I haven't used a mouse for 14 years

bigyabai

Anecdotal, but I haven't used my Magic Trackpad 2 since I bought a trackball (Kensington Expert Wireless). Removes all the same wrist strain issues while retaining flick accuracy of a mouse.

dewey

I love the Magic Trackpad and I've used exclusively for years, at some point my wrists start to hurt and I'm now stuck with some Logitech MX Vertical.

JojoFatsani

I can't use the trackpad for too long without getting RSI type feelings.. I am trackball these days.

swiftcoder

I'm in much the same boat. Daily Apple trackpad driver for the past 15 years at least, maybe more. Every time I have to use a PC with a mouse it kills me a little (and don't get me started on those trackpads cheap PC laptops ship with...)

krunck

I despise trackpads. They feel so sloppy and approximate. Mice work great for my needs. But the best laptop pointer for me has been the pointing stick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_stick

kaypro

You have me beat by two years and I never knew about the three fingers drag. Great find... thanks!

mikestew

I don't know, does a trackpad count? In one sense, no, it's not a mouse. In which case, I guess I'm in the same boat. I don't know if I even have any mice in the house anymore. OTOH, I thought this might be a post from a keyboard shortcut wizard.

tejohnso

I haven't used a mouse in ages, but I haven't used a trackpad - ever. I've never found one that matches the accuracy, speed, and overall joy of using TrackPoint to move the mouse cursor.

zabzonk

One of my favourite features on my Asus Zenbook (Windows) is the "Disable Touchpad" hotkey.

JoshTriplett

I spend most of my time using a ThinkPad laptop touchpad, but the critical property that makes it usable for me is the physical mouse buttons. I find it incredibly awkward to use any system without physical mouse buttons, or any system where tap-to-click has not been disabled. I tried, on my current laptop, to see if I could get used to having tap-to-click enabled even without actually using it ; I wanted to see how far off I was from being able to deal with any non-ThinkPad. I ended up turning it back off after a few days, after many many clicks I didn't want to click.

veilrap

I exclusively use trackpads like Magic Trackpad 2 when I'm on MacOS. But I exclusively use a mouse when I'm running Windows and Linux. MacOS just seems more tailored to the touchpad experience. Windows and Linux more tailored to the mouse experience.

ryandrake

I switched to a mac trackpad years ago due to hand pain that comes whenever I grip/use a mouse. Something about that half-closed-hand light grip has become just super painful. Unfortunately I still need to use one for FPS gaming, just haven't found a controller to match the speed and precision needed to aim and fire at a game opponent.

apparent

> macOS setup guide used to include an option to turn on three finger drag, but now it has been hidden in the accessibility option. I don't understand why Apple does this. It's like the "allow ANC with one AirPod" setting, which is also inexplicably an accessibility option.

nashashmi

Windows has something better than three finger drag. It has single finger second tap and hold. Plus extended zones for when the trackpad is not big enough to stretch across

ternera

The Magic Trackpad and Logitech MX Master 3s mouse are an excellent combination for me. I see benefits from both.

rootusrootus

I've tried them all. Trackpad, trackpoint, trackball, all of them. I keep coming back to a mouse. Everything else is either frustrating and finicky, or it induces RSI after a few hours.

tokai

>I am still amazed by Mac's Trackpad quality to this day. I used to own Windows laptops, and most of their touchpads are so shit I have hear multiple times that patents are the reason for the bad trackpads outside of Apples products. But I have never been able to find a confirmation. Talking about mouse alternatives I would like to give rollermouse a shout-out. Beside the relaxed arm position they give, I really like that they invite to use both hands at the same time. With the similar workload between both hands and arms I find the over all strain lower even with repetitive tasks for a long time.

hmokiguess

I'm on 12 years and I didn't know about the 3 fingers drag, thanks for sharing!

baggy_trough

It is utterly insane that 3 finger drag isn't the default or at least not buried 3 layers deep inside accessibility. Apple, what are you doing?

bee_rider

I thought it was going to be about someone who’d fully embraced the terminal. Preferring a trackpad to a mouse seems not so unusual, right? I guess sticking to it so completely is. I prefer marble-mouse type devices, but I can’t say with any certainty that I haven’t accidentally touched a mouse in the past 14 years.