indeed it does! i had to convince myself that it is so by trying to press the touchpad on my new mac when it was turned off. it's just "dead" in that state.
i remember hearing a lot of people complain about the "force touch" thing when it was released. i am super super sensitive to any part of a computer i have to touch, so i figured if anybody had a problem with it, i would as well. when my new mac arrived and i didn't notice anything strange about the touch pad, i just assumed i had one of the old reliable physical-button ones that i have come to know and love. so in this case, apple's hardware advance is okay with me.
... but i can name another thing i forgot that i am annoyed by: apple doesn't sell macs with matte screens anymore. i really don't like seeing my own reflection in the dark areas of the display. but they've managed to tone it down a bit. it's not as bad as it used to be in the original glossy screens they released.
I agree about the matte screen thing. I had one of the last laptops they offered with the matte option, and I used it for 5 years until a month ago, when I bought the rMBP a few weeks before Apple released the crippled new model. (The rumors were extremely accurate coming up to the launch, so I knew I wouldn't be interested in the new model.)
I was skeptical about the haptic touchpad, but now after using it for a while (I got a Magic Trackpad 2 a few months ago) I'm extremely impressed and feel like it is better than a physical click in every way. I think it is better on my RSI as well.
