Emailed Steve Jobs, Apple Called Back!
I mostly love my new MacBook Pro - but one thing that has been driving me slightly insane is that the trackpad misses clicks sometimes. You hear and feel the click - it just doesn’t register the click. I’ve read through the Apple discussion forums and found many people all over are having this problem. My cousin’s MacBook has it as well, so it’s not a small issue and it doesn’t just affect the MacBook Pro.
So last week I decided to email Steve Jobs himself. I didn’t expect a reply, but I figured someone must read his email, and it’d be a good idea to get the problem to the attention of some of the people higher up in Apple so that the news comes at them from the top and the bottom (via AppleCare). 
Well, imagine my surprise when an Apple representative called me this morning to talk about the email I had sent! Wow!
He told me that Apple is researching the clicking issue. They have no resolution of it and, of course, there’s not really an official acknowledgment of it, but they are checking into it because they’ve heard the complaint frequently. So while there’s no real solution specifically right now, there might be one in the future. Presently my only options are to keep it and live with it, or send it in and hope they can figure out how to fix it or replace it with a whole new machine that (hopefully) doesn’t have the problem. I haven’t decided what to do yet.
I also had emailed that my case came out of the box with a tiny dent in it, and while it wasn’t a huge deal for me, I just wanted them to know. He seemed concerned about hearing about that - although given the huge number of places this could have happened in the assembly/shipping process, it didn’t seem like they were looking into this as a big issue. (At least not yet.)
The final issue we talked about was the display hinge and how loose it is compared to the older models. As far as he was telling me, this seems to be mostly by design, and while some hinges are stiffer than others, it was designed to be much less stiff than the old models. So I guess the official answer for this issue is that it’s not an issue they are going to fix or even look into. So if you use your laptop in bed and at sharp angles (like I sometimes do), I guess there’s really not going to be a fix to the problem of it closing by itself. :/ I can adapt, though. It was just one of those things…
So yeah. I emailed Steve Jobs and Apple called me back. The answer isn’t exactly what I wanted to hear, but I think the delivery of the answer may in fact outweigh that disappointment.
UPDATE: I ended up doing an exchange of my MacBook Pro. The day before I got my replacement, Apple announced the firmware fix. Figures… Oh well. I got a new one back, it’s awesome, firmware fix applied, and the clicking problems have virtually gone away as near as I can tell! Now the only complaint that remains is the looser hinge… but I can deal with that.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
what email address did you use for Steve - I have an issue too!
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
@n2itv: I took the route of guessing steve at apple. Seemed to have worked.
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:24 pm
sjobs@mac.com
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I don’t know about the hinge, it seems as stiff as my old iBook. Clearly it’s not exactly the same, but it seems sturdy enough for what I use it for.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:38 pm
[…] a Steve Jobs acerca de un problema que está teniendo con el nuevo trackpad de cristal, la persona reporta que inmediatamente recibió una llamada de Apple para aclarar el […]
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Where was the dent? I also noticed one on my new MBP around the edge of the screen.
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:12 pm
@Mike: My dent was on the main body (not the screen part) on the left top edge just above the expresscard slot. It’s not too bad, but I figured I’d mention it to them all the same in case they may have a manufacturing flaw they need to look out for.
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:14 pm
@Jerry: From what I’ve read, the MacBooks tend to have stiffer hinges than the MacBook Pros. It may be that they are the same stiffness, but because of the smaller/lighter screen on the MacBook the hinge ultimately feels stiffer. Hard to say. Doesn’t seem like Apple intends to do anything about the hinge, though. I imagine I’ll get used to it.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I’m having the same problem with my new MBP, and it drives me *crazy*. It appears to go in spurts, too — I’ll get about 10-20 seconds of no clicks registering, then it will start up again.
Hopefully, this indicates a software problem and not a hardware one, so we’ll see some relief via the form of an update.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:23 am
[…] Apple’ye başvuran bir kullanıcı, sorunun Apple tarafından araştırıldığı yanıtını almış. Sorunun kitlesel bir üretim hatası olup olmadığı henüz net […]
November 4th, 2008 at 12:31 am
[…] Apple’ye başvuran bir kullanıcı, sorunun Apple tarafından araştırıldığı yanıtını almış. Sorunun kitlesel bir üretim hatası olup olmadığı henüz net […]
November 4th, 2008 at 12:49 am
I’ve been experiencing the same issue with the trackpad, but I discovered why. Every time it happens, if I just remove my finger entirely so they don’t touch the trackpad and then retry it works.
It seems that it’s that sometimes it thinks that you were about to do a gesture, and so didn’t expect a click as it was trying to register a gesture. Because of that it doesn’t register the click.
Removing the fingers from the surface makes the trackpad “reset” itself, I mean it stops any possibility currently being registered gesture. So that next time you click, it registers for sure (except if you do something with another finger a little before clicking, that, combined with the click finger, could be interpreted as a gesture when the finger touche the surface, just before you click).
So a good way to assure you to get the click register; is to get the habit to pull of your fingers from the trackpad surface just a little so they don’t touch it, just before avery click.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:59 am
@Bertrand: interesting theory… If true it could be a simple software fix. I’m not entirely convinced it’s that easy, though. I’ve read reports of some people taking the time to try to track it down and doing things like ensuring they only had one finger on the pad while clicking and they still see the missed click problem. I know myself I’ve kind of tried to mentally take note when it happens, but it’s happened in so many situations now that I can’t find a common pattern short of an actual hardware problem.
It’s possible the situation is being muddied by multiple causes, too. It could be buggy software in addition to some small percentage of trackpads actually being faulty. :/
November 4th, 2008 at 1:20 am
Ok, glad to hear I’m not the only one — I have the same issue…I click, you *hear* the click, you feel the click but it doesn’t register. And, at times, I’ll be dragging my finger (just to move the mouse) and nothing…it just stops moving. Then finally it will start again.
November 4th, 2008 at 1:37 am
“I’ve read reports of some people taking the time to try to track it down and doing things like ensuring they only had one finger on the pad while clicking and they still see the missed click problem.”
Yes, but what I said is that you need to have ZERO finger on the trackpad surface before clicking with ONE finger.
For example, if you had 2 fingers on the surface, and you pull off the one using to move the mouse without pulling off the one used to click, and then you click, it may not register for what I experienced…
But If you pull off all the fingers before clicking, then you click with just one finger, as of now I never got any missed clicked using this method.
Try it, and report if it works or not… For me it works. This doesn’t tells if it’s purely software, or firmware based or totally hardware based. It can be all three, depends on how the electronic works and how the firware and software works.
November 4th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Actually I just had about the sames problems as you.
After all the most annoying problem for me is the trackpad itself. I tried to work with it very patiently to get used to it, but I haven’t figured out why Apple actually has build a “one-all-button-trackpad” which works so miserably.
My biggest problem so far is the trackpad sometimes not recognizing that I’m using a thumb a two fingers to scroll. Instead it tends to zoom in or out (eg in Safari).
Not recognizing clicks can be fixed I guess - if not, this is gonna be a huge problem and a major step backward… ;(
(this is my 4. MacBook Pro btw and I haven’t experienced so many problems as of today with any of them…)
Oh, and they should provide Bootcamp-Drivers for Windows for their new trackpad ASAP! It totally get’s you crazy in Windows -
November 4th, 2008 at 4:19 am
“My biggest problem so far is the trackpad sometimes not recognizing that I’m using a thumb a two fingers to scroll. Instead it tends to zoom in or out (eg in Safari).”
If I’m not wrong, zooming in Safari is a THREE fingers gesture.
So what you say would confirm my theory that sometimes the trackpad takes the thumb used to click as a gesture finger. In your case, it zooms, because it detects 3 fingers intead of 2, probably because even if you move up or down only 2 finger, the thumb being in contact with te trackpad makes it think there is 3 fingers scrolling,a nd so zoom instead of scrolling.
The workaround in that case would be a bit like the one I mentionned for the click, pull off all your fingers and then scroll with only 2 fingers and avoid having the thumb or any other finger in contact with the trackpad.
November 4th, 2008 at 5:01 am
It is so ridiculous that everybody in the world who has a niggle with anything apple-related seems to email me. I am employing something like 13 interns to check emails from people who can’t set up their mail.app. Please stop bothering me with all that nonsense!
November 4th, 2008 at 5:03 am
As someone who wants to buy a MacBook, I read this with interest.
Rather than turn me off the experience (I use a mouse anyway) knowing that this well spun (no confirmation yet, marketing biased), yet diligent team that make great products, and care about customer satisfaction, has put to rest some of the fabricated accounts I’ve read about Mac service.
A while back after the iPhone release, blogs were flooded (some new blogs, some M$ controlled ‘news’ outlets) with ‘my mac sucks lol’ posts. They seem to have abated somewhat and the true colour of customer satisfaction is coming through.
I have an iPhone / iPod Touch 1gen / iPhone 3G / iPod nano / use of iMac, but as yet have not bought into apple notebooks.
15″ MacBook pro here I come!
I will also buy that airpuck and see how good it is (been lusting after it in the app store… might be cute)
November 4th, 2008 at 6:18 am
[…] captain of the ship, Steve Jobs, at his publicly known email address. As he details on his blog, he later got a call from an Apple representative who assured him that it was a known issue and that they were looking into it, although he […]
November 4th, 2008 at 7:31 am
[…] Read More […]
November 4th, 2008 at 8:07 am
What’s his mail???
November 4th, 2008 at 8:27 am
@Steve Jobs: So “Steve”, how’s the weather in London? (That’s where your IP came from, incidentally…)
I’ve seen the argument against mailing the CEO a few times. It’s total bunk, IMO. His “public” email address is well known (google.. comments here, etc..) If he didn’t want to spend the time, he wouldn’t (or he’d just have the usual AppleCare staff deal with it.) The point is that he cares or at least wants to appear to care by leaving this slightly different avenue of communication open to the public.
(Although the guy who called me said that Steve himself read it and forwarded it on to be handled because he felt it was important. Hard to say if that’s actually true or not, but if so… neat! :))
November 4th, 2008 at 8:30 am
@Bertrand: The zooming gesture is only two fingers. I actually use it somewhat frequently as I get more used to the gesture trackpad.
As for the other comment for lifting the finger before clicking.. I’ll experiment with that, but IMO it’s an unacceptable “fix.” If it clicks like a real button, it should act like a real button.
It’s tricky because when I’ve made the conscious effort of pushing a little harder when I click, the problem feels like it becomes less of an issue which really makes me think it’s hardware, sadly.
November 4th, 2008 at 10:03 am
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November 4th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
A little update on what I said…
If fact I was wrong on the cause. I discovered, for my case at least, that it’s related to the rate I use between two click. If I click too fast between two clicks, it don’t work… And the workarounds I told you before worked because it artificially increased the delay between two click (as I had to remove all my fingers between two clicks).
Then; I told myself: “In that case it may be because it register my actions as double clicks?!”
So I increased the speed rate needed to get a double click registered at three steps before max… And guess what? Now it work just as I expect it to.
So it seems that the real cause is the default double click speed rate that seems a little too slow and double clicks get registered too easily.
I suggest that you play with the double click speed rate settings to find a settings that better suits your clicking habits
So at least in my case it was purely software… I hope for you that it’s also the same in your case, as otherwise it would maybe significate that there is a defect in your MacBooks particularly; that I don’t have personally.
November 4th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
@Bertrand: Awesome tip! Trying it out… If that’s the real cause for the click problem, then it should be a trivial software issue that’s easy for them to fix. Here’s hoping…
November 5th, 2008 at 3:00 am
I can’t reproduce that problem on my MacBook.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:56 am
[…] registreren, soms wel tot 1 op de 10 kliks. Meerdere bloggers hadden er over geschreven en werden gebeld door Apple. He told me that Apple is researching the clicking issue. They have no resolution of […]
November 5th, 2008 at 4:20 am
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November 5th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Issue seems to be software related accordign to an email sent by Apple to someone complaining about htis issue:
http://www.macrumors.com/2008/11/05/software-fix-for-macbook-pro-trackpad-issue-coming-soon/
November 5th, 2008 at 8:02 am
[…] promise, chose due. Un blogger annonce avoir envoyé un mail a Steve Jobs et qu’Apple l’a rappelé pour lui dire […]
November 5th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
i have the same issue with mine… drives me crazy!!!
November 5th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
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November 5th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I tried adjusting the double click speed. It might be less of an issue with a higher double click speed, but I think there’s still something wrong. :/
November 5th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I’m having the same issues with the miss clicks and my cursor freezing up too. Funny that you mention about a chip in mac because I have the same thing on the side of my display. I noticed it when I took it out of the box.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:25 am
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November 12th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I’ve been having many issues with this touchpad. First of all, I think one of the big problems is that because all of us Mac laptop users have been used to the physical button there at the bottom of the track pad, we use it to rest our thumb on. Well, now that there is no button, when you put your thumb on the touchpad you are creating a dual touch scenario. Both your thumb and finger on the pad at the same time seem to cause the cursor to freeze in limbo.
I’ve had this happen many times. And it’s super frustrating. It happens particularly often when trying to highlight certain text and move around within blocks of text with your cursor. It ends up taking twice as long to maneuver as it used to as I have to remove my finger, then depress the bad and hope it “resets” the cursor out of the freeze mode it’s in.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
i love apple mac!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!