There are plenty of PC manufacturers that aren't "some random PC manufacturer". ThinkPad, Asus, Acer, HP, Dell. They are known brands that can easily maintain reputations.
I would also wager that the sort of customers who are willing to spend more for interface refinements like an excellent touchpad already use Apple hardware at a higher rate than the general population, further shrinking customer demand for good PC touchpads.
Of course, I don't think anyone would expect an Apple level touchpad on a budget Windows laptop. But they don't even seem to be on premium Windows laptops.
You're probably right that premium Windows laptops are a super niche market so there isn't much incentive for touchpad manufacturers to cater to it. That's one huge advantage Apple has. If they want a product that no manufacturers want to make, they can just make it themselves.
Yeah, from that my conclusion is that the market for Windows laptops with really excellent touchpads is simply not large enough to be worth pursuing. My guess is that the increase in revenue between a "good enough touchpad" and "really excellent touchpad" is nowhere near enough to cover the astronomical costs of developing one.
Exactly. Everyone knows Apple has better touchpad, but nobody knows that about some random PC manufacturer. How will they signal that he has better touchpad in order to justify the higher price?