Item 1: It's undeniable that the mouse is more precise, but it tethers you to a desk. One with enough space for a mouse. Not always feasible.
Item 2: You're mentioning Thinkpads. Try a touchpad on OS X, then come back. The difference is enormous. You can actually use the GUI without a mouse and without being annoyed, it's the only laptop/OS combination where that works.
Every time I use my gf's Mac I am instantly annoyed by the touchpad. Yeah, it's better than the one on my Thinkpad but there I use the nipple which is faster, more precise and quicker to reach also I can scroll around using a button under my thump + nipple. Mac lacking page-up/page-down keys is annoying if you need to do a lot of scrolling/coming back to keyboard/scrolling.
Not sure what model ThinkPad you had, but I was on a MBP 2013 and just recently transitioned to a ThinkPad T480 running Ubuntu. The trackpad is actually really nice on the T480 and I didn't have to do any special driver install to get that working. Scrolling is slightly smoother on the MBP, but honestly that is not a huge deal. (I think this is mostly due to the material of the T480 trackpad having more grip that anything else)
For sure the materials used on the MBP are of higher quality and if I had one complaint it would be that smudging on the T480 trackpad is noticeable where it is not on the MBP. With that said, if you are running a modern distro that has proper driver support then I think the trackpad on the T480 works really well and you will not find the difference to be "enormous".
> Item 2: You're mentioning Thinkpads. Try a touchpad on OS X, then come back. The difference is enormous. You can actually use the GUI without a mouse and without being annoyed, it's the only laptop/OS combination where that works.
Firstly, there is a difference in feel between touchpads on different macbooks. I loved the one on my old Air, whereas the current touchpads on Pros don't really feel right to me. Maybe that's why I am not disappointed by Thinkpads? Drivers are not as good, but calling Lenovo's touchpads unusable would be an exaggeration.
Item 2: You're mentioning Thinkpads. Try a touchpad on OS X, then come back. The difference is enormous. You can actually use the GUI without a mouse and without being annoyed, it's the only laptop/OS combination where that works.