Trackpad Sensitivity

Mine failed so badly that


I ended up returning it and being forced to pay (or eat since I had already paid full price) the 10% restock fee although the computer trackpad (or computer software or hardware) was clearly defective.

Message was edited by: Rhyd

I haven't noticed any issues. What do you mean about miss-taps? I don't have it set to allow double-tapping to be a click.

I notice the top ⅛ inch of my trackpad does not respond to a 'tap'. I checked the display units at my Applestore and found the same issue. Since the 11" has a smaller palm rest, I found my 'tapping' to be occurring at the top end of the trackpad. In time, I adapted to now 'tapping' more towards the center.

I notice problems too!

Tapping fail in about 10% of taps.
Moving Cursor fails in about 10% of touching the trackpad.

This is annoying!

Hi,

This may help.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10330102-263.html

Cheers.

the cnet article has nothing to do with the problem. the trackpad is not erratic or jumping. sometime it fails to respond. i tried a smc reset. difficult to say if it occurs less than before the reset. really hope it's a software problem.

I have noticed this with my gen 2 MacBook Air 13". With tap to click on, I get erratic results. Sometimes the first tap is recognized, sometimes I have to tap a second or third time to get it to recognize the click. I do get better response in the center of the pad, but not 100%.

I opened up a help desk ticket and went through a few diagnostic tests over the phone. No luck. I then went to my Apple store and had a genius take a look at it. During that time, it seems to work just fine. I don't know if he was tapping the trackpad harder than I was, but it worked every time for him. After taking the Air home, I am still experiencing the sensitivity issue.

I have has two other MacBook pro laptops, and I don't recall having this issue at all. In fact, I seem to remember that the tap to click was a bit too sensitive.

I will keep working through it and hope for a software update. If it gets too unbearable, I will take it back to the apple store and have them look at it again.

Hi,

I've been using a program called Better Touch Tool for the last two weeks, I found this in an article from Mac User magazine (19/11/10 issue).

http://boastr.net/
Download the latest version here:
http://blog.boastr.net/?page_id=1722

This program offers many custom gestures for both the track pad and magic mouse. It toke me a week to work out the best combination for my needs, and now I have about a dozen different settings mapped to the trackpad instead using combination key commands. The program also offer window snapping like you get in Windows 7, its located under Action Setting.

Give this free program a try for a week, and I'm sure most of the inaccurate track pad problems will disappear.

I too am experiencing the lack of sensitivity in the MBA 11" trackpad.

I have a MBP and a Magic Trackpad with my iMac and these work beautifully.

I've been using Better Touch Tool for quite a while and find it invaluable. It's great being able to do so many things with gestures.

However, BTT does not help with the MBA issues. The trackpad is far too insensitive and the sensitivity decreases as you move away from the centre. I really find it quite annoying. I'm so used to the MBP and iMac tracks being faultless that I keep thinking I've had a freeze of my MBA.

Apple really need to resolve this as it detracts from an otherwise great experience. So, come on Apple, get a firmware update out please.

I have noticed on my 13" that there are times I have to tap twice to click. Seems to happen mostly on quick taps. The faster taps usually get missed, whereas the longer/harder taps work. I can say this happens much more than my MBP, so I assume it's a hardware thing. It's not 10% or anything like that, but maybe 1% of clicks, which isn't bad.

Hey, what are you going to do. I've used 100% working trackpads from likes of Toshiba and others, and I'd rather use those old IBM eraser things sticking out of the keyboard to move the mouse.

All technology is a work in progress.

Bryan

Add me to the list of MBA 11" with trackpad issues. Like others here the trackpad fails to register the gesture maybe 10% of the time. This failure did not happen at all until the last few weeks. I've had it since launch.
The failure to register seems to effect several gestures - tap to click, two finger scroll etc. I've not noticed that this is an edge versus centre issue.
Along with a creaky chassis this trackpad issue is the only thing spoiling an otherwise amazing Mac. I'd say my best Mac ever (since 1989).

My problem is with two-finger scrolling. It doesn't matter if I'm centered on the Air's trackpad; there is frequently a momentary delay of scrolling after moving my fingers. Sometimes it works just fine though and I've never had the issue on my MacBook Pro, so there's nothing wrong with my fingertips. 🙂

I also have this problem. It's on all the 11" macbook airs I've played with.

It's especially annoying when scrolling with two fingers. It makes the 11" Macbook Air feel very much like a netbook rather than a mac.

Hopefully there will be a software fix for this.