I’ve been a PC person for years. At work I only ever used (and use) PCs, although I worked with remote VMS (yes, that VMS) and Linux systems all the time. A few years back though, I bought a MacBook Pro 13 in order to get access to Xcode and try my hand at IOS development. Thus was my hands on intro to the world of Mac …

I have come to love that MacBook. It was a long and windy courtship full of frustration as I had to unlearn years of muscle memory based on Windows norms. I still struggle with that today but I’m better. The one thing that has led me to become a fully paid up member of the cult of Mac though is that trackpad.

The trackpad is sublime. It’s like glass, like silk. The mouse pointer glides around the screen and the two finger scrolling is a pure joy. No PC laptop has come close to matching the feel of it and believe me I’ve looked and tried a bunch. There’s something truly magical about the fact that Apple controls the whole package: hardware, drivers, OS, apps. They can, and do, focus on the tiniest of details and I’ve decided that those details matter. I can’t stand to use any other laptop now.

Desktop computers are different. With a good external mouse the experience of using Windows on a PC can be as good. I have yet to find a Windows laptop with a trackpad to match though.

And so, now that I find myself wanting to get a new power laptop for home use (for dev but also for general stuff) I have to go with a new MacBook Pro 15. I must say that the keyboard doesn’t feel great as yet. I hope I’ll get used to it. Thinkpads are still the gold standard for laptop keyboards I’d say. But that trackpad is still like butter, and it’s sooo much bigger now. And the new TouchBar is intriguing.

I’m done. I’m a fanboy. I don’t care that they are the most expensive laptops. They are the best laptops. By far.