 MacBook for at least 6 months now and have never fully been able to get over the fact that the trackpad feels sticky/coarse and therefore causes a lot of extra friction making the experience nowhere near as smooth as the M1 MacBook Air's trackpad I had.

I was just wondering if anyone has experienced or noticed this?
 
contact Apple about it. Besides: recheck the trackpad setting. Which version of macOS? Any peripherals? Any difference in behaviour when connected to power versus running on battery? What startup items do you run?
 
Slartibart said:
contact Apple about it. Besides: recheck the trackpad setting. Which version of macOS? Any peripherals? Any difference in behaviour when connected to power versus running on battery? What startup items do you run?
Click to expand...

Thanks. I was at Apple actually and the technician said he didn't feel anything wrong with it, but it in fact has much more friction than my M1 MacBook Air and even the models in the Apple Store. I think it's such a small issue and comes down to poor QC, and I just got unlucky.

My trackpad speed setting is at the max, I'm on Sonoma 14.5, no peripherals, no difference in behaviour when connected to power vs battery, startup items include Aldente/Maccy/Rectangle.

FreakinEurekan said:
Never. Try cleaning it with an alcohol wipe or a disinfectant wipe. If that doesn't clear it up, get it into an Apple service location for evaluation.
Click to expand...

I'll try wiping with an alcohol wipe, great idea. Thank you. I tried wiping with water in the past, but it didn't do much.
 
forums.macrumors.com

Macbook Air 15 inch - Trackpad texture

I bought the Macbook Air M2 15-inch and compared to my office laptop which is a Macbook Pro M1 16-inch, the trackpad texture feels much coarser. The best way I can describe the difference is that the MBP's trackpad feels like smooth glass with gloss finish when I scroll but the MBA's trackpad...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com

There's a whole thread on it, its luck of the draw
 
IMO the trackpad of the MBP feels better. BTW how's your pinch-to-zoom doing? Is it very reliable?
 
Torty said:
IMO the trackpad of the MBP feels better. BTW how's your pinch-to-zoom doing? Is it very reliable?
Click to expand...
Pinch-to-zoom is working and reliable, it's just the additional friction on the trackpad makes it feel uncomfortable to use. I think it's something with the finish.

I'm going to attempt using a 70% isopropyl wipe on the trackpad tonight in hopes that it fixes it.
 
helloapple1 said:
Pinch-to-zoom is working and reliable, it's just the additional friction on the trackpad makes it feel uncomfortable to use. I think it's something with the finish.

I'm going to attempt using a 70% isopropyl wipe on the trackpad tonight in hopes that it fixes it.
Click to expand...

Read up on the thread I posted above

Go to an Apple Store and try a few demo units. I think you’ll feel the difference between some.
 
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helloapple1 said:
Thank you for sharing that link. Is there any known resolution for this?
Click to expand...

Other than getting lucky / swapping units not as far as I know unfortunately

Seems to be a QC or manufacturing variation thing

Since most people either don’t notice or don’t care Apple carries on. It impacts MacBook pros too fwiw it’s not just airs
 
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thadoggfather said:
Other than getting lucky / swapping units not as far as I know unfortunately

Seems to be a QC or manufacturing variation thing

Since most people either don’t notice or don’t care Apple carries on. It impacts MacBook pros too fwiw it’s not just airs
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing. I’m going to wipe the trackpad with a 70% isopropyl pad every day for a week and see if that does anything. I’ll report back.
 
helloapple1 said:
Pinch-to-zoom is working and reliable, it's just the additional friction on the trackpad makes it feel uncomfortable to use. I think it's something with the finish.

I'm going to attempt using a 70% isopropyl wipe on the trackpad tonight in hopes that it fixes it.
Click to expand...
IMO all trackpads feel the same. The MBP felt more smooth and better to me than MBA. Perhaps apple saved some money here who knows…
 
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