I said this in a previous thread, but I'm surprised that Microsoft haven't jumped on the developer bandwagon after the MBP fallout.

I'd put the Surface Book as ahead of current gen MBP's. The trackpad isn't as good, but that's probably because it's a bit smaller and I like the large track pad. In terms of responsiveness, it's just as good.

The only thing missing is native Linux support, which is why a lot of people on here seem to support the WSL on Windows as an option over just installing Linux on the Surface Book. If Microsoft were to come out and say "Here's the new Surface Book, available in Windows 10 and Linux flavours" I could see a huge shift away from the MBP as the de-facto developer device.

Of course, given how fragmented Microsoft are as a company, I can't see their product team coming together to make this a reality, but a developer can dream.

The Dell XPS 13 touchpad hardware isn't too bad either. It should be bigger though.

I have a Dell XPS 15 and it's on par with any Apple product I've used and it does not have the Apple tax nor touch bar.

If you're looking for a large touchpad, you don't have to look any further than the HP Spectre x360, which has a touchpad literally the size of a modestly-sized smartphone.

My precision 5520 touchpad actually feels very good. It's not MacBook grade but it's /very/ close.