Well, that’s core Apple, isn’t it: „People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware“.

A handful of stupid mice and trashcan Macs don’t negate the fact that for a significant number of solutions, Apple nailed vertical integration of software and hardware, and the math plays out wonderfully in terms of User Experience; for these devices, 1 plus 1 equals 11.

I've connected an Apple Magic Trackpad (external bluetooth trackpad that sits on your desk) to an ubuntu machine and it's wonderful. There are still some software things to solve to get the acceleration perfect and things like scrolling working, but having trackpad hardware that isn't trash goes a really long way.

I tried doing this with a Thinkpad but the BT connection would cut out periodically and I gave up. Did you have to do anything special to get it working?

Nope, it "just worked." I ended up vastly preferring a mouse, though, so I didn't stick with it long term.