I guess people really just have wildly different feelings. I think Apple's laptops are terrible. Hot, poor keyboard, hard trackpad - you've gotta really press down on the thing. Maybe I'm "using it wrong". (Excellent screens though.)
I think I've had trackpoint buttons fail once, sorta. On a used ThinkPad X201 I got for $300, and just this week, clicks seem intermittent. But it's been under heavy use in an elementary classroom so I'm not sure what kind of stress it's gone through. I've never had an issue with laptop buttos otherwise that I can recall, thinking back to the early 90s.
I don't think you're using it wrong, but the default for the trackpad is a hard click, as you say.
But you can set the trackpad (Preferences > Trackpad > Point & Click > Tap to click) to accept a soft finger tap. And two finger tap is equivalent to a right click.
I think the MBP trackpad is the primary reason for me not moving to another laptop, even as I become less and less enamoured with OS X itself.
I think I've had trackpoint buttons fail once, sorta. On a used ThinkPad X201 I got for $300, and just this week, clicks seem intermittent. But it's been under heavy use in an elementary classroom so I'm not sure what kind of stress it's gone through. I've never had an issue with laptop buttos otherwise that I can recall, thinking back to the early 90s.