Your normal use of a trackpad must be super derpy if you trigger gestures with normal use. ;p
The rotate gesture in particular is quite intuitive. It's quite a bit like the motion you'd make to rotate a photo if it was sitting in front of you. I didn't say any of the other gestures were intuitive, if you'll notice. They're easy to remember and use after forcing yourself to use them for two minutes, though, which is why I like them.
Lol I despise trackpads. Actually, I vehemently hate everything about laptops except that I can move them around. Too uncomfortable a keyboard (I love my split ergonomic keyboard), shitty built in mouse (I like real mice, fuck even a ball mouse beats a trackpad), and awkward screen location.
Anyway, in rereading your post you didn't say that. But I know plenty of idiots (and I'll wager so do you) who swear by the Cult of the Artist Formerly Known as Jobs and would say everything that Apple does is "intuitive".
I've been stuck without a desktop for several years, and I don't really miss anything but dual monitors. There are a few things for which I'd rather use a mouse, but the preference isn't that strong, and for everything else, I think I have a slight preference for a trackpad. For most programming-intensive things I do, I don't touch the mouse, so it doesn't really make a difference.
I definitely don't think everything Apple does is intuitive. I think that Apple's design decisions tend to be
more intuitive than their competition, but I don't mean to say there isn't plenty of room for improvement.
Apple makes solid products. I've tried the alternatives. Maybe I was unlucky, or maybe things have gotten better since the last time I've owned a PC, but I'm extremely pleased with my macbook, and I don't think any PC alternative will do anything to improve my laptop-ridden life.