[Joeri]

I have to disagree on trackpads sucking less. This year I walked into a big box electronics store and tried the screen, keyboard and trackpad on every laptop they had on display.

Trackpads were universally abysmal, with the sole exception of the macbooks. They all had the frustrating diveboard design, every single one at every price point from every manufacturer. I’m sure you can buy laptops with decent trackpads online, but they had none in the store, macbooks excepted.

Keyboards were all over the place, but I notice that even some premium models are now carrying generic low end keyboard parts with weak travel, lack of key separation, num lock mashed into the backspace, and awkward arrow key layout. If anything I think keyboards are getting worse.

Screens are the one place where I’ll say things have improved noticeably, especially colors and black levels, although getting over 200 ppi and 500 nits is still a rare treat, and that is my bar for a compromiseless display.

[makeitdouble]

> walked into a big box electronics store

You're comparing Apple to unnamed computers brands you touched at a random place, I'm not sure what to make of it.

For instance how does the Macbook Air compare to the current 13" Surface Laptop ? Is that what you call diveboard design and awkward arrow key layout ?

[Spooky23]

I didn’t say good just less bad.

Apple obviously produces the only product incorporating a touchpad that applies any significant, deliberate thought about it.

[akvadrako]

500 nits is not really good enough for laptop that you might use outside.

Luckily they are still improving and we now have Tandem OLED with about double that.

[jdujfkhllhl]

Should a laptop be optimized for indoor or outdoor use?