If replacement trackpads were available I’d design one and shove the schematics and software on GitHub but alas they aren’t and the money people want for second hand trackpads is a bit much

True. But (and I’m not bashing on Windows here) have you not ever had a problem on Windows that made you scratch your head for hours? I can’t even think of a single (not built into ROM) OS I haven’t had to resort to just reinstalling to fix a problem at least once. Even with Windows sometimes a different version.

Also tbh, no matter what some will claim, suggesting Manjaro for a first time user is stupid unless you know for a fact it will just run on their hardware. Really better to suggest Fedora or Ubuntu. Yes they’re “boring” and “corporate” (or almost corporate) blah blah blah but they have the big money behind them and easily googleable problem solving search results.

I seriously think the “hours of tweaking to get it to work” is a myth a lot of Linux users spread to make themselves feel “elite.” Apart from switching distros from Ubuntu to Fedora I haven’t had to tweak anything after installing for about 20 years. Not even on my laptops.

It is actually unusual for them not to accept the RMA without proof. They normally accept them then just charge for return postage if the problem isn’t confirmed on their end.